New York Repertory Orchestra Opens Season with Music of Roussel, Piazzolla, and Nielsen!

Sept. 23, 2010 - PRLog -- Music by Roussel, Piazzolla, and Nielsen are on the program as The New York Repertory Orchestra kicks off the 2010-2011 season!

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Date: Saturday, October 23, 2010
Time: 8:00pm
Place: Church of St. Mary the Virgin (145 West 46th Street - between 6th & 7th Avenues)
Admission: FREE

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Here's the complete program:

Albert Roussel: Concerto for Small Orchestra
Astor Piazzolla: Las Cuatro Estaciones Porteñas (The Four Season of Buenos Aires) - Olivier Fluchaire, violin
Carl Nielsen: Symphony No. 4 ("Inextinguishable")

David Leibowitz, conductor

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More about the program:

NYRO's new season starts with the music of Danish composer Carl Nielsen and his monumental Symphony No. 4 ("Inextinguishable"). Written during the desperate days of World War I, the composer set out to write a work that was capable of expressing, to the full, "The elemental Will of Life." Nielsen tried to indicate in one word, Inextinguishable, that which music alone is capable of expressing.

To open the program, and somewhat more light-hearted, is the the witty, acerbic, and sometimes poignant, Concerto for Small Orchestra by Albert Roussel. This delightful orchestral miniature, packed with charm and wry humor, bounces along with infectious good cheer.

Argentine composer Astor Piazzolla wrote his Las 4 Estaciones Porteñas (The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires) as an homage to Vivaldi's eternally popular masterpiece of similar name. You'll hear traces of the Vivaldi original, but through the sultry, tango-laden atmosphere of South American music hall jazz. Olé!

In addition, we are very pleased to welcome, as soloist in the Piazzolla, and for the first time on the NYRO stage, virtuoso violinist Olivier Fluchaire! Please make sure to mark your calendar for this memorable performance.

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More about the season:

In 2010-2011 NYRO will, as always, present great music, fantastic soloists, and the wonderful playing of New York's finest all-volunteer, community-based orchestra -- the New York Repertory Orchestra!

True to NYRO's mission, our concerts are free and open to everyone in the community. Performing for the second full season at the magnificent Church of St. Mary the Virgin, this season continues NYRO's tradition of unforgettable musical experiences.

This year, we will bring you inspiring music by Barber, Beethoven, Berlioz, Humperdinck, Janácek, Martinu, Nielsen, Piazzolla, Rachmaninoff, Rimsky-Korsakov, Roussel, Schumann, and Tubin, plus two NYRO world premiere commissions by New York composers Raphael Fusco and Steven Rosenhaus. All this, along with the world-class soloists you've come to expect at NYRO concerts, and we have a recipe for our best season to date!

It's going to be a fantastic season: exciting music, amazing soloists, a beautiful concert venue, and the vital and exciting playing of the New York Repertory Orchestra.

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More about the soloist, violinist Olivier Fluchaire:

French-born violinist Olivier Fluchaire won his first international competition at the age of 11. Two years later, upon receiving his Premier Prix from the Grenoble Conservatory, he entered London’s prestigious Yehudi Menuhin School. At the Menuhin School, he had the privilege of studying with Lord Menuhin himself and in 1991, performed J.S. Bach’s Concerto for Two Violins with Maestro Menuhin at the Montpellier Opera House, France.  By the time he arrived in America in 1992, he had already concertized in Austria, England, France, Belgium, Lithuania and Russia.

Mr. Fluchaire gave his New York recital debut in Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall in 2001 as winner of the Artists International Competition. Following engagements with the French Philharmonia Orchestra, Bachanalia Orchestra, Jupiter Symphony, Hunter Symphony, Orchestra of the Bronx and the Camerata Lisy, he has recorded for the Vox and Keuka Labels, as well as Radio France, MDR Leipzig, “The Listening Room with Robert Sherman,” WQXR-FM, National Public Radio and the BBC Television, Bronxnet Television, National Educational Television and France 3 Television.

Olivier Fluchaire has performed chamber music concerts alongside members of the Guarneri, American, and Emerson string quartets, as well as Martin Canin, Nina Beilina, Mark Peskanov and Anthony McGill and is a founding member of the New York String Quartet. An ardent champion of new music, he has premiered works by standing composers such as Toshi Ichiyanagi, Samuel Adler, Nils Vigeland, David Keberle, Mathew Harris, Gerald Chenoweth, Lethat Klein and Elias Tanenbaum.

