Interchanging Idioms

After an extensive national audition, Music Director Marin Alsop and the BSO Principal Cello Audition Committee have appointed Dariusz Skoraczewski the principal cellist of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Skoraczewski joined the Orchestra in 2000 and has held the post of assistant principal cellist since 2001. During his tenure with the BSO, he has performed on two European tours, one Japanese tour and participated in several BSO recordings. A native of Warsaw, Poland, Mr. Skoraczewski brings to this post a wide variety of performance experience. He gave his Carnegie Hall debut in 2005 and has performed as a soloist with orchestras throughout the world. He also has strong ties to Baltimore, having completed his higher education as a scholarship recipient at The Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University. He is also a member of the critically acclaimed Monument Piano Trio, a Baltimore-based ensemble which previously served as the artists-in-residence for the popular concert...

Lee Mills to conduct FREE BSO concert as part of Artscape festivities, July 16 The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra announced today that Lee Mills, 24, a talented American conductor will be the third recipient of the BSO-Peabody Conducting Fellowship. This one-year program is designed to support the musical and leadership development of today’s young conductors. Beginning in September 2011, Mr. Mills will begin a one-year artist diploma program, receiving a full tuition scholarship to the Peabody Institute at the Johns Hopkins University. Mr. Mills will also receive personal instruction from BSO Music Director Marin Alsop, who actively shapes the program. A native of Montana, “promising young conductor” ( The Baltimore Sun ) Lee Mills recently completed a graduate performance diploma from the Peabody Institute. During that time, he served as the assistant conductor of the Peabody Concert Orchestra, the Peabody Singers and the Peabody-Hopkins Chorus. A new music enthusiast, he has premie...

BSO to perform at Germantown Glory in Montgomery County on July 4 The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra continues its tradition of performing the all-American holiday celebration Star-Spangled Spectacular with conductor Bob Bernhardt and featuring baritone Daniel Narducci on Saturday, July 2, 2011 and Sunday, July 3, 2011 at 8 p.m. at Oregon Ridge Park in Cockeysville, Md. The patriotic program opens with the winners of this year’s “O, Say Can You Sing?” competition singing the National Anthem and also features other patriotic classics, such as Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture and John Philip Sousa’s Stars and Stripes . The evening will culminate in a display of fireworks. For more than 20 years, the BSO at Oregon Ridge has been a Baltimore‐area summer tradition, drawing tens of thousands for family fun, music and fireworks in the wooded enclaves of Oregon Ridge Park. Patrons are invited to arrive early with lawn chairs, blankets and picnic dinners or purchase food and drink from onsite...

Winning ensemble receives the chance to perform pre-concert when the BSO presents Rockapella on July 7 To celebrate Rockapella’s performance at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall on Thursday, July 7, 2011 at 7:30 p.m., the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (BSO) announces Orchapella, the BSO’s first-ever singing competition for a cappella music ensembles. Capitalizing on the obsession with choral singing ignited by the hit TV show, GLEE!, the BSO invites local singers of all ages to submit a YouTube video of their group performing a song of their choosing for the chance to win the opportunity to open for Rockapella at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall. To participate, a cappella ensembles of 2-10 members must fill out the form located at BSOmusic.org/orchapella , providing their contact information and a link to their video. Registration deadline is Tuesday, June 21. The BSO will select three semi-finalists and post their videos on the BSO’s facebook site beginning Tuesday, June 28 at ...

BSO OrchKids host three-day training program for leaders of El Sistema-based programs throughout the U.S. The BSO’s El Sistema-inspired youth initiative, OrchKids, has grown significantly since it first started in Fall 2008. In keeping with El Sistema’s vision, OrchKids uses music as a vehicle for social change, transforming the lives of young people most in need. Under the leadership of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (BSO) and BSO Music Director Marin Alsop, OrchKids has become a model for orchestras in community and education programs throughout the country. In order to insure that staff, faculty and teaching artists are knowledgeable of, committed to and actively incorporating the principles of El Sistema, which include “consistency,” “intensity,” “community,” “audiation before visualization,” and ”passion over precision,” the BSO will present "Community Engagement through Music Education (CEME),” a three-day workshop from Wednesday to Friday, June 13-15, 2011 at the Josep...

