8290 College Pkwy Suite 103 Ft. Myers, FL 33919 239-418-1500 www.swflso.org
Date: Wednesday, October 14, 2015
The Southwest Florida Symphony Appoints
Three New Musicians This Season
Fort Myers, FL— The Southwest Florida Symphony, Lee County’s professional orchestra and one of the oldest symphony orchestras on Florida’s gulf coast, welcomes three new musicians to its roster this season; two violinist and for the first time since 2002, a permanent principal cellist. All Southwest Florida Symphony orchestra members are hired through a highly competitive and strictly regulated blind audition process, judged by the orchestra’s music director, Maestro Nir Kabaretti and panel of five additional Southwest Florida Symphony musicians. Audition candidates travel from around the country for the opportunity to be awarded a position with the orchestra.
Principal Cello: Troy Chang
Cellist Troy Chang, a native of Concord, Massachusetts, is in demand in a wide array of musical settings; symphonic, operatic, chamber, and solo performance. He joined the Sarasota Opera Orchestra in 2013 and was appointed the principal cello position with the Southwest Florida Symphony Orchestra in October of 2015. He served as Principal Cello for the Spoleto Festival USA Orchestra in Charleston, South Carolina and was a member of the Amazonas Filarmônica in Manaus, Brazil. He was on the cello and theory faculty at the Luzerne Music Center in Lake Luzerne, New York, where he also curated the Faculty Chamber Music Series. He currently spends his summers with the Artosphere Festival Orchestra in Fayetteville, Arkansas and as Principal Cello with the Ash Lawn Opera Orchestra in Charlottesville, Virginia. On faculty at Florida Southern College in Lakeland, Florida, he resides in Tampa and performs regularly with Sarasota Orchestra and The Florida Orchestra. He holds a Master of Music in Cello Performance from the Manhattan School of Music and a Bachelor of Arts from Brown University. His principal teachers include Fred Sherry, David Geber, Carol Ou, and Joan Esch. Mr. Chang plays on a modern Swiss cello by Michael Stürtzenhofecker and a 1920 Hippolyte Lamy bow.
Section Violin: Dilyana Tsenov
An exceptionally versatile musician, classically trained Bulgarian violinist Dilyana Tsenov has collaborated with artists of many different genres such as Kurt Masur, Pinchas Zukerman, Vadim Repin, Jean Yves Thibaude, Oscar D’Leon, Gloria Estefan and Diego Torres among many others. Major venues include Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, Kennedy Center, Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, The New World Center, Teatro Nacional Santo Domingo Eduardo Britto and Bulgaria Hall.
Dilyana enjoys a career as a freelance musician in the New York City and South Florida areas. She is a member of Florida Grand Opera, Palm Beach Symphony, Kravis Pops Orchestra, Southwest Florida Symphony and Tsenov Chamber Ensemble.
Ms. Tsenov is the founder of one of America’s leading entertainment companies – Vogue Music Events. With its live music of exceptional quality Vogue Music Events has provided memorable and highly professional service to events organized by ESPN, Disney, Hennessy, New York Stock Exchange and McKenzee & Company, at venues such as Hilton Midtown, Jazz at Lincoln Center, The Intrepid Museum, Museum of Natural History, Waldorf Astoria Hotel (New York), Beverly Hilton (Beverly Hills), Venetian Hotel (Las Vegas) among many others. In 2012 VME was among the official music providers for the 2012 United States Presidential Elections.
Ms. Tsenov began her professional musical studies at the Lyubomir Pipkov National School of Music in Sofia, Bulgaria. She holds Bachelor’s Degree in violin performance from Montclair State University and Master’s Degree from Manhattan School of Music.
Section Violin: Fiona Black
Fiona Black is a graduate of Shenandoah Conservatory in Winchester, VA where she studied with Akemi Takayama while earning her Master’s Degree and Artist Diploma in Violin Performance. She earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Performance at the University of Memphis in Tennessee under the instruction of Dr. Soh-Hyun Park Altino.
