The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia Announces its 2013 - 2014 Concert Season

PHILADELPHIA, PA, March 16, 2013 (Press-News.org) Guest Conductors include James Judd, Matthias Bamert and Conductor Laureate Ignat Solzhenitsyn.

Soloists include HJ Lim, Pablo Sainz Villegas, Miho Saegusa, Catherine Michel, Jeffrey Khaner and Esther Yoo.

A World Premiere Harp Concerto by Grammy-nominated and Academy Award and Golden Globe-winning composer Michel Legrand.

Single tickets as low as $24 in the Perelman Theater.

Season includes a special performance in the Kimmel Center's Verizon Hall with works featuring the Fred J. Cooper Memorial Organ.

A founding resident company of The Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia is excited to announce its 2013-2014 concert season. In his fourth season as Music Director, Maestro Dirk Brosse pairs an impressive lineup of guest artists - from the rising stars to the inspiring veterans of the classical world - with an engaging repertoire of music that amasses works beloved, forgotten, traditional, and new. From September 2013 through May 2014, the Chamber Orchestra will perform seven concert programs as part of its subscription series. Six concert pairs will be performed in the Kimmel Center's intimate Perelman Theater, with a seventh program held in Verizon Hall, for a performance that features the Kimmel Center's Fred J. Cooper Memorial Organ, the largest concert hall organ in the country.

Mendelssohn - Beethoven - September 15 & 16, 2013
Featuring Pianist HJ Lim
Music Director Dirk Brosse inaugurates the Chamber Orchestra's 2013-2014 season with a fresh program that opens with 17-year-old Mendelssohn's A Midsummer Night's Dream: Overture, Op. 21, hailed as "the greatest marvel of early maturity that the world has ever seen in music" by respected English 18th century music critic George Grove.

Composed a few years after his overture, Mendelssohn's Piano Concerto No. 1 in G minor, Op. 25 is next on the program, featuring EMI Classics artist HJ Lim on piano. At age 24, Ms. Lim became the youngest artist to ever record the Beethoven complete sonatas. In 2012, she became the first and only classical pianist to debut at number 1 on Billboard Classical Overall Chart and Classical iTunes Charts in the United States and Canada.

The Chamber Orchestra's season opener concludes with Beethoven's Symphony No. 4 in B-flat major, Op. 60. Premiered in March 1807, the piece was so beloved that French romantic composer Hector Berlioz claimed the symphony's 2nd movement was not the work of a mortal, but rather that of the Archangel Michael.

Mendelssohn - Villa-Lobos - November 10 & 11, 2013
Featuring Conductor James Judd and Guitarist Pablo Sainz Villegas
The British-born Maestro James Judd, who currently serves as Artistic Director of Miami Music Project, and Music Director Emeritus of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, opens the Chamber Orchestra's program with Elgar's Serenade in E minor, Op. 20. It is believed to be a reworking of a suite Elgar had written earlier before he decided on a career as a composer and is among the most frequently performed of Elgar's music.

Villa-Lobos' Concerto for Guitar and Small Orchestra, A. 501, composed for Andres Segovia in 1951, is one of the more popular works for classical guitar. The soloist, Pablo Sainz Villegas, is one of the world's leading classical guitarists. He has won more than 30 international awards, including the Gold Medal at the first Christopher Parkening International Guitar Competition and the Andres Segovia Award.

Maestro Judd closes the program with young Mendelssohn's Sinfonia No. 9 in C major ("Swiss"). The teenaged composer wrote the piece as part of a series of 12 symphonies for string orchestra, with "Swiss" being one of several pieces he wrote in honor of Switzerland.

Handel - Rheinberger - Brosse - January 19, 2014
Featuring Concertmaster Miho Saegusa
The 2013-2014 season continues in the new year with Music Director Dirk Brosse taking the podium in Verizon Hall. He leads a performance that intertwines the brilliance of the Fred J. Cooper Memorial Organ with the charm and intimacy of a chamber orchestra.

The program begins with Handel's Alessandro: Overture, HWV 21, from his 1738 opera Alessandro Severo. The piece exhibits the composer's talents at the pinnacle of his career, but is, in current times, one of his least performed operas.