Tenor Richard Clement will replace Roger Honeywell in the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra’ and The Washington Chorus’ performance of Verdi’s Messa di Requiem on Thursday, June 9, 2011 at 8:00 p.m., Friday, June 10, 2011 at 8:00 p.m. and Sunday, June 12 at 3:00 p.m. at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall and on Saturday, June 11, 2011 at the Music Center at Strathmore. Conductor Marin Alsop is scheduled to lead the program.

The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (BSO) announces two new appointments to its board of directors: Barbara Bozzuto, former president of Bozzuto Marketing and William Wagner, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at Vocus. Ms. Bozzuto and Mr. Wagner bring to the board diverse areas of experience and fresh business strategies that will contribute to the BSO’s cultural and financial successes as one of Maryland’s leading arts organizations. About Barbara Bozzuto Barbara Bozzuto has been active as an executive and community leader within the Greater Baltimore region for 30 years. Among her many philanthropic activities, she is currently chair of the board of St. Agnes Hospital, sits on the Maryland committee for the 9/11 Memorial and was formerly the chair of the board of WYPR Radio. For ten years until 2000, Ms. Bozzuto was President of Bozzuto Marketing, a special events, sponsorship, and sports marketing company. Prior to that, she was the Executive Director for th...

The 2010-2011 season will conclude with a performance of Verdi’s Requiem , featuring soprano Angela Meade, mezzo-soprano Eve Gigliotti, tenor Roger Honeywell, and bass-baritone Alfred Walker, supported by The Washington Chorus and led by Music Director Marin Alsop on Thursday, June 9 at 8 p.m., Friday, June 10 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, June 12 at 3 p.m. at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall and Saturday, June 11 at 8 p.m. at the Music Center at Strathmore. Verdi composed Messa di Requiem in 1873. It is an epic musical setting of the Roman Catholic funeral mass, written as a memorial for the great Italian poet and novelist Alessandro Manzoni Verdi admired Manzoni, who’s works helped forge an Italian national identity. The work was premiered in 1874 at the San Marco Church in Milan during the first anniversary of Manzoni’s death. Joining the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra to perform this epic work is The Washington Chorus, under the direction of Julian Wachner. Back by popular demand, the C...

At a meeting of the BSO Board of Directors on Wednesday June 1, 2011, Kenneth W. DeFontes, Jr. was elected the Orchestra’s new board chair-elect, to succeed Michael G. Bronfein as chair for a two-year term effective Sept. 21, 2011. DeFontes, who has served as an active member of the BSO board for the past six years, is President and CEO of Baltimore Gas and Electric Company (BGE) and a Senior Vice President with Constellation Energy. During his tenure as a BSO board member, DeFontes has served as a member of the finance committee and chair of the governance committee, the subset of board members responsible for nominating and recruiting future BSO leadership.

BSO Music Director Marin Alsop leads a concert to showcase the children’s work throughout the year Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (BSO) Music Director Marin Alsop will lead the BSO’s OrchKids in their final concert of the 2010-2011 school year on Friday, June 3 at 5:30 p.m. at the Mary Winterling Elementary School Auditorium. Pre-K through 5th grade students of Lockerman Bundy Elementary School will participate in instrumental ensembles, a full orchestra and a choir for a concert that showcases the culmination of the children’s work from throughout the year.

Beth Buck as Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Carol Bogash as Vice President of Education and Community Engagement The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (BSO) today announced two recent senior-level appointments. Beth Buck has joined the BSO as its new vice president and chief financial officer and Carol Bogash will fill a newly created position in September as the Orchestra’s vice president of education and community engagement. Ms. Bogash and Ms. Buck fill two leadership roles essential to the BSO’s strategic vision: to deepen audience engagement and cultivate new audiences through effective and transformative artistic and education initiatives, and to prosper artistically within a sustainably balanced budget. Speaking of the appointments, President and CEO Paul Meecham commented, “I am thrilled that the BSO has been able to attract two candidates so highly qualified in their respective fields. As the BSO builds towards its centenary season in 2016, we have a superb managem...

