The Temple University Symphony Orchestra and Jazz Band Presents NY Premiere of UNITED, 4/8

By: Mar. 13, 2017
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The Temple University Symphony Orchestra and Jazz Band, under the baton of its recently appointed

Music Director Andreas Delfs, will present the New York premiere of UNITED, Symphony for Orchestra and Big Band by Grammy-nominated Swiss-American composer Daniel Schnyder at Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall on Saturdayevening, April 8, 2017, 8 p.m. The work was commissioned by Temple's Boyer College of Music and Dance. Opening the program will be Orchestra Variations on a Theme by Paganini, by the noted German composer and librettist Boris Blacher. The complete program follows:

Boris Blacher Orchestra Variations on a Theme by Paganini

George Gershwin Second Rhapsody for Piano and Orchestra

William Wolfram, piano

Intermission

Daniel Schnyder UNITED, Symphony for Orchestra and Big Band

Tickets are $20 to $35, $10 for students and seniors, and group discounts for 10+ people and are available for purchase online at: http://www.lincolncenter.org/show/temple-university-symphony-orchestra-and-jazz-band?

Call 212-721-6500 or 212-875-5378 for group sales.

Mr. Schnyder's United, Symphony for Orchestra and Big Band will receive its world premiere by the Temple University Symphony Orchestra and Jazz Band at Verizon Hall, Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, Philadelphia, PA, on Sundayevening, March 26, 2017, 7:30 p.m.

"Not only do our orchestra and jazz band achieve a high level of musical excellence, but they enjoy the rare privilege of performing newly commissioned works each year," said Robert T. Stroker, Dean and Vice Provost for the Arts at Temple. Dean Stroker has previously commissioned major works from Michael Daugherty, ?riks Ešenvalds, and Dave and Chris Brubeck; the Brubeck work led to one of three Grammy nominations in the "Best Instrumental Composition" category for the Boyer College. Dean Stroker also commissioned a new arrangement of the Cuban Overture from Bill Cunliffe, who composed two of the three Grammy-nominated works for the college's label, BCM&D Records.

Andreas Delfs was appointed music director of the 100-piece Temple University Symphony Orchestra in 2015 and has worked with Emanuel Ax, Joshua Bell, Yo-Yo Ma, and Renée Fleming. He has led many of the world's noted ensembles, including the London Symphony Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra, New York City Opera, Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Netherlands Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Sydney Symphony, and the Taipei Symphony Orchestra. Maestro Delfs was Music Director of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra for twelve seasons, during which time he was instrumental in the orchestra's rise to national prominence.


He was Music Director and Artistic Consultant to the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra and served as General Music Director of Hannover, Germany, conducting the symphony orchestra and opera company. Prior to his time in Hannover, Maestro Delfs was Music Director of the Bern Opera, resident conductor of the Pittsburgh Symphony during the tenure of Lorin Maazel, and Music Director, at an early age, of the Orchestre Suisse des Jeunes. Maestro Delfs has a full guest conducting schedule and has recorded on the Naxos, Telarc, and Decca labels. Among his most notable operatic achievements has been his highly praised debut with the New York City Opera conducting performances of Carmen and a production of the uncut version of Hans Werner Henze's monumental König Hirsch for the Württemberg State Theatre in Stuttgart. He led four productions at the Aspen Music Festival and gave the Swiss premiere of György Ligeti's Le Grand Macabre, which received special praise from the composer.


Born in Flensburg, Germany, Maestro Delfs began studying piano and music theory at the age of five. Entering the Hamburg Conservatory, he studied with renowned conductor Christoph von Dohnányi and Aldo Ceccato. At age 20 he became the youngest ever Music Director of the Hamburg University Orchestra and Musical Assistant at the Hamburg State Opera. He then moved to New York, where he studied with Jorge Mester and Sixten Ehrling at Juilliard, won the Bruno Walter Memorial Scholarship, and completed his Master of Music degree.

