Paavo Järvi Conducts Curtis Symphony Orchestra in All-Russian Program at Carnegie Hall

By -

Carter Brey, Principal Cellist of New York Philharmonic, Performs Prokofiev’s Sinfonia concertante

Paavo Järvi (pictured), music director of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and Curtis alumnus, conducts the Curtis Symphony Orchestra on Tuesday, April 28 at 8pm in Stern Auditorium at Carnegie Hall. The all-Russian program features Stravinsky’s Petrushka (1947) and two works by Prokofiev: Suite No. 1 from Romeo and Juliet and Sinfonia concertante with cello soloist Carter Brey.

The Curtis Symphony Orchestra has been called “an orchestra that any city would be lucky to have as its professional ensemble” (Philadelphia Inquirer) and has been praised for its “otherworldly ensemble and professional level of sophistication” (New York Times). Recent visiting conductors include Charles Dutoit, Alan Gilbert, Simon Rattle, Michael Tilson Thomas, and Miguel Harth-Bedoya. This real-world training has enabled Curtis alumni to assume prominent positions in major orchestras across the United States , Canada , and abroad. Sixteen percent of the principal chairs in America ’s top 25 orchestras are held by Curtis-trained musicians.

The Curtis Institute of Music educates and trains exceptionally gifted young musicians for careers as performing artists on the highest professional level. One of the world’s leading music schools, Curtis provides full-tuition scholarships to all of its 162 students, ensuring that admissions are based solely on artistic promise. A Curtis education is uniquely tailored to the individual student, with personalized attention from a celebrated faculty and unusually frequent performance opportunities. This distinctive “learn by doing” approach to musical training has produced an impressive number of notable artists, from such legends as Leonard Bernstein and Samuel Barber to current stars Juan Diego Flórez, Alan Gilbert, Hilary Hahn, Leila Josefowicz, Jennifer Higdon, and Lang Lang.

Paavo Järvi, one of the most sought-after conductors of his generation, became music director of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra in 2001 and recently extended his contract through the 2011-12 season. In 2004, Mr. Järvi became artistic director of the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen , one of the world’s leading chamber orchestras, and he also serves as music director of the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra. He will become the seventh music director of the Orchestre de Paris beginning in the 2010-11 season.

Mr. Järvi’s demand as a guest conductor has led to engagements with the world’s major orchestras including the Berlin, St. Petersburg, and Vienna Philharmonics. In North America , he regularly conducts the Boston Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, and Chicago Symphony. He previously held the post of principal guest conductor with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra.

Born in Estonia , he studied percussion and conducting at the Tallinn Music High School . His studies continued in the United States at the Curtis Institute under Otto-Werner Mueller and Max Rudolf, former music director of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, as well as at the Los Angeles Philharmonic Institute with Leonard Bernstein.

Principal cellist of the New York Philharmonic, Carter Brey joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 2008. “I’m very excited about the opportunity to kick off my relationship with the school through this pair of concerts” said Mr. Brey. “It will be a nice way for the students to get to know me a little better and vice versa.” The 100 young musicians between the ages of 14 and 25 who make up the Curtis Symphony Orchestra will perform Prokofiev’s Sinfonia concertante with Mr. Brey. “I think it’s one of Prokofiev’s best large-scale works,” he said. “The melodic invention is fantastic. Because he wrote it in concert for Mstislav Rostropovich, it’s very idiomatic for the instrument. It’s a challenge, but very rewarding.”

Carter Brey rose to international attention in 1981 as a prizewinner in the Rostropovich Intern ational Cello Competition. He was appointed principal cellist of the New York Philharmonic in 1996 and has performed numerous times as a soloist with the orchestra under the batons of Kurt Masur, Lorin Maazel, Zubin Mehta, and Alan Gilbert. The first musician to win the Arts Council of America’s Performing Arts Prize, Mr. Brey has also won the Gregor Piatigorsky Memorial Prize, Avery Fisher Career Grant, and Young Concert Artists’ Michaels Award.

As a chamber musician, Mr. Brey has made regular appearances with the Tokyo and Emerson String Quartets, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the Spoleto Festival in the United States and Italy, and the Santa Fe and La Jolla chamber music festivals, among others. His discography includes Chopin’s complete works for cello and piano with Garrick Ohlsson (Arabesque), and The Latin American Album (Helicon Records), featuring compositions from South America and Mexico with Christopher O’Riley. Mr. Brey studied with Laurence Lesser and Stephen Kates at the Peabody Conservatory of Music and with Aldo Parisot at Yale University.

Tuesday, April 28 at 8pm
Curtis Symphony Orchestra
Jack Wolgin Orchestral Concerts

Perelman Stage, Isaac Stern Auditorium, Carnegie Hall, 57th Street and 7th Avenue , New York

STRAVINSKY: Petrushka (1947)
PROKOFIEV: Sinfonia concertante (Carter Brey, cello)
PROKOFIEV: Suite No. 1 from Romeo and Juliet

Tickets are $16, $30, and $50 and are available at the Carnegie Ticket Office at (212) 247-7800 or www.carnegiehall.org. Pre-concert gala tickets are available through the Curtis Development Office at (215) 893-5279 or development@curtis.edu.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Role of Music in Opera

By -
There are numerous books on the topic, and every composer, librettist, director, singer and audience member has their opinion as to what role the music should play in an opera. In a play without music, the words ought to support the meaning behind a character's actions. However, in the case of action movies, often times the action is what tells the story and there aren't words, just images to forward the plot. We might hear music to accompany action, build tension, but the action tells the story. Musicals tend to speak until the emotion of the moment just "has" to break out in song - unless it's something like "Mama Mia" where the dialog is the rails we travel on between songs; the songs themselves, written before the concept of the musical, are the focus of the production, while the story is secondary. Operas are a different beast. The music provides emotion to the words spoken, but it also plays the role of ambience when there is only action. In ...
Read more

Episode 210b: Joyeuse le départ

By -
Image
Podcast:  Play in new window  |  Download Subscribe:  Apple Podcasts  |  Android  |  Google Play  |  Stitcher  |  TuneIn  |  RSS Provost Cunningham has Transmigrated, but to where! What is Dr Sage going to do with his body? And how can she bring home her friends, Abigail and Erasmus, without also bring home Cunningham? What are they going to say when they find the “skeleton” she’s hiding in her closet? Cast: Eddie Louise Clark  as Dr Sage Chip Clark  as Professor Savant Justin Bremer  as the Narrator Emily Riley Piatt  as Abigail Entwhistle, Calypso & Dean Stewart Written by  Eddie Louise Theme music by  Unwoman Sound Design by  Chip Michael
Read more

Teaching Composition – What are we trying to achieve

By -
In the process of learning composition I have spent time with a number of instructors who have encouraged me to write twelve-tone, pitch-class, electro-acoustic and other forms of experimental techniques. No matter how much I might understand and appreciate the work of other composers in the genres, these are not forms of music I resonate with. They are simply not forms of music I listen to and I struggle with the idea of writing them. However, in a Master Class by Libby Larsen she made the comment, “Learn them all, because all forms of music have something to offer.” This I very much agree. There are elements of each of the above mentioned forms (and others) that I do resonate with. Berg’s Violin Concerto is a beautiful twelve-tone work, although it is possible to look at numerous sections of the music with a “tonal” analysis. Another composer friend, Gary Bachlund commented that using these techniques can narrow the choices for how to compose a piece of work. If you look at ...
Read more