Orchestra of St. Luke's Upcoming Season to Feature Carnegie Hall Concerts, Music in Color Tour and Much More

Orchestra of St. Luke's (OSL) 2020 winter-spring season will run from February 6 through the end of June, bringing music to over a dozen venues across the five boroughs of New York City. The season includes two Carnegie Hall subscription series concerts led by Principal Conductor Bernard Labadie; OSL's signature Chamber Music Series with two all-Beethoven programs; a collaboration with New York's MasterVoices in Sheldon Harnick's English language version of Bizet's Carmen; and Music in Color: Eleanor Alberga, OSL's annual five borough free concert tour highlighting the works and lives of classical composers of color.

For information visit: https://www.oslmusic.org/series/2019-20/

CARNEGIE HALL PRESENTS ORCHESTRA OF ST. LUKE'S SERIES

OSL Principal Conductor Bernard Labadie will lead the Orchestra in two dynamic programs: one dedicated entirely to works for double orchestra by Handel and Vivaldi and the other a celebration of Beethoven's 250th birthday with a range of works displaying the composer's audacious genius.

On February 6, Orchestra of St. Luke's fills Carnegie Hall's Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage with an extravagant program of works for double orchestra by Handel and Vivaldi. Daniel Hope joins the Orchestra and Bernard Labadie for Vivaldi's Double Orchestra Concerto in D Major, RV 582, "Per la SS Assontione di Maria Vergine" and his Concerto in A Major for Violin, Strings, and Continuo, while Marie-Nicole Lemieux performs two contrasting settings of the Salve Regina by Vivaldi, both for contralto and double orchestra. Also on the program is Handel's Concerto a due cori in F Major, HWV 333 and 334.

On March 5, Orchestra of St. Luke's celebrates Beethoven's 250th birthday with some well-known and rarely performed work, including his sweeping and dramatic Leonore Overture No. 2. As a stand-alone work, the overture is an operatic tone poem in its own right. For Beethoven's Choral Fantasy pianist Jeremy Denk, La Chapelle de Québec, soprano Karina Gauvin, mezzo-soprano Kelley O'Connor, tenor Andrew Haji, and bass-baritone Matthew Brook join forces for one of Beethoven's most joyous compositions. Meeresstille und glückliche Fahrt (Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage), Op. 112, a cantata for chorus and orchestra, is performed in a single movement, and is based on a pair of Goethe's poems about a sea voyage. The Mass in C Major concludes the program.

CHAMBER MUSIC SERIES

In March 2020, pianist Paavali Jumppanen joins St. Luke's Chamber Ensemble for the first of two all-Beethoven programs celebrating the composer's 250th birthday. Beethoven's Quintet for Piano and Winds in E-flat Major and Ferdinand Ries's arrangement of the "Eroica" Symphony for piano quartet are the featured works. A noted Beethoven expert, Jumppanen has recorded many of Beethoven's works for piano and has written extensively about the composer. Performances take place March 24, Merkin Hall, March 25, The Morgan Library & Museum, and March 29, Brooklyn Museum.

St. Luke's Chamber Ensemble's Beethoven celebration continues in the spring with one of the composer's grandest chamber works, the Septet in E-flat Major. Written in 1800, just before his First Symphony, the Septet is almost symphonic in its rich, varied texture created by the combination of strings and woodwinds-an ideal piece for the Ensemble to honor this great composer. Performances are May 5, Merkin Hall, May 6, The Morgan Library & Museum, and May 10, Brooklyn Museum.

The concerts at The Morgan Library on March 25 and May 6 are part of Carnegie Hall's Beethoven Celebration. The Morgan's collection of autograph manuscripts by Beethoven are on view until April 26, including the Violin Sonata No. 10 in G Major, Op. 96; Piano Trio in D Major, Op. 70, No. 1, "Ghost"; sketches for the variation movement of the Piano Trio in B-flat Major, Op. 97, "Archduke"; Scottish Songs, Op. 108; Symphony No. 7 (sketch); and the Rondo à capriccio, Op. 129, among others.