Daniel Schnyder is a multifaceted composer and saxophonist, whose work combines jazz and modernist contemporary styles. UNITED, a symphony in four movements for orchestra and big band, attempts to unite the two worlds of jazz and classical music while letting each ensemble showcase its unique qualities," said Mr. Schnyder. "Together, both ensembles form a sound picture of our time transcending the boundaries of styles,

traditions, and expectations." In UNITED, Mr. Schnyder has combined polyphony, canonic textures, jazz harmonies, Brazilian music, and Doppelfuge, a form rarely used in jazz composition.


He has written commissioned works for the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra in New York, the Tonkuenstler Orchestra in Vienna, the Radio Symphony Orchestra in Berlin, The Norrlands Operan in Sweden, the Chicago Sinfonietta, the Vienna Art Orchestra, the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich, the Opera of Bern, the NDR Orchestra in Hannover, the NDR Big Band in Germany, and the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra. The album, "Absolution," (Enja Nova) featuring Daniel Schnyder's Trombone Concerto received a Grammy nomination for "Best Classical Small Ensemble Recording" in 2002. Of his 2015 opera "Charlie Parker's Yardbird," commissioned by Opera Philadelphia, the New York Times wrote, "Mr. Schnyder comes closest to evoking Parker bebop in the wonderful scenes between Charlie and Dizzy." More recent works include one for the Artemis String Quartet called "Impetus," (a Concerto for full Orchestra and String Quartet), a Bassoon Concerto for the Dresden Philharmonic, a Pipa Concerto for the Pacific Symphony Orchestra, a Double Concerto for Trombone and Saxophone played at the Musikverein in Vienna, and his orchestral work "Drakool," performed at Carnegie Hall in 2015 by the American Composers Orchestra.


This concert marks William Wolfram's debut with the Temple University Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Wolfram was a silver medalist at both the William Kapell and the Naumburg International Piano Competitions and a bronze medalist at the prestigious Tchaikovsky Piano Competition in Moscow. He is highly sought after for his special focus on the music of Liszt and Beethoven and is a champion of modernist 20th century composers. His concerto debut with the Pittsburgh Symphony under the baton of Leonard Slatkin was the first in a long succession of appearances and career relationships with numerous American conductors and orchestra. He has also appeared with the Baltimore, Utah, San Diego, Edmonton, San Francisco, Saint Louis and Indianapolis symphonies, the Buffalo Philharmonic, the National Symphony, the Rochester Philharmonic, and the Grand Teton and San Luis Obispo Mozart festival orchestras.


Mr. Wolfram has performed with such conductors as Osmo Vänskä, Andrew Litton, Jerzy Semkow, Mark Wigglesworth, Jeffrey Tate, Vladimir Spivakov, Michael Christie, Gerard Schwarz, Stefan Sanderling, JoAnn Falletta, Joseph Silverstein, and Vasily Petrenko. Abroad, he has appeared with the BBC Symphony Orchestra of London, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, the RTE Symphony Orchestra of Ireland (Dublin), the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, the Bergen Philharmonic (Norway), the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, and many others. An enthusiastic supporter of new music, he has collaborated with and performed music by composers such as Aaron Jay Kernis, Kenneth Frazelle, Marc Andre Dalbavie, Kenji Bunch, and Paul Chihara. Other highlights include several chamber music collaborations: recitals and recordings with Oscar Shumsky, recitals with Harvey Shapiro, and numerous collaborations with Leonard Rose.


Mr. Wolfram has recorded extensively on the Naxos and Albany labels. As an educator, he is a standing member of the piano faculty of the Eastern Music Festival in North Carolina and a regular featured guest at the Colorado College Music Festival. He also teaches at the Manhattan School of Music. A Yamaha artist, Mr. Wolfram is a graduate of the Juilliard School of Music.

For further information, please visit www.hemsingpr.com or telephone 212 772 1132.



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