“some of the best classical concerts in New York, year after year” – Lucid Culture
New York, NY – The Greenwich Village Orchestra (GVO) announces its 2016-2017 concerts, celebrating its 30th anniversary season as one of downtown New York’s most vibrant community arts institutions. Their season will celebrate the history of New York and its famous residents throughout history, beginning with “From the New World” on Sunday, September 25, 2016 at 3pm, an all-Dvořák program to include his Slavonic Dance, Violin Concerto performed by Adele Anthony and her “undeniably sweet tone” (The Dallas Morning News), and the ever-popular “New World” Symphony, performed as part of the New York Philharmonic’s The New World Initiative, a citywide celebration of the Philharmonic’s 175th anniversary centered around Dvořák’s symphony and its theme of “home.” The GVO performs at the historic Washington Irving Auditorium (40 Irving Place, New York, NY) near Union Square.
The GVO season will continue on Sunday, November 6, 2016 at 3pm with “Russian Romantics,” 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 community favorite, the GVO’s Annual Family Concert on Sunday, December 4, 2016 at 3pm is a treat for all ages. This year, the GVO will feature children from the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music in a fun-filled, interactive holiday program.
Celebrating an early Valentine’s Day, “Love from the GVO” on Sunday, February 5, 2017 at 3pm honors love stories throughout time, from Ravel’s Daphnis & Chloé Suite No. 2 to the escapades of Don Juan by Strauss. GVO shares its love of music with orchestral showpieces featuring two of our own musicians in the solo spotlight, Jason Smoller on English horn in Sibelius’ Swan of Tuonela and Gary Dranch on clarinet in Debussy’s Rhapsody.
One of classical music’s most enduring and beloved masterpieces, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony is a powerful statement of joy, love, and humanity. In “Beethoven 9!” on Sunday, March 19, 2017 at 3pm, the GVO will perform this iconic work, the composer’s final symphonic utterance, with the Seraphim Chorus (directed by Robert Long) and soloists TBA.
The GVO closes their 2016-2017 with a concert celebrating the thriving cultural neighborhood that has been their home for 30 years, “Broadway Downtown,” on Sunday, May 7, 2017 at 3pm. This finale pays tribute to two other New York City music-loving institutions: 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
Conductor Barbara Yahr was appointed Music Director of the Greenwich Village Orchestra in 2002 and has since led the group to new levels of distinction with blockbuster programming and stellar musical guests. A native of New York, her career has spanned from the United States to Europe, the Middle East and Asia.
Yahr completed a four-year appointment with the Pittsburgh Symphony under Lorin Maazel in 1994. Her European debut conducting the Bayerischer Academy Orchestra on tour with Lorin Maazel as violin soloist prompted invitations from the Symphony Orchestra of the Bayerischer Rundfunk as well as the Munich Radio Orchestra, where she subsequently served as Principal Guest Conductor. She has appeared as a guest conductor with the Dusseldorf Symphoniker, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie, Frankfurt Radio, Orchestra Sinfonica Siciliana, Janacek Philharmonic, NHK Symphony Orchestra, Singapore Symphony, and the National Symphony in Washington D.C. Yahr has also conducted the orchestras of Columbus, Ohio; Detroit, Michigan; Calgary in Alberta, Canada; Chattanooga, Tennessee; Louisiana; Richmond, Virginia; New Mexico; Ridgefield, Connecticut; Lubbock, Texas; and Anchorage, Alaska; as well as the Ohio Chamber Orchestra, St. Paul Chamber, Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra and the Chautauqua Festival Symphony Orchestra. She has 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.
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, an MM in Music Theory from the Manhattan School of Music, and was a student of Charles Bruck at the Pierre Monteux School in Hancock, Maine.
Yahr is a Board Certified Music Therapist, recently earning her MA in music therapy from NYU and post-graduate certification from the world renowned Nordoff-Robbins Center for Music Therapy in NYC. She has pioneered a community music therapy project called Together in Music; an innovative concert series dedicated to bringing orchestral music to the special needs community. In 2016 she leads the Ridgefield Symphony in the world premiere of Chris Brubeck’s Sphere of Influence, featuring SPHERE Performing Arts Group, a chorus of adults with a range of intellectual disabilities. Yahr is also a conducting coach on the Golden Globe-winning Amazon Prime series Mozart in the Jungle.
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