The rich sound of the Fred J. Cooper Memorial Organ combines with the orchestra for the next three works on the program. Handel's Organ Concerto in G minor, Op. 4, No. 1 is part of six organ concertos for chamber organ and orchestra. A relatively new work, Paulus' Concerto for Organ, Strings and Percussion, was premiered in March 1992 and in the same year presented at the American Guild of Organists National Convention. Jongen's Hymne, Op. 78 follows; performed on this occasion for organ and string orchestra, but originally scored for harmonium and piano.

Maestro Brosse next leads the orchestra in a performance of his own work, Black, White and In Between, that features another one of our own, Concertmaster Miho Saegusa, as soloist. Ms. Saegusa was the first-ever recipient of the Dorothy DeLay fellowship at the Aspen Music Festival, and has won prizes at the New Jersey Symphony Young Artist Auditions, the Wieniawski-Lipinski International Competition, and the Yehudi Menuhin International Competition, among others.

The Fred J. Cooper Memorial Organ reenters the program for the final piece, Rheinberger's Organ Concerto No. 2 in G minor, Op. 177. Rarely performed, this beautiful and melodic concerto closes out a program that is not to be missed.

Haydn - Legrand - February 9 & 10, 2014
Featuring Harpist Catherine Michel
Maestro Brosse and the Chamber Orchestra return to the Perelman Theater, opening with a piece by one of the most important French composers and music theorists of the Baroque Era, Rameau's Suite for Strings.

Commissioned by The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, next on the program is a World Premiere Harp Concerto by Grammy-nominated and Academy Award and Golden Globe-winning composer Michel Legrand. Soloist for the piece, world-renowned harpist Catherine Michel, has won Gold Medals and Grand Prizes from some of the world's most prestigious international harp competitions.

The final piece of the program is, fittingly, the final symphony written by Haydn, Symphony No. 104 in D major ("London"), which was composed and premiered in 1795. Reverently dubbed the "Father of the Symphony," the piece was the last of his twelve London Symphonies and perhaps his greatest contributions to Classical genre.

All Mozart - March 23 & 24, 2014
Featuring Guest Conductor Matthias Bamert and Flutist Jeffrey Khaner
Maestro Matthias Bamert, Swiss composer, conductor and former Music Director of the London Mozart Players and the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra, joins the Chamber Orchestra for a program that celebrates the most influential composer of the Classical Era.

The program commences with the young Mozart's Symphony No. 17 in G major, K. 129 - the second of three symphonies written in May 1772 when the composer was just 16 years old.

Mozart's Flute Concerto No. 2 in D major, K. 314 is in fact an adaptation of his oboe concerto. Mozart reworked the piece for flute in 1778 (after commission from a Dutch flutist) and the concerto has since become a widely studied piece for both instruments. Joining the Chamber Orchestra as soloist for the concerto is flutist Jeffrey Khaner. In addition to soloing with orchestras worldwide, Mr. Khaner has served as Principal Flute of The Philadelphia Orchestra since 1990, and has held previous principal positions with the Cleveland Orchestra, New York Mostly Mozart Festival, and the Atlantic Symphony.

Crowning a program of eminent works is Mozart's Symphony No. 40 in G minor, K. 550. It was one of the final three symphonies he composed (along with Nos. 39 and 41), written during the summer of 1788. Frequently referred to as the "Great G minor Symphony," it is one of Mozart's most admired works.

Schumann - Haydn - April 6 & 7, 2014
Featuring Conductor Laureate and Pianist Ignat Solzhenitsyn
An always anticipated occasion for audience and orchestra alike, Conductor Laureate Ignat Solzhenitsyn returns to the podium in the Perelman Theater. He opens with Schumann's Introduction and Allegro, Op. 92, a performance that will undoubtedly brim with the passion, panache and vivacity Maestro Solzhenitsyn's play/conduct performances unfailingly deliver.

Following is the piece that brought Britten to international attention. Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge, Op. 10 was composed as a tribute to Britten's teacher, Frank Bridge, with the dedication "to F.B. A tribute with affection and admiration," and was later arranged for several ballets.

