NYRO's Annual Benefit Concert with NY Phil. Principals Sheryl Staples and Cynthia Phelps - Oct. 18

MANHATTAN, N.Y. - Sept. 17, 2014 - PRLog -- Making her New York Repertory Orchestra debut, New York Philharmonic Concertmaster Sheryl Staples is joined by her colleague (and returning NYRO soloist), New York Philharmonic Principal Violist, Cynthia Phelps. These two virtuosos join forces to perform a true masterpiece: the Sinfonia Concertante by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

This is a one-night-only opportunity to hear two great of New York's top musicians perform together in music that is, by turns, majestic, heart breaking, and effervescent!

...and what follows a masterpiece from one musical era better than another masterpiece from another era?

Shostakovich's epic Symphony No. 10, one of his most important works, holds its own modern mirror up to Mozart, and brings the program to its staggering and shattering close.

It will be a night to remember and a great opportunity to support NYRO!

● Date: Saturday, October 18, 2014 

● Time: 8:00pm 

● Place: Church of St. Mary the Virgin

● Address: 145 West 46th Street (between 6th & 7th Avenues) 



Admission: $10 at the door (...it's a benefit, after all)


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PROGRAM:



● W.A. Mozart: Sinfonia Concertante 

● Dmitri Shostakovich: Symphony No. 10



Sheryl Staples: violin

Cynthia Phelps: viola

David Leibowitz: conductor

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For complete info: http://www.nyro.org

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MORE ABOUT OUR SOLOISTS:

Violinist SHERYL STAPLES joined the New York Philharmonic as Principal Associate Concertmaster in September 1998 and was named Acting Concertmaster in 2014. She has performed as soloist with more than 40 orchestras nationwide, including the Cleveland Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Diego Symphony, Pacific Symphony, Albany Symphony, and Louisiana Philharmonic. She made her solo debut with Kurt Masur and the New York Philharmonic in 1999, performing Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto, and has since performed concertos of Mendelssohn, Mozart and Haydn.


At the age of 26, Ms. Staples was appointed associate concertmaster of The Cleveland Orchestra, a position she held for three years. She taught at the Cleveland Institute of Music, Encore School for Strings, and Kent/Blossom Music Festival, and was a member of the Cleveland Orchestra Piano Trio. Previously, in Southern California, she was concertmaster of the Pacific Symphony and the Santa Barbara Chamber Orchestra, and held faculty positions at the University of Southern California and the Colburn School of Performing Arts. Currently on leave from the Manhattan School of Music, Ms. Staples has recently joined the faculty of The Juilliard School, teaching orchestral excerpts.

 Ms. Staples performs on the "Kartman" Guarnerius del Gesu, c.1728.



"Not only does CYNTHIA PHELPS produce one of the richest, deepest viola timbres in the world, she is a superb musician" (Seattle Post-Intelligencer). Principal Violist of the New York Philharmonic, Ms. Phelps has distinguished herself both here and abroad as one of the leading instrumentalists of our time. The recipient of numerous honors and awards, including the 1988 Pro Musicis International Award and first prize at both the Lionel Tertis International Viola Competition and the Washington International String Competition, she has captivated audiences with her compelling solo and chamber music performances. She is "a performer of top rank...the sounds she drew were not only completely unproblematical --technically faultless, generously nuanced-- but sensuously breathtaking" (The Boston Globe).

Ms. Phelps performs throughout the world as soloist with orchestras, including the Minnesota Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, San Diego Symphony, Orquesta Sinfonica de Bilbao, and Hong Kong Philharmonic. She has appeared in recital in Paris, Rome, Los Angeles, Boston and Washington, and at New York's Alice Tully Hall, London's Wigmore Hall, and St. David's Hall in Cardiff, Wales. She has also been heard on National Public Radio's St. Paul Sunday Morning, Radio France, and RAI in Italy, and has been featured on The MacNeil/Lehrer News Hour, and CBS Sunday Morning.


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MORE ABOUT NYRO's Music Director:
Conductor David Leibowitz has garnered international acclaim for his work on the concert, opera, and ballet stage and is celebrated for his innovative programming and exciting performances.

Mr. Leibowitz is the Music Director and founder of the award-winning New York Repertory Orchestra. In addition to world and local premieres, some recent highlights of his tenure 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 commissioned, worked with, and performed premieres by some of the most important composers of our time.

From 2003-2013, Mr. Leibowitz held the post of Principal Conductor with the Massapequa Philharmonic Orchestra. He conducts the New York Opera Exchange and is on the conducting faculty of the Westchester Summer Vocal Institute and the International Opera Institute at the Maud Powell Music Festival. For many years, Mr. Leibowitz was on the conducting staff of the Rome Festival Opera (Italy), leading opera, ballet, and concert performances, and was the Orchestra Director of the Siena (Italy) Summer Music Festival. Recently, he led the Weill Cornell Music and Medicine Orchestra and Chorus in a critically acclaimed performance of the Mozart Requiem.

Throughout the United States and Europe, he has directed such ensembles as the Pleven Philharmonic (Bulgaria), the Orchester Pro Arte (Vienna), Illinois Valley Symphony Orchestra, the Bach Festival Orchestra (Princeton, NJ), and the University of Wyoming (Laramie) Symphony Orchestra.

He regularly conducts the New York Opera Exchange and over the past two seasons has led productions of Mozart's Don Giovanni, Gounod's Romeo and Juliet, Verdi's La Traviata, and, this November, Strauss' Die Fledermaus. Also in the NYC area, Mr. Leibowitz has conducted the Astoria Symphony, Manhattan Chamber Orchestra, Greenwich Village Orchestra, Brooklyn Symphony Orchestra, Centre Symphony Orchestra, New York Festival Singers, Litha Orchestra, and Music at St. Paul’s (Columbia University).