ORPHEUS CHAMBER ORCHESTRA SERIES PROGRAMS
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Second Concert - May 11
(large chamber ensemble)
George Tsontakis Fanfare (world premiere) (3 minutes)
Dan Coleman Music for a Cold Night (world premiere) (7 minutes)
Chen Yi Sparkle for flute, clarinet, 2 percussion, piano, violin, cello, bass (10 minutes)
Chou Wen-Chung Clouds (Movements 2 & 3) (9 minutes)
Aaron Jay Kernis 100 Greatest Hits for guitar and string quartet (15 minutes)
Daniel Brewbaker La Serenissima (one movement) for flute, oboe, piano, cello (7 minutes)
Virgil Thomson Serendae for flute and violin
George Perle Critical Moments for flute, violin, cello, clarinet, piano, 1 percussion (8 minutes)
Wallingford Riegger Romanza for string quartet (5 minutes)
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ORPHEUS BIO
Recognized internationally as one of the world's great chamber orchestras, Orpheus celebrates its twenty-eighth season of concert activity spanning four continents including appearances in the major cities of North and South America, Europe and Asia. The centerpiece of each Orpheus season is its five concert series at Carnegie Hall. Accompanying the critical acclaim for the orchestra's live appearances are numerous distinctions and awards, including three 1999 Grammy Awards for its jazz inspired Ravel and Gershwin collaboration with Herbie Hancock, a 1998 Grammy nomination for its recording of Mozart piano concertos with Richard Goode, and the 1998 "Ensemble of the Year" award by Musical America.
Orpheus was founded in 1972 by cellist Julian Fifer and a group of fellow musicians who aspired to perform chamber orchestral repertoire as chamber music -- through their own close collaborative efforts, and without a conductor. Orpheus developed its approach to the study and performance of this repertoire by bringing to the orchestral setting the chamber music principles of personal involvement and mutual respect. Orpheus is a self-governing organization; the players demand of one another a high level of personal and musical responsibility and they rotate the seating positions to give each player the opportunity to lead a section. Together they make the interpretive decisions that are ordinarily the work of a conductor. They also choose the repertoire and create the programs, and they continually study and refine their rehearsal techniques.
Central to the distinctive personality of Orpheus is its unusual process of sharing and rotating leadership roles. For every work, the members of the orchestra determine the concertmaster and the principal players for each section. These players constitute the core group, whose role is to form the initial concept of the piece and to shape the rehearsal process. In the final rehearsals, all members of the orchestra participate in refining the interpretation and execution, with members taking turns listening from the auditorium for balance, blend, articulation, dynamic range and clarity of expression. And in recording sessions, everyone crowds into the production booth to listen to the initial playbacks. Members of Orpheus have received recognition for solo, chamber music and orchestral performances. Each brings a diversity of musical experience to the orchestra, which constantly enriches and nurtures the musical growth of the ensemble. Of the seventeen string and ten wind players who comprise the basic membership of Orpheus, many also hold teaching positions at prominent conservatories and universities in the New York and New England areas, including Juilliard, Manhattan School of Music, New England Conservatory, Mannes College of Music, Columbia University and Yale University.
Orpheus has recorded extensively for Deutsche Grammophon. Included in the catalogue of over fifty recordings are several Haydn symphonies and Mozart serenades, the complete Mozart wind concertos with Orpheus members as soloists, romantic works by Dvorák, Grieg and Tchaikovsky and a number of twentieth-century classics by Bartók, Prokofiev, Copland and Stravinsky. Recent collaborations include a series of recordings of Mozart piano concertos with Richard Goode (Nonesuch), recordings with cellist Mischa Maisky (DG), Gershwin's World with pianist Herbie Hancock (Verve), a series of Piazzolla works with tango pianist Pablo Ziegler (BMG), and a recording with Branford Marsalis to be released in spring 2001 (Sony Classical).
During the 1999-2000 season, Orpheus' international touring includes appearances in Prague, Athens, Milan, Madrid and Geneva. In addition to its Carnegie Hall concerts, the orchestra's New York season includes a series of three concerts featuring composers from Yaddo at the Ethical Culture Society, a Live from Lincoln Center performance with Itzhak Perlman and two major educational initiatives - a new residency with Baruch College of the City University of New York, and a significant expansion of Orpheus' curriculum development and teaching programs in New York City public schools. Highlights of U.S. touring include performances in Washington D.C., Detroit, Dallas, Sarasota and Portland, and a weeklong nationally broadcast residency on National Public Radio.