CARMEN (CONCERT STAGING) IN ENGLISH

On April 2 at the Rose Theater at Jazz at Lincoln Center's Frederick P. Rose Hall, Orchestra of St. Luke's joins MasterVoices and Manhattan Girls Chorus for a concert staging led by MasterVoices Music Director Ted Sperling of Bizet's Carmen in its original Opéra Comique version, with dialogue rather than recitative, as translated in English by the distinguished Broadway lyricist Sheldon Harnick.

Harnick's translation of Carmen was commissioned and premiered by the Houston Grand Opera in 1981 and served as the English text for Peter Brook's acclaimed La Tragédie de Carmen which was performed at the Vivian Beaumont Theater in New York in 1984. These performances will mark the New York premiere of the full translation.

With mezzo-soprano Peabody Southwell as Carmen, tenor Noah Stewart as Don José, lyric soprano Nicole Cabell as Micaela, tenor Cesar Delgado as Remendado, and baritone Steven LaBrie as Camillo.

MUSIC IN COLOR: ELEANOR ALBERGA

In Spring 2020, the Music in Color tour of New York City spotlights the life, music, and evolving career of composer Eleanor Alberga, who was born in Jamaica and lives in the United Kingdom. Programs for Music in Color: Eleanor Alberga will include Jamaican Medley and the North American premiere of Alberga's Shining Gate of Morpheus for horn and string quartet contrasted with works by Bach and Bartók. Additionally, playwright and performer Kirya Traber joins OSL for her second season of Music in Color to bring Alberga's unique story to life through narrative performance. Music in Color Community Concerts are open to the public and presented free of charge. Launched four years ago, the Music in Color tour is the centerpiece of OSL's ongoing Music in Color initiative to highlight the work and lives of classical composers of color. The program was created to engage new audiences with classical music through dynamic, multidisciplinary concerts designed to be as entertaining as they are educational.

OSL AT TEMPLE EMANU-EL

On April 22, OSL and Temple Emanu-El offer Brahms: First Serenade, a free performance showcasing the talent of two composers through early works. Honneger's Pastorale d'été, and Brahms' Serenade No. 1 in D Major, reconstructed for chamber orchestra by Alan Boustead, were both composed while they were in their twenties.

OSL BACH FESTIVAL

The second OSL Bach Festival draws inspiration from Johann Sebastian Bach's The Musical Offering, a collection of pieces based on a complicated musical theme given to Bach as a challenge by the King - and his son Carl Philipp Emanuel's employer - Frederick the Great.

Principal Conductor Bernard Labadie will lead the Orchestra through three concerts at Carnegie Hall, featuring orchestral and vocal works by J.S. and C.P.E. Bach performed with renowned guest artists and contextualized with captivating commentary by Labadie. Additionally, the Festival will include innovative and intimate recitals at The DiMenna Center for Classical Music and a special concert at Manhattan School of Music, featuring the Orchestra in a performance of world premiere works inspired by The Musical Offering and written by the four composers accepted into OSL's DeGaetano Composition Institute. Full details of the 2020 OSL Bach Festival, set for June 9-30 will be announced in January.

FREE SCHOOL CONCERTS: CELEBRATING CHOREOGRAPHER PAUL TAYLOR

OSL continues the 43rd season of its Free School Concerts series March 10-12 at Hostos Center for the Arts & Culture in The Bronx with a program highlighting the late visionary choreographer Paul Taylor. The Taylor 2 Dance Company will perform Mr. Taylor's Aureole set to selections of Handel's Concerti Grossi, with live music performed by Orchestra of St. Luke's, and over 50 New York City schools expected to participate.

GIFT OF MUSIC GALA

The annual Gift of Music Gala recognizes outstanding individuals and organizations that have made significant contributions to the world of music. This year, on April 27 at the Plaza Hotel, OSL recognizes OSL Trustee, Janet Seidler, and trumpeter and Artistic Director Wynton Marsalis. On the most festive nights of the season, the Gala celebrates Orchestra of St. Luke's with cocktails, a seated dinner, a fabulous concert with guest artist trumpet soloist Tine Thing Helseth, and waltzing - an OSL tradition.

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