ORPHEUS CHAMBER ORCHESTRA TO HOLD ITS ANNUAL SPRING GALA
ON APRIL 26, 2016 AT THE METROPOLITAN CLUB
IN HONOR OF PATRICIA AND CARLOS J. ARDILA
NEW YORK, NY (February 16, 2016)—On Tuesday, April 26, 2016, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra will celebrate its Annual Gala at the Metropolitan Club, honoring Patricia and Carlos Julio Ardila for their generous leadership and philanthropy to the arts and education. This black-tie evening will include a private Orpheus performance featuring cellist Santiago Cañón and baritone Christopher Dylan Herbert, with cocktails, seated dinner, and silent auction. The occasion will benefit Orpheus’ ongoing commitment to provide performances and engagement activities of the highest caliber to communities worldwide, including the orchestra’s long-time educational initiative, Access Orpheus.
As founding sponsors of the Cartagena International Music Festival, Patricia and Carlos J. Ardila have been instrumental in supporting Orpheus’ recent multiple performances in South America. For over 25 years, Orpheus has been proud to tour South America. The orchestra recently returned from celebrating the 10th Anniversary of this Festival, serving as artistic advisor and resident orchestra. Orpheus musicians were delighted to share their music-making and collaborative process with audiences through performances with artists such as Maxim Vengerov and Anne Akiko Meyers, among others. The orchestra also once again engaged music students, competitively selected from all over Colombia, with coachings, masterclasses, rehearsal invitations, and public discussions. It is thanks to Mr. and Mrs. Ardila’s support that Orpheus has built this strong relationship with the country of Colombia.
In addition, Orpheus is thrilled to recognize the many other ways Patricia and Carlos J. Ardila continue to contribute to arts, culture, and education initiatives internationally. Mrs. Ardila has always been interested in promoting education as a form of combating poverty, and believes in the power of culture to grow society as a whole. She and her husband have helped to foster such artistic institutions as the Cartagena Hay Festival, the Cartagena International Music Festival, the First Contemporary Art Biennale, the Cartagena International Film Festival, the National Short Story Competition, and the “Chess in the Park” program. The National Short Story Competition has been recognized by the United Nations as an outstanding public-private partnership with far-reaching impacts in the academic community. The “Chess in the Park” program, which organizes city-wide tournaments in public parks and plazas, began 10 years ago in Cartagena and has since spread to other major cities in the country. Mr. Ardila is also actively involved in cultural and social organizations such as Fundación para la Investigación y Desarrollo de la Educación Especial (FIDES), and the Council of the Americas.
The Honorary Gala Co-Chairs are Kathy Sloane, a leading Manhattan broker with the firm Brown Harris Stevens, Elizabeth Newman, Philanthropist and Trustee Emeritus of Orpheus, and Martha Stewart, an American businesswoman, writer, and television personality.
Orpheus Chamber Orchestra
43rd Season Gala
Tuesday, April 26, 2016
The Metropolitan Club
One East Sixtieth Street
New York, NY 10022
Orpheus Chamber Orchestra
The 2015-16 season marks Orpheus Chamber Orchestra’s 43rd year of making internationally acclaimed music, from classical to contemporary, while reinventing the way individuals and organizations across the world think about collaboration, outreach, and democratic leadership. Performing without a conductor, Orpheus integrates musicians into virtually every facet of the organization, including artistic and administrative decisions, by rotating musical leadership roles for each piece and running open forum rehearsals. With over 70 albums, collaborations with leading contemporary soloists, and more than 40 commissioned works as part of its history, Orpheus strives to expand the repertoire for chamber orchestra and continues to develop its international reputation through innovative projects and tours to Europe, Asia, and South America.
Orpheus is renowned for its distinctive curation of world-renowned soloists, new commissions, as well as iconic and rarely heard works. The orchestra’s Signature Series at Carnegie Hall this season has included the premiere of Wolfgang Rihm’s “Duo Concerto” for violin, cello, and orchestra, commissioned for Orpheus by the Friends of Dresden Music Foundation and performed with soloists Jan Vogler and Mira Wang; the Orpheus debut of violinist Augustin Hadelich with a newly commissioned arrangement by composer Dmitry Sitkovetsky; and pianist Khatia Buniatishvili with another Orpheus commissioned arrangement by Paul Chihara. This Season’s final concert at Carnegie Hall features the long-awaited collaboration between Orpheus and violinist Pinchas Zukerman on a program that includes the premiere of an Orpheus-commissioned work, Vision Machine, by Harold Meltzer as part of the orchestra’s American Notes program. The season also brings Orpheus to four continents, as the orchestra tours to Germany, Colombia, and Japan, and performs across North America with concerts in Davis, Santa Barbara and Sonoma, CA; Palm Beach and Sarasota, FL; East Lansing, MI; Kansas City, MO; and Toronto, ON; among other cities.
The Orpheus Process™, an original method that places democracy at the center of artistic execution, has been the focus of studies at Harvard, and of leadership seminars at Morgan Stanley and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Hospital, among others. This approach is the basis of two education and engagement programs: Access Orpheus, which provides free learning opportunities, including in-class visits, tickets, and educational material, for over 2,500 New York City public school students each year; and the Orpheus Institute, which teaches experiential training in collective leadership to the next generation of musicians, university students, musical entrepreneurs, and business leaders, through residencies at select universities and conservatories that have included Dartmouth College, the Interlochen Arts Academy, the University of Connecticut, and the University of Maryland.
Reaching close to 2,000 school children, the orchestra’s award-winning Access Orpheus program engages public school students from all five boroughs through in-class visits, invitations to working rehearsals, and free tickets to Orpheus performances at Carnegie Hall. For many, this is their first opportunity to experience a live classical music concert.
Orpheus is proud to expand Access Orpheus to communities on tour, nationally and internationally, from middle school students in Sendai, Japan, to the National Youth orchestra in Cartagena, Colombia. By engaging youth in the orchestra’s distinctive democratic process, Orpheus serves as an American ambassador of culture and artistry. Gala support allows us to provide worldwide powerful artistic experiences to young people throughout the season.
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