$100,000 grant will support the BSO’s 2011-2012 season programming and touring Yesterday the National Endowment for the Arts honored the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra with a grant of $100,000 to support the Orchestra’s upcoming November East coast tour and Spring 2012 West coast tour. Tour repertoire and educational activities all showcase the Orchestra’s 2011-2012 season programming theme that celebrates women as leaders. The BSO is one of 1,145 not-for-profit national, regional, state and local arts organizations recommended for a grant as part of the federal agency’s second round of fiscal year 2011 grants. In total, the Arts Endowment will distribute more than $88 million to support projects nationwide, with $100,000 being the largest grant awarded in this funding cycle. In the 2011-2012 season, the fifth under BSO Music Director Marin Alsop’s direction, the BSO will bring its reinvigorated artistic vision and community outreach ethos to audiences on the East and West Coasts. Exc...

Emanuel Ax Performs Brahms’ First Piano Concerto, June 2-5 Marin Alsop leads regional premiere of BSO co-commission by Argentine-American composer Osvaldo Golijov Piano legend Emanuel Ax returns to the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (BSO), under the direction of BSO Music Director Marin Alsop, in a performance of Brahms’ Piano Concerto No. 1 on Thursday, June 2, 2011 at 8 p.m. at the Music Center at Strathmore, Friday, June 3 and Saturday, June 4 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, June 5 at 3 p.m. at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall. Maestra Alsop will lead the BSO in a delightful tour of the orchestra in Britten’s A Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra and will also feature Sidereus, a BSO co-commission by Argentine-American composer Osvaldo Golijov. Emanuel Ax’s legendary music-making has thrilled audiences for more than 30 years. Among the world’s most sought-after piano virtuosos, the N ew York Times describes his style as, “a shifting balance of poetry, earthiness and analytical clari...

Concert will include selections from lang’s newest album, Sing It Loud Singer and songwriter k.d. lang and her band the Siss Boom Bang will perform at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall for one night only on Thursday, July 14, 2011 at 8 p.m. This announcement comes on the heels of lang’s highly anticipated release of Sing it Loud , her first studio album since 2008’s Watershed . Sing it Loud is lang’s first record made entirely with her own band, Siss Boom Bang, since the pair of albums with the Reclines that launched her groundbreaking career more than 25 years ago. Since lang first hit the music scene over a quarter-century ago, she has amassed numerous awards including four GRAMMY® awards, eight JUNO Awards, a BRIT, an AMA, a VMA, and four awards from GLAAD. In 1996, she received Canada’s highest civilian honor, the Order of Canada. lang’s unique style transcends genre, combining country, alternative, rock and even punk styles and her soulful voice prompted frequent collaborato...

BSO performs Walton’s Symphony No. 1 for the first time Maestro Carlos Kalmar leads the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and violinist Karen Gomyo in Sibelius’ Violin Concerto on Friday, May 27 at 8 p.m. at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall and Saturday, May 28 at 8 p.m. at the Music Center at Strathmore. Maestro Kalmar will also conduct the first-ever BSO performance of Walton’s Symphony No. 1. As part of the BSO’s year long tribute to Mahler’s 100th anniversary, this concert will also feature What the Wild Flowers Tell M e, arranged by Benjamin Britten. Sibelius’ Violin Concerto was conceived for the soloist that Sibelius aspired to become, prompting him to write into the solo part some of the most fiendishly difficult musical phrases in the repertoire. The composer began the work in 1902 at the urging of Willy Burmester, the Concertmaster of the Helsinki Philharmonic. He barely completed the work in time for its initial premiere in 1904. Unaccountably, Sibelius selected Viktor Nov...

