The Orchestra Now Opens its NYC Season With Conductor Carlos Miguel Prieto and Singer Solange Merdinian

The Orchestra Now (TŌN)-the visionary orchestra and master's degree program founded by Bard College president, conductor, educator, and music historian Leon Botstein-begins its 2021-22 season in New York City on Oct. 31 at Rose Theater at Jazz at Lincoln Center's Frederick P. Rose Hall. The concert features acclaimed guest conductor Carlos Miguel Prieto, Musical America's 2019 Conductor of the Year and music director of both the Orchestra of the Americas and the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de México, the country's most important orchestra. He leads TŌN and mezzo-soprano Solange Merdinian in Falla's ballet score El Sombrero de Tres Picos, along with Debussy's La Mer, Messiaen's Le tombeau resplendissant, and Mexican composer José Pablo Moncayo's Huapango.

TŌN launched its 2021-22 season with three programs at the Fisher Center at Bard in September and early October, which included the premiere of Brahmsiana by conductor/composer Leonard Slatkin, who made his debut with TŌN performing works by Cindy McTee and Mussorgsky; and music director Leon Bostein conducting Dawson's Negro Folk Symphony, Shostakovich's Symphony No. 7, Strauss' Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks, and Bruckner's Symphony No. 5.

The following concert in New York City is at Carnegie Hall on Nov. 18 and features violinist Gil Shaham performing the world premiere of Scott Wheeler's Birds of America, mezzo-soprano Briana Hunter in Julia Perry's Stabat Mater, and Bristow's Symphony No. 4.

Prieto, Falla & Debussy

Sunday, October 31, 2021 at 3 PM
Rose Theater at Jazz at Lincoln Center

Carlos Miguel Prieto, conductor
Solange Merdinian, mezzo-soprano

Messiaen: Le tombeau resplendissant (The Resplendent Tomb)
Debussy: La Mer (The Sea)
Falla: El Sombrero de Tres Picos (The Three-Cornered Hat)
José Pablo Moncayo: Huapango

The diverse program features French, Mexican, and Spanish composers, including Messiaen's Le tombeau resplendissant, which he described as a type of epitaph in four main sections and was written when he was only 24. The next work is Debussy's milestone, impressionistic interpretation of La Mer (The Sea) with its three movements that he preferred to call "symphonic sketches." Manuel de Falla's music to the ballet El Sombrero de Tres Picos was commissioned by Sergei Diaghilev and premiered in 1919. The soloist in this work, Armenian-American mezzo-soprano Solange Merdinian, is a 2009 graduate of Bard Conservatory's Graduate Vocal Arts Program, and co-founder and co-artistic director of the non-profit organization New Docta and the New Docta International Festival in Argentina. She won the 2019 Pro Musicis Competition, completed a four-year world tour of Einstein on the Beach with the Philip Glass Ensemble, and has performed at Madison Square Garden and Carnegie Hall. Closing the program is Mexican composer/conductor José Pablo Moncayo's Huapango. Moncayo was commissioned by Carlos Chávez to write a piece based on the folkloric music of the Veracruz area. Closely associated with Mexican nationalism, the resulting piece remains one of his most popular works.

Tickets priced at $25-$50 are available online at jazz.org, by calling CenterCharge at 212.721.6500, or at the Jazz at Lincoln Center box office at Broadway & 60th, Ground Floor. Ticket holders need to comply with the venue's health and safety requirements, which can be found here.

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