Orchestra of St. Luke’s Begins 2011/12 Season At Carnegie Hall

By: Nov. 10, 2011
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Orchestra of St. Luke's (OSL) long-running Carnegie Hall series begins this season on December 15, 2011 with an imaginative holiday program pairing J.S. Bach with Olivier Messiaen. Acclaimed for his creative programming, Robert Spano leads OSL along with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chamber Chorus, soprano Susanna Phillips, mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke, tenor Nicholas Phan, baritone Joshua Hopkins and instrumental soloists pianist Margaret Kampmeier and ondist Jean Laurendeau.

OSL opens its program with Bach's buoyant "Brandenburg" Concerto No. 3, which spotlights the ensemble's excellent string players. OSL has received high praise for its past performances of Bach's "Brandenburg" Concerts, including a 2003 studio recording of all six concertos, released on the ensemble's own record label St. Luke's Collection.

OSL will then perform Messiaen's Trois petites liturgies de la Présence Divine, which presents Messiaen's original sacred text with an arresting array of harmonic and timbral colors supplied by strings, percussion, piano, ondes Martenot, celesta, vibraphone and the women's chorus of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chamber Chorus. Pianist Margaret Kampmeier and ondist Jean Laurendeau perform as instrumental soloists in this stunning musical rarity.

The Bach Magnificat completes OSL's first concert of its Carnegie Hall 2011/2012 Series, conveying the festive spirit of the holiday season and displaying the range of Bach's genius in full bloom in this sacred choral work. Based on the canticle of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the work was written by Bach for his first Christmas as music director of St. Thomas Church in Leipzig. Four vibrant, young American vocalists soprano Susanna Phillips, mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke, tenor Nicholas Phan and baritone Joshua Hopkins will perform the work's arias, with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chamber Chorus singing the choral movements.

OSL's 2011/2012 Carnegie Hall season continues on February 16, 2012, when OSL will welcome back its first music director Sir Roger Norrington to perform Haydn's Symphony No. 39 in G minor, Mozart's Symphony No. 39 in E-flat Major and Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 1 in C Major with piano soloist Jeremy Denk. On April 12, 2012 OSL also reunites with celebrated conductor Iván Fischer to perform an all-Mozart program that includes the Requiem and Symphony No. 34 along with soprano Dominique Labelle, mezzo-soprano Kelley O'Connor, tenor Joseph Kaiser, baritone Richard Paul Fink and the chorus Musica Sacra under the music direction of Kent Tritle.

In addition to OSL's three-concert series, Carnegie Hall will also present OSL on February 5, 2012 in The Carmina Burana Choral Project. This a creative learning project for hundreds of high school and middle school singers from throughout New York City developed by Carnegie Hall's Weill Music Institute, exploring Orff's Carmina Burana to be conducted by David Robertson. The singers will perform on the main stage at Carnegie Hall and commissions new works from high school age composers. On April 24, 2012, OSL will also perform in a special one-night-only gala concert of The Sound of Music at Carnegie Hall to benefit the music education programs of Carnegie Hall's Weill Music Institute. The Sound of Music gala event is sponsored by Ernst & Young LLP.

Thursday, December 15, 2011
8PM
Carnegie Hall, Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage
Orchestra of St. Luke's
Robert Spano, Conductor

Susanna Phillips, Soprano
Sasha Cooke, Mezzo-Soprano
Nicholas Phan, Tenor
Joshua Hopkins, Baritone

The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chamber Chorus
Norman Mackenzie, Director of Choruses
Margaret Kampmeier, Piano
Jean Laurendeau, ondes Martenot

PROGRAM
JOHANN Sebastian Bach "Brandenburg" Concerto No. 3 in G Major, BWV 1048
OLIVIER MESSIAEN Trois petites liturgies de la Présence Divine
JOHANN Sebastian Bach Magnificat, BWV 243
Tickets

Subscriptions to OSL's orchestra series ($75-$237) and individual tickets ($29-$83) are available at the Carnegie Hall Box Office, 154 West 57th Street, by calling CarnegieCharge at 212-247-7800 or by visiting carnegiehall.org.

For tickets to The Sound of Music gala concert, e-mail specialevents@carnegiehall.org. A limited number of concert-only tickets will be available to Carnegie Hall subscribers and donors beginning on December 9, 2011 and to the general public beginning on December 16, 2011.

About Orchestra of St. Luke's
Now in its 37th year, Orchestra of St. Luke's (OSL) is one of America's foremost and most versatile ensembles. OSL was formed at the Caramoor International Music Festival in the summer of 1979, after evolving from St. Luke's Chamber Ensemble, which was established at The Church of St. Luke in the Fields in New York's Greenwich Village in 1974. Dedicated to engaging audiences throughout New York City and beyond, OSL performs approximately 70 concerts each year-including an annual chamber music series at The Morgan Library & Museum and Brooklyn Museum, an orchestra series at Carnegie Hall, and a summer residency at Caramoor International Music Festival. OSL collaborates regularly with the world's great artists, such as Renée Fleming, Yo-Yo Ma, Jessye Norman, Anna Netrebko, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Mark Morris Dance Group, Peter Gabriel, Sting, Elton John and many more. In March 2011, OSL opened The DiMenna Center for Classical Music-its first permanent home, and New York City's first rehearsal and recording facility dedicated to classical music. The Center has already hosted thousands of musicians from a wide range of ensembles and serves as the venue for OSL's new free concert series OSL@DMC, which connects the public to the artistic process of composers and musicians. Committed to community-building, OSL produces free concerts in each of the five boroughs as part of its Subway Series, and has engaged more than one million children in its arts education programs. OSL's stellar 70+ discography includes four releases on its own label, St. Luke's Collection, and four Grammy Award-winning recordings.

About Robert Spano
Currently in his eleventh season as music director of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Robert Spano is recognized internationally as one of the most imaginative conductors today. Since 2001, he has expanded the orchestra's repertoire and elevated the ensemble to new levels of international prominence and acclaim. The Atlanta School of Composers reflects Mr. Spano's and the orchestra's commitment to nurturing and championing music through multi-year partnerships defining a new generation of American composers, including Osvaldo Golijov, Jennifer Higdon, Christopher Theofanidis, Michael Gandolfi, and Adam Schoenberg. Since the beginning of his tenure, Mr. Spano and the orchestra have performed over 100 contemporary works, and, by the end of the 2011-12 season, will have performed 15 ASO-commissioned world premieres. Mr. Spano has a discography with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra of 19 recordings, six of which have been honored with Grammy Awards. He has led the orchestra at Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, as well as the Ravinia, Ojai, and Savannah Music Festivals. Mr. Spano has also conducted the New York and Los Angeles Philharmonics; the San Francisco Symphony; the Boston and Chicago Symphony Orchestras; and the Cleveland and Philadelphia Orchestras; as well as Orchestra FilarMonica Della Scala, BBC Symphony, and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam. In addition, he has conducted for Covent Garden, Welsh National Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Houston Grand Opera, and Seattle Opera for its 2005 and 2009 Ring cycles. Mr. Spano was Musical America's 2008 Conductor of the Year, and, in March 2011, he was appointed as the incoming Music Director of the Aspen Music Festival. In advance of the December 15 concert with Orchestra of St. Luke's, he conducts the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra November 5 in Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage and returns February 21 to Zankel Hall to perform with bass-baritone Eric Owens in recital.



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