Concert features students from several El Sistema-based programs The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra’s OrchKids will collaborate with students from Virginia Symphony’s “Soundscapes,” Philadelphia Youth Orchestra’s “Tune Up Philly,” and The People’s Music School’s “YOURS” for a day of music making and celebration of the El Sistema movement in the United States on Saturday, May 7 at Lockerman Bundy Elmentary School (LBES). The day-long event culminates in a concert that is open to the public at 5 p.m. at LBES. Tune Up Philly, Y.O.U.R.S., Soundscapes, and OrchKids are four of the nation’s most innovative and successful El Sistema-inspired programs in the United States. This event will be the first of its kind in the nation.

Long before the hit television program GLEE! created a national obsession with a cappella singing, the vocals-only, five-member ensemble Rockapella was entertaining audiences around the world with their full-band sound. Rockapella will perform at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall on Thursday, July 7, 2011 at 7:30 p.m. Editor’s Note: The BSO will not be performing on this program. Rockapella first gained fame on the popular children’s TV show “Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?” as the voices behind the familiar theme song and the show’s resident comedy troupe and vocal house band. Known for their full-band sound, the five-man band has changed members over its more than 20 year existence, and currently features High Tenor Scott Leonard, Vocal Percussionist Jeff Thatcher, Bass George Baldi III, Tenor John K. Brown and Tenor Steven Dorian.

Images from the video game series to be projected above the stage As part of its summer concert series, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra will present a new program, FINAL FANTASY, and will be joined by the Handel Choir of Baltimore on Saturday, July 30, 2011 at 7:30 p.m. at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall. Stunning graphics from FINAL FANTASY I through XIV will be projected on a screen above the stage as the BSO performs this video game’s most popular music written by Japanese composer, Nobuo Uematsu, such as FFVI: Opera Maria & Draco, FFVIII: “Liberi Fatali,” and FFVII: “Opening Bombing Mission”. “Distant Worlds: music from FINAL FANTASY” concerts also feature select music by FINAL FANTASY XIII composer Masashi Hamauzu and new scores by Nobuo Uematsu from the latest release, FINAL FANTASY XIV. Special $150 tickets will include premium seating and a post-concert meet and greet with Arnie Roth and Nobuo Uematsu.

Program to include Mahler’s arrangements of Schumann’s First Symphony and Manfred Overture Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (BSO) Music Director Marin Alsop will lead the BSO in an all-Schumann concert to commemorate the 200th anniversary of his birth on Thursday, May 12 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, May 15 at 3 p.m. at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall. The works to be performed include Mahler’s arrangements of Schumann’s Symphony No. 1, “Spring” and Manfred Overture. Also on the program will be Schumann’s Symphony No. 2. Schumann composed his first symphony in 1841, following his recent blissful and long-awaited marriage to the talented piano virtuoso Clara Wieck. His bride reported that it was the poetry of Schumann’s friend Adolph Böttger, about a lover longing for spring, which inspired the work’s opening fanfare, earning it the nickname “Spring.” The BSO will perform Gustav Mahler’s arrangement of Schumann’s First Symphony. A genius at composing lieder, Schumann’s ability as an or...

Pianist and Schumann scholar Dr. Richard Kogan joins Alsop to discuss Schumann’s genius and mental illness Music Director Marin Alsop leads the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra in an Off the Cuff series presentation, Schumann’s Beautiful Mind , on Friday, May 13 at 8:15 p.m. at the Music Center at Strathmore and Saturday, May 14 at 7 p.m. at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall. Renowned Schumann scholar Dr. Richard Kogan will join Maestra Alsop to explore Schumann’s beautiful mind—one tormented by his bi-polar disorder, and yet still able to continue his work. Dr. Kogan will perform and discuss selections from Schumann’s beloved piano work Carnaval . Also on the program are selections from Schumann’s Second Symphony. The BSO’s Off the Cuff series offers a fresh take on classical music by exploring the lives of the composers, making the performances entertaining and engaging for music enthusiasts of any level. Robert Schumann—among the Romantic era’s most ingenious and prolific composer...