ORPHEUS CHAMBER ORCHESTRA ANNOUNCES 2014-15 CARNEGIE HALL SEASON

NEW YORK, NY (March 4, 2014)—Orpheus Chamber Orchestra today announced its 42nd season at Carnegie Hall, which opens on Thursday, October 23. This four-concert season highlights Orpheus’ ongoing efforts to explore new musical territory—through commissions and working with an ever-expanding catalogue of guest soloists—while continuing to offer the highest-level performances of standard works for chamber orchestra. The 2014-15 season includes three world premieres of Orpheus-commissioned works by Timothy Andres, Anna Clyne, and Fazil Say. Mr. Say will also perform a piano concerto with Orpheus as part of this season’s roster of guest soloists, which includes pianist Jonathan Biss and violinists Augustin Dumay and Jennifer Koh. Full concert details are listed below. Subscriptions can be purchased from www.orpheusnyc.org, and single tickets may be purchased from www.carnegiehall.org beginning in September.

Executive Director Krishna Thiagarajan said, “With programs that test the boundaries of what a chamber orchestra is capable of, this season represents what Orpheus does best. Not only does the orchestra reliably perform at the highest caliber, but our musicians continue to surprise and inspire audiences with unexpected repertoire, world-premiere performances, and collaborations with world-class soloists.”

Orpheus opens its season at Carnegie Hall on October 23 with a performance of Ellen Taaffe Zwilich’s Prologue and Variations in celebration of the Pulitzer Prize-winning composer’s 75th birthday season. Pianist Jonathan Biss, who has published a Kindle Single about Beethoven and is in the process of recording all 32 of the composer’s piano sonatas, returns to perform Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3. Mr. Biss is on the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music and teaches the online course Exploring Beethoven’s Piano Sonatas. The program also includes Poulenc’s Sinfonietta and Rossini’s Overture to Cambiale di Matrimonio.

On December 6 Orpheus continues its season with a program focusing on the Baroque and early Classical periods. The concert, which includes works by Corelli, Handel, and Mozart, features the Orpheus debut of violinist Jennifer Koh in a performance of Bach’s Violin Concerto in A minor. Ms. Koh is noted for her Bach and Beyond recording project as well as her marathon performances of Bach’s complete sonatas and partitas. Ms. Koh frequently collaborates with British composer Anna Clyne, who has written a new piece for Ms. Koh and Orpheus, to be given its world premiere performance during this concert.

French violinist Augustin Dumay also makes his debut appearance with Orpheus this season performing the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto during the third Carnegie Hall concert on February 7. Mr. Dumay gained international recognition in 1979 when he performed in Paris, at the request of Herbert von Karajan, and has since appeared on close to 40 recordings and performed with major orchestras around the world. Also on the program is the world premiere of a new work by Brooklyn-based composer Timothy Andres. Mr. Andres was a finalist for Orpheus’ Project 440, an initiative to identify rising talent among a new generation of composers. This concert includes Schubert’s Symphony No. 5 and Orpheus’ first performance of Orchestral Suite from Les Boréades by French Baroque composer Jean-Phillipe Rameau.

Orpheus’ final concert of the season at Carnegie Hall features Turkish pianist Fazil Say performing Mozart’s Piano Concerto in A Major, K. 488 on April 11. A graduate of the Berlin Conservatory of Music, Mr. Say was awarded first prize at the Young Concert Artists International Auditions in New York in 1995 and has since established a musical career as both a composer and pianist. On this program Orpheus also gives the world-premiere performance of a new work for chamber orchestra by Mr. Say. This concert opens with Wagner’s Siegfried Idyll and closes with Haydn’s Symphony No. 80 in D minor.

Orpheus Artistic Director Dov Scheindlin said, “From Rossini to Haydn, with a full range of musical style and emotion in-between, this season promises to be among our most musically exciting to date.”

Orpheus Chamber Orchestra has over its 41-year history revolutionized how audiences think about classical music and orchestral leadership. By abandoning traditional hierarchies, Orpheus conforms to a democratic model—holding rehearsals that encourage artistic discussion, rotating seating assignments for each piece, and performing works from the classical to contemporary repertoire without a conductor. The orchestra has recorded over 70 albums including the Grammy Award-winning Shadow Dances: Stravinsky Miniatures, and Orpheus released its first self-produced album featuring Beethoven’s fifth and seventh symphonies in early 2014. To date Orpheus has commissioned and premiered more than 40 original works. In addition to its annual concert series at Carnegie Hall, summer performances for the Naumburg Orchestral Concerts series, and national tours, Orpheus has established an international reputation with tours to Europe, Asia, and South America. The ensemble has trademarked its signature mode of operation with the Orpheus Institute, founded in 2003 to educate the next generation of musical entrepreneurs with recent residencies at the University of Maryland, University of Connecticut, Dartmouth College, and the Interlochen Arts Academy.

Orpheus’ educational outreach Access Orpheus program provides free learning opportunities for over 1,500 of New York City public school students each year. Schools in each of the five boroughs receive free classroom visits from Orpheus musicians, as well as free tickets and educational material for each of Orpheus’ Carnegie Hall concerts. Students are also invited to attend Orpheus’ open-forum rehearsals. For more information, visit www.orpheusnyc.com.

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