The Orchestra Now Performs All-Rathaus Program At Karol Rathaus Festival

Music Director Leon Botstein leads The Orchestra Now (T N) in a special all-Rathaus concert as part of the Karol Rathaus Festival organized by the Aaron Copland School of Music, in honor of Queens College's first professor of composition. Including public lectures, master classes, and a chamber music concert, the Festival culminates with its only orchestral performance, given by T N on February 24, 2019.

The concert marks the first U.S. performances of Rathaus' music in many years, and in some cases such as his second symphony the first ever U.S. performance. As a Galician Jew educated in Vienna, with a promising career starting in Berlin, Rathaus arrived in the United States in 1938 as an exile due to the rise of Nazism in Europe. He lived in New York until his death in 1954. The evening spans all periods of Rathaus' creative life from his earlier days in Berlin to his later American works, and the program begins with the mysterious yet bustling Louisville Prelude (1953), one of Rathaus' last orchestral compositions, commissioned by the Louisville Orchestra. Since its premiere in 1954, there is no record of another U.S. performance of this work until now. Polish-Canadian pianist Daniel Wnukowski joins the orchestra in Rathaus' mischievous and sinister Piano Concerto (1939), which Rathaus began composing in London, but finished in New York.

The piece received its last performance 34 years ago by the Queens College Orchestral Society with Martin Canellakis and pianist Donald Pirone. Russian-Israeli composer Ariel Davydov arranged Rathaus' incidental music for the play Merchant of Venice, produced by the theater Habima in Palestine in 1936, creating the Merchant of Venice Suite, which receives its world premiere with this performance. Lastly, Rathaus' dramatic and foreboding Symphony No. 2 (1923) finally receives its U.S. premiere. After its premiere at the Frankfurt Festival of New Music in 1924, the symphony was deemed too radical by many critics so, distraught by the reaction, Rathaus withdrew the symphony from his publisher. The next performance of the work did not take place until 2002 by the Frankfurt Brandenburg State Orchestra.

Additional information on the Festival is available here, and details of The Orchestra Now's full season are available on its website. All-Karol Rathaus Concert Sunday February 24, 2019 at 3 pm at LeFrak Concert Hall at Queens College Karol Rathaus Festival Leon Botstein, conductor Daniel Wnukowski, piano All-Rathaus Program Louisville Prelude Piano Concerto Merchant of Venice Suite Symphony No. 2 Tickets: $40-50, available online at theorchestranow.org or kupferbergcenter.org, by calling the box office at 718.793.8080, or in person at the Kupferberg Center for the Arts box office at Queens College at 153-49 Reeves Avenue, in Flushing, Queens.

The Orchestra Now The Orchestra Now (T N) is a group of over 60 vibrant young musicians from 14 different countries around the globe: the United States, Bulgaria, China, France, Hungary, Malaysia, Mongolia, Peru, Poland, Spain, Taiwan, the United Kingdom, Ukraine, and Venezuela. All share a mission to make orchestral music relevant to 21st-century audiences. Hand-picked from hundreds of applicants from the world's leading conservatories including The Juilliard School, Shanghai Conservatory of Music, Royal Conservatory of Brussels, and the Curtis Institute of Music the members of T N are not only rousing audiences with their critically acclaimed performances, but also enlightening curious minds by presenting on-stage introductions and demonstrations at concerts, offering program notes written from the musicians' perspective, and connecting with patrons through one-on-one discussions during intermissions. To date, members of T N have earned positions with orchestras across the United States and in Europe. Some play regularly with the New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, and the Baltimore Symphony. Conductor, educator, and music historian Leon Botstein founded T N in 2015 as a master's degree program at Bard College, where he also serves as president.

The Orchestra is in residence at Bard's Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts, offering multiple concerts there each season as well as participating in the annual Bard Music Festival. The Orchestra also performs numerous concert series at major venues in New York, including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, as well as a schedule of free performances across New York City boroughs. T N has collaborated with many distinguished conductors, including Fabio Luisi, Neeme J rvi, Gerard Schwarz, and JoAnn Falletta. For upcoming activities and more detailed information about the musicians, visit theorchestranow.org.

Leon Botstein brings a renowned career as both a conductor and educator to his role as music director of The Orchestra Now. He has been music director of the American Symphony Orchestra since 1992, artistic co-director of Bard SummerScape and the Bard Music Festival since their creation, and president of Bard College since 1975. He was the music director of the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra from 2003 2011 and is now conductor laureate. In 2018, he assumed artistic directorship of Campus Grafenegg and Grafenegg Academy in Austria. Mr. Botstein is also a frequent guest conductor with orchestras around the globe, has made numerous recordings, and is a prolific author and music historian. He is the editor of the prestigious The Musical Quarterly and has received many honors for his contributions to music. More info online at LeonBotstein.com.