Ms. Black joins the Southwest Florida Symphony in the fall of 2015. She currently substitutes with the Roanoke Symphony in Roanoke, VA and has performed with the Annapolis Symphony in Annapolis, MD, the Eroica Ensemble in Memphis, TN and National String Symphonia in Rockville, MD. She was part of the Shenandoah Conservatory Symphony Orchestra that premiered Wynton Marsalis’ Blues Symphony in February 2015 at Strathmore and she also served as concertmaster of the Shenandoah Conservatory Symphony Orchestra during her studies at Shenandoah Conservatory.
Ms. Black began her musical journey in her hometown of Bolivar, TN, by playing the fiddle in a gospel bluegrass band with her siblings before she began classical violin studies. She currently lives and teaches private violin and fiddle lessons in Winchester, VA.
Additional violin auditions will be held in April of 2016. Specific dates, times, locations and repertoire will be announced nationally in January of 2016.
Southwest Florida Symphony General Information
The Southwest Florida Symphony is the only professional orchestra in Lee County and the one of the oldest on Florida’s gulf coast. It enters its 55th season this year, having made its debut as a community orchestra on April 15, 1961. Conducted by Arlo Deibler, the Symphony began its life as a community orchestra and its original roster consisted of 24 musicians. It performed in community centers and schools throughout Lee and Collier Counties. It has since grown to become Lee County’s only professional symphony orchestra, filling Barbara B. Mann Performing Arts Hall with symphonic music enthusiasts and a roster consisting of more than 65 world-class musicians. The Southwest Florida Symphony’s 55th year promises to be a season of continued enthusiasm as internationally acclaimed Maestro Nir Kabaretti leads the symphony into another season of blockbuster performances. Maestro Kabaretti is the fifth music director in the organization’s history. His presence and caliber of musicality garnered record setting attendance at many of the symphony’s 2014-15 Masterworks Concerts. The Southwest Florida Symphony’s mission is to celebrate the joy of music and to inspire audiences with a variety of quality concerts performed by professional musicians that are accessible to all.
This season features the Southwest Florida Symphony’s signature Masterworks Classical Concert Series, entitled A Symphonic Storybook (November 21, Carmina Burana; January 23, One Thousand and One Nights; February 13, Love Triangle; March 5, A Night at the Opera; and April 2 & 3, The Shakespeare Experience), a special Holiday Pops concert entitled The Holidays in Paradise on December 16 & 17 at Flagler College in St. Augustine, December 19 at Barbara B. Mann Performing Arts Hall, December 20 at BIG ARTS on Sanibel and December 21 at The Village Church at Shell Point; its Pops Series (Rodgers & Hammerstein Celebration on January 8 & 9; A Night at the Oscars on February 5 & 6; and My Sinatra on April 2 & 3), a chamber series called Small Stage Symphonies℠, performed at BIG ARTS on Sanibel Island (January 13, February 3 and March 23), Faith Presbyterian Church in Cape Coral (August 12, 2015, January 15 and March 22), The Village Church at Shell Point (August 13, 2015, January 14 and February 4), and at the Sidney & Berne Davis Arts Center (August 14, 2015 and March 23).
Southwest Florida Symphony Sponsors
The Southwest Florida Symphony’s 2015-16 sponsors include The Southwest Florida Symphony’s Board of Trustees, The Southwest Florida Community Foundation, The City of Fort Myers, The State of Florida Division of Cultural Affairs, The Florida Council on Arts & Culture, The Southwest Florida Symphony Endowment Foundation, The Southwest Florida Symphony Society, The L.A.T. Foundation, Uhler & Vertich Financial Planners, Enterprise Rent-a-car, IberiaBank, The Neil Goldberg Dream Foundation, Rev. Gary & Mrs. Christine LaCroix, Mr. Charles B. Munsch, Mr. Don Fjellin, Ernie Fogg & Margot Flinn,‘Tween Waters Inn, Bailey’s General Store, Sanibel Captiva Community Bank, Crowne Plaza, Mastello Ristorante, Advanced Pain Management and Spine Specialists, Alexander & Hoover, LCEC, The Cape Coral Community Foundation, The Friends of the Symphony on Sanibel, Mr. & Mrs. Steve and Charlotte Qua, Pamela Templeton in honor of the Red Lipstick Foundation, Madeleine Taeni, Suncoast Schools Credit Union and Mark Loren Designs.
######
