| New York, NY – The Greenwich Village Orchestra (GVO) announces the second concert of its 2016-2017 season, “Russian Romantics” on Sunday, November 6, 2016 at 3pm, part of the GVO’s 30th anniversary season. The concert will feature a program of symphonic favorites including music from Prokofiev’s Romeo & Juliet Suites and Rachmaninoff’s lush Second Piano Concerto, featuring Imri Talgam, winner of the 11th International Piano Competition of Orléans. Prokofiev’s witty, brass-powered Lieutenant Kijé Suite rounds out the program.
A versatile performer of both contemporary as well as traditional repertoire, pianist Imri Talgam has played throughout the world. His recent appearances include venues such as Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord, Salle Pleyel, KKL Lucerne, Alice Tully hall and Kiev’s Ukraine Palace, both as soloist and in collaboration with ensembles and chamber groups, including among others Ensemble Modern, the Israeli Contemporary players, Novus ensemble and the Croatian Radio-Television orchestra.
Talgam is the first prize winner of the 11th Concours International de Piano d’Orléans, as well as the Denisov prize and the Claude Helffer prize. Following the competition, Talgam has toured widely in France, Russia and Argentina, performing recitals combining both contemporary works and traditional ones. Talgam’s playing has been featured in broadcasts by the Israeli radio company, as well as by the Deutchlandfunk Cologne. Most recently, his debut CD of works by Nancarrow, Kagel, Stockhausen and Furrer was released by Solstice to great critical acclaim. During 2016, Talgam will be artist-in-residence at the Royaumont foundation.
After graduating from the Tel-Aviv University in the class of Emanuel Krasovsky, Talgam studied with Matti Raekallio at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hannover. His studies (M.Mus) concluded with Raekallio and Robert McDonald at the Juilliard School of music in 2012. During 2012–13, Talgam has performed as pianist of the Ensemble Modern Academy in Frankfurt. Along with his musical activities, he has studied philosophy in both the Tel-Aviv University and Columbia University. As of 2013, Talgam pursues a doctoral degree at the City University of New York under Ursula Oppens and Matti Raekallio alongside his international concert tours.
The rest of the GVO’s 30th Anniversary season will include the GVO’s Annual Family Concert on Sunday, December 4, 2016 featuring children from the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music; “Love from the GVO” on Sunday, February 5, 2017, honoring love stories throughout time, from Ravel’s Daphnis & Chloé Suite No. 2 to the escapades of Don Juan by Strauss; “Beethoven 9!” on Sunday, March 19, 2017, featuring Beethoven’s iconic Ninth Symphony with the Seraphim Chorus directed by Robert Long; and finally “Broadway Downtown” on Sunday, May 7, 2017, a celebration of the thriving cultural neighborhood that has been the GVO’s home for 30 years: Broadway and Tin Pan Alley, featuring classics by Gershwin, Rodgers and Hammerstein, Cole Porter, Lerner and Loewe, and more.
The Greenwich Village Orchestra was founded in 1986 by a group of musicians from the New York Metropolitan area. The 70-member community orchestra is made up of accountants, actors, artists, attorneys, carpenters, editors, physicians, professors, photographers, computer programmers, retirees, scientists, students, and teachers. For thirty years, the Greenwich Village Orchestra has had a single purpose: to bring the best performances of great music to listeners. The GVO is committed to making music at the highest possible level and dedicated to enriching the lives of our players and our audience. The performances are emotionally charged, exhilarating experiences that truly delight audiences and the performers alike.
The GVO regularly performs with internationally acclaimed soloists such as violinists Andrés Cárdenes, Itamar Zorman, and Hye-Jin Kim; cellists Edward Arron, Raman Ramakrishnan, David Heiss, and Brook Speltz; soprano Christine Goerke; mezzo-sopranos Jennifer Johnson Cano and Naomi O’Connell; baritone Jesse Blumberg; trumpet soloist Brandon Ridenour; and more. Recent guest conductors have included Pierre Valet, Yaniv Segal, and Farkhad Khudyev.
About Barbara Yahr
Now in her fifteenth season with the GVO, Music Director Barbara Yahr continues to lead the orchestra to new levels of distinction. With blockbuster programming and internationally renowned guest artists, the GVO under Barbara’s baton, has grown into an innovative, collaborative institution offering a full season of classical music to our local community.
A native of New York, Ms.Yahr’s career has spanned from the United States to Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. Her previous posts include Principal Guest Conductor of the Munich Radio Orchestra, Resident Staff Conductor of the Pittsburgh Symphony under Maestro Lorin Maazel and conductor of the Pittsburgh Youth Orchestra. She has appeared as a guest conductor with such orchestras as the Bayerische Rundfunk, Dusseldorf Symphoniker, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie, Frankfurt Radio, Orchestra Sinfonica Siciliana, Janacek Philharmonic, New Japan Philharmonic, NHK Symphony Orchestra, Singapore Symphony, and the National Symphony in Washington D.C. She has also conducted the orchestra in Columbus, Detroit, Calgary, Chattanooga, Louisiana, Richmond, New Mexico, Lubbock, Anchorage as well as the Ohio Chamber Orchestra, St. Paul Chamber, Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra, New World Symphony and the Chautauqua Festival Symphony Orchestra. She has also appeared in Israel conducting in both Jerusalem and Elat and as an opera conductor, has led new productions in Frankfurt, Giessen, Tulsa, Cincinnati, Minnesota and at The Mannes School of Music in NYC. Most recently, she has coached the actors on the set of the Amazon Series, Mozart in the Jungle, and led the season opener of the Ridgefield Symphony Orchestra.
Ms. Yahr is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Middlebury College where she studied piano and philosophy. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Conducting from the Curtis Institute of Music where she studied with Max Rudolf and an MM in Music Theory from the Manhattan School of Music. She was a student of Charles Bruck at the Pierre Monteux School in Hancock, Maine.
Ms. Yahr’s commitment to finding new ways to reach a broader population with music ultimately led her into the field of music therapy. She is a Board Certified Music Therapist, with an MA in music therapy from NYU and post-graduate certification from the world-renowned Nordoff-Robbins Center for Music Therapy in New York City. Her pioneering, community music therapy project, Together in Music, brings orchestral music to the special needs community with uniquely interactive programs.
Barbara is married to Alex Lerman and has two step-children, Abe and Dania, and a 14-year-old son, Ben. |
