Conductor Courtney Lewis and Discovery Ensemble Present A Celebratory Spring Concert

Feb. 19, 2012 - PRLog -- Boston, MA--Conductor Courtney Lewis and his acclaimed Boston-based Discovery Ensemble will present their final 2011-2012 season concert at Jordan Hall, 30 Gainsborough Street at New England Conservatory of Music, on Friday, April 13 at 8:00 PM [pre-concert discussion begins at 7:00 PM.]  The program will be comprised of Beethoven’s Leonore Overture No. 2, Esa-Pekka Salonen's Mania, Debussy’s Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun and Mozart's Symphony No. 39.  

This final concert of the season begins in the mode of high drama with Beethoven’s Leonore Overture No. 2.   Although less frequently played than Leonore No. 3 it is, in fact, the more surprising of the overtures, finding Beethoven in his most experimental, exploratory mood.

The famous Finnish conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen is also one of the distinguished composers of our day.  His style is rather like a mixture of Debussy and Sibelius, spiced with a nervous streak.  Mania, for cello and small orchestra, is in one uninterrupted movement that traverses a great variety of moods, from uncomfortably thorny to almost sinfully sensuous and exotic, with the frenetic soloist moving ever forward to a surprising and electrifying conclusion.  Cellist Kacy Clopton, a performer of tremendous virtuosity and intensity, is an ideal exponent of this powerful and deeply rewarding piece.

Debussy’s beloved Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune was a seminal piece for Salonen’s musical development, so it seems appropriate to program it in conjunction with Mania.  It will be a new experience for the audience to hear this delicate work played by a chamber orchestra.

Closing the concert is that sunniest and most serene of classical symphonies, Mozart’s Symphony No. 39. Highly concentrated – more like the greatest of Mozart’s chamber works than most of the symphonies – it shows Mozart operating at his very highest level of inspiration and invention.

About Kacy Clopton:

Described by The Washington Post as “Poised, polished, and passionate,” Kacy Clopton began playing the cello at age five in her hometown of Charlottesville, Virginia.  Clopton served as the principal cellist of Discovery Ensemble for two seasons, 2008 – 2010.

Clopton recently received a Masters of Music Degree from the New England Conservatory where she also won the 2010 Strings Concerto Competition.

She has performed frequently at Jordan Hall and Sanders Theatre, at the Millennium Stage and the Terrace Theatre at the Kennedy Center, the National Gallery of Art Concert Series, and at the Smithsonian Institute, in Washington, D.C.

Ms. Clopton is a passionate and active chamber musician and she currently resides in Lucerne, Switzerland where she is pursuing a career with her string quartet, the Excelsa Quartet.  The quartet has won several prestigious chamber music awards including first prize at the Charles Hennen International Chamber Music Competition in the Netherlands and the Prix du “Jeune Jury” et Prix du Public at the Illzach International Chamber Music Competition in France.

Ticket information:

Reserved seat tickets at $35, $28 and $20 are available now at www.tix.com and at the Jordan Hall Box office at 30 Gainsborough Street, Boston, MA 02115.  Tickets for students and seniors with identification will be available at a discount of $10.00 in all price ranges. Free student tickets are also available for this concert! Go to www.discoveryensemble.com for more information.  Jordan Hall is wheelchair accessible.

About Courtney Lewis:  

Courtney Lewis, the 27-year-old Conductor and Music Director of Boston’s Discovery Ensemble, Dudamel Fellow with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Associate Conductor of the Minnesota Orchestra is jubilant at being able to achieve his lifelong passion for conducting great music with some of the world’s finest orchestras and at the same time conduct and oversee his own orchestra, Discovery Ensemble, based here in Boston.

Quickly becoming recognized as one of today’s top emerging international talents, Lewis is not only Founder and Music Director of Boston’s acclaimed Discovery Ensemble, a chamber orchestra with the mission of introducing inner-city school children to classical music while bringing new and unusual repertoire to established concert audiences, but he was also recently promoted to Associate Conductor of the Minnesota Orchestra, where he regularly conducts Young People’s concerts, outdoor concerts, and other performances.  He made his Minnesota Orchestra subscription debut in November 2011 with a fully-staged production of Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel, and conducted music of Walton, Elgar and Schumann on further subscription concerts of in February 2012.

In November 2008 Lewis made his major American orchestra debut with the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra. In addition, he has also worked with the BBC Philharmonic as well as smaller groups including the Nash Ensemble. Recent engagements include a return to the St. Louis Symphony and successful debuts with the Ulster Orchestra and the New Hampshire Music Festival.

This past summer, Lewis made his debut at the Sewanee Music Festival and returned to the the British Isles and the Ulster Orchestra for a series of BBC Radio 3 invitation concerts including the New Generation Artists and Discovering Music series.  Lewis will also appear on the Ulster Orchestra’s main subscription series in spring of 2012. Other upcoming debuts include the RTE National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland and the Atlanta Symphony.

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