Maestro Solzhenitsyn concludes his visit with Haydn's Symphony No. 94 in G major ("Surprise"). Haydn incorporated many "jokes" into his music and his most famous joke occurs in the second movement of the "Surprise" Symphony. A sudden fortissimo chord occurs at the end of a soft opening theme, with the music resuming its quiet dynamic immediately after. Haydn explained the reasoning for this specific "joke" was to surprise audiences with a piece that was brilliant and new, so as to not be outdone by his student who made a premiere with a London orchestra just one week prior to the "Surprise" Symphony's debut.

All Tchaikovsky - May 5 & 6, 2014
Featuring Violinist Esther Yoo
The 2013-2014 concert season ends on a high note with a spectacular program featuring two of the most well-known and loved works in the classical repertoire.

Under the baton of Music Director Dirk Brosse, the program opens with Tchaikovsky's Serenade in C major, Op. 48, one of the Romantic Era's most definitive compositions. Parts of the score have been used for ballets, television themes, and arranged for soprano and orchestra for film.

Violinist Esther Yoo, one of the youngest prizewinners of the International Jean Sibelius Violin Competition in 2010 and at the Queen Elisabeth Competition in 2012, joins the orchestra to perform Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 35. As one of the best known and most technically difficult works for the instrument, this rhythmic and climactic piece offers an exuberant conclusion to The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia's 2013-2014 concert season.

The Chamber Orchestra at Lincoln University
The 2013-2014 concert season begins The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia's new concert residency at Lincoln University. The orchestra will perform two programs on campus, with the Mendelssohn | Villa-Lobos program on November 12, 2013 and the Haydn | Legrand program on February 11, 2014.

The Chamber Orchestra at the Philadelphia Art Alliance
The Chamber Orchestra holds Friday Conversations at the Philadelphia Art Alliance on the Friday evening prior to select concerts. Join in conversation with Music Director Dirk Brosse and our talented guest artists as we delve into their backgrounds and explore their inspirations. Afterwards, guests chat and mingle with the artists over complimentary wine and snacks. Friday Conversations is broadcast live on brandywineradio.com.

The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia Broadcasts
The Chamber Orchestra continues its collaborations with both WRTI and SpectiCast in the new concert season. Tune in to WRTI-FM at 5pm on the third Sunday of every month to hear concerts recorded live in the Kimmel Center's intimate Perelman Theater. Through SpectiCast, the Chamber Orchestra continues to bring high-definition and enhanced definition performances from its season to the screen, made available for viewing at local theaters and venues nationwide. In the 2013-2014 season, the Chamber Orchestra presents a new initiative, in partnership with Naxos Video Library, that will allow video recordings of full-length Chamber Orchestra concerts to be streamed online with a subscription to the Naxos Video Library.

The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia Live Concert Recordings
Continuing the latest initiative, begun during the 2012-2013 season, live concert recordings of the 2013-2014 season, as well as previous seasons, will be available for purchase in MP3 format on classicsonline.com and itunes.com, and in FLAC format on PrestoClassical.co.uk.

Tickets and Subscriptions
Subscriptions to the concert series in the Perelman Theater are available starting at $115 for "All-Sunday" and "All-Monday" season passes, with subscribers saving up to 17% over purchasing single tickets. Chamber Orchestra subscribers receive many benefits, including free exchanges and ticket insurance, a 20% discount on additional ticket purchases, early notification of next season's repertoire, and exclusive restaurant offers for local restaurants. Subscription orders can be made over the phone at 215.545.1739, online at www.chamberorchestra.org, or via mail/fax using the subscription form that can be downloaded at chamberorchestra.org.

Student All-Season Pass
Available to college students 30 and under for just $25, this pass gives access to every concert of the subscription season. Student All-Season Pass holders receive full subscriber benefits, as well as free attendance to one open rehearsal, free attendance to one pre-concert Beyond the Baton brunch with the Music Director, and eligibility to purchase up to 3 additional student tickets (per concert) at $10 each.

Young Adult All-Season Pass
Available to adults 35 and under for just $75, this pass gives access to every concert of the subscription season. Young Adult All-Season Pass holders receive free attendance to one open rehearsal and one post-concert event, as well as receiving the full benefits offered to standard subscribers.

Individual tickets range from $24 - $81 in price, and become available for purchase in late August.