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More about Music Director David Leibowitz:

Celebrated for his innovative programming and exciting performances, conductor David Leibowitz has achieved international acclaim for his work on the concert, opera, and ballet stage.

Mr. Leibowitz is the Music Director/Conductor and founder of the award-winning New York Repertory Orchestra NYRO. Some recent highlights of his tenure there have been a fully staged production of Mozart’s Abduction from the Seraglio and a landmark performance of Mahler’s epic Symphony No. 3. As an avid fan and champion of today’s music he has both commissioned and performed local and world premieres by some of today’s most important composers; such as Eduard Tubin, Harold Farberman, Paul Moravec, Stephen Dembski, John Schwabe, Salvador Brotons, William Dickerson, and Terry Pender.

Since 2003 Mr. Leibowitz has held the post of Principal Conductor with the Massapequa Philharmonic Orchestra (NY) and is the Orchestra Director at City College of New York. Recently, he directed the orchestra of the Siena (Italy) Summer Music program and from 2003-2007 was on the conducting staff of the Rome Festival Opera (Italy), leading opera, ballet, and concert performances. He is also on the staff of the International Opera Institute at the Maud Powell Music Festival Maud Powell Music Festival. (IL). Recent operatic highlights include performances of Mozart’s Cosi fan Tutte, Don Giovanni, and Le nozze di Figaro, Donizetti’s L’Elisir d’amore, Bizet’s Carmen, and Humperdinck’s Hänsel und Gretel, all to critical acclaim.

Throughout the United States, Mexico, and Europe he has directed such ensembles as the Pleven Philharmonic (Bulgaria), the Orchester Pro Arte (Vienna), the Masterplayers Orchestra (Switzerland), the Orquestra Sinfonico de la Ciudad de Mexico, the Bach Festival Orchestra (Princeton, NJ), and the Brooklyn Opera and Dance Theater. Critics hailed his performances with the Pleven Philharmonic as “passionate and exciting.”

In the New York City area, he has conducted the Greenwich Village Orchestra, Brooklyn Symphony Orchestra, Centre Symphony Orchestra, Sound Symphony Orchestra, and Music at St. Paul’s (Columbia University). He has been invited back to those ensembles and venues repeatedly. Mr. Leibowitz conducted the Third Street Philharmonia at the Third Street Music School Settlement in New York City from 2003-2005 and he has worked as a conductor and coach with many student and youth orchestras, including the Maud Powell Music Festival Orchestra, the Brooklyn College Orchestra, and the Gemini Youth Orchestra.

Mr. Leibowitz received his MA in Performance Practice, Summa Cum Laude, from the City University of New York’s Conservatory of Music at Brooklyn College. His main studies were in performance, musicology, and composition. He was awarded a teaching fellowship and was named a Presidential Scholar of the University. He has continued his conducting studies with, among others, Herbert Blomstedt, Carlo Maria Giulini, and Jacques-Louis Monod.

Mr. Leibowitz was a finalist in the International Masterplayers’ Conducting Competition in Lugano, Switzerland in 1986. David Leibowitz was recently given the “Gift to the City” award from the Omega Ensemble of New York for his ongoing contributions to the musical life of New York City.

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The award-winning New York Repertory Orchestra, NYC's leading all-volunteer orchestra, is composed of talented professional and amateur musicians and presents a series of free concerts each season. Founded in 1991, NYRO strives for exciting performances, provocative programs and the highest artistic level. These qualities have become the hallmarks of this exceptional ensemble.

In 2002, NYRO was invited by Columbia University to perform the Brahms Requiem in a memorial concert for 9/11 as a participant in the Columbia Remembers program. In addition to its regular season at the Church of St. Mary the Virgin, NYRO has participated in the Music at St. Paul’s series at Columbia University and at the Music Festival of the Hamptons. NYRO has performed in the Chinese New Year Global Gala at Radio City Music Hall, broadcast worldwide by NTD Television and was recently given the Omega Ensemble of New York's "Gift to the City" award for ongoing contributions to the musical life of New York.