Palm Beach Symphony Presents World Premiere By Ellen Taaffe Zwilich

Palm Beach Symphony continues its 50th Anniversary Season on Monday, February 5 at 7:30 p.m. at the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts with Music Director Gerard Schwarz at the podium and a program featuring guest artist Santiago Rodriguez, a world premiere by Pulitzer Prize winner Ellen Taaffe Zwilich and Rimsky-Korsakov's masterwork Scheherazade.

Called “a phenomenal pianist” by The New York Times and “among the finest pianists in the world” by The Baltimore Sun, Rodriguez will perform Grieg's Piano Concerto in A Minor. The celebrated pianist's international career was launched in 1981 when he won the Silver Medal at the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition and also received a special prize for the best performance of Leonard Bernstein's Touches, a work commissioned for the competition. He has performed internationally with leading orchestras, including the London Symphony, the Dresden Staatskapelle, the Weimar Philharmonic, the Yomiuri-Nippon Symphony Orchestra of Japan, the Tampere Philharmonic of Finland, the Berliner Symphoniker, the Philadelphia, Chicago, St. Louis, Baltimore, Seattle, Indianapolis and Houston Symphony Orchestras, the National Symphony Orchestra of Washington, D.C. and the American Symphony Orchestra at Avery Fisher Hall in New York. His unique life and artistry were profiled on CBS Sunday Morning with Charles Kurault, and he has also been featured numerous times on the ABC, NBC, PBS, CNN, BBC, and CBC television networks.

A South Florida resident, Zwilich was inspired by the artworks of Gil Maurer to compose Orchestral Excursions. The world premiere features five movements: Hearst Tower; Santiago de Compostela; San Marco, Venice; The Rialto, Venice; and Palm Beach, Florida. The composition was commissioned for Palm Beach Symphony by Ambassador Bonnie McElveen-Hunter.

“During the premiere, we are going to project images of a few of those great works of art that inspired Ellen,” Maestro Schwarz noted. “This is a program built on true masterpieces that can sit side-by-side with Grieg's Piano Concerto and Rimsky-Korsakov's quintessential Scheherazade. If I were a betting man, I would say that Ellen's new piece will be yet another one of those masterpieces. She is one of the great living composers.”

A prolific composer in virtually all media, Ellen Taaffe Zwilich's works have been performed by most of the leading American orchestras and by major ensembles abroad. Her works include five symphonies and a string of concertos commissioned and performed over the past two decades by the nation's top orchestras. Zwilich is the recipient of numerous prizes and honors, including the 1983 Pulitzer Prize in Music (the first woman ever to receive this coveted award), the Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge Chamber Music Prize, the Arturo Toscanini Music Critics Award, the Ernst von Dohnányi Citation, an Academy Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, a Guggenheim Fellowship, four GRAMMY nominations, the Alfred I. Dupont Award, Miami Performing Arts Center Award, the Medaglia d'oro in the G.B. Viotti Competition, and the NPR and WNYC Gotham Award for her contributions to the musical life of New York City. Among other distinctions, She has been elected to the American Classical Music Hall of Fame, the Florida Artists Hall of Fame, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Academy of Arts and Letters. In 1995, she was named to the first Composer's Chair in the history of Carnegie Hall, and she was designated Musical America's Composer of the Year for 1999.

The GRAMMY-nominated American conductor Gerard Schwarz — internationally recognized for his moving performances, innovative programming, and extensive catalog of recordings — serves as Music Director of the All-Star Orchestra, Eastern Music Festival, Palm Beach Symphony, and Mozart Orchestra of New York. He is also Conductor Laureate of the Seattle Symphony Orchestra and Conductor Emeritus of the Mostly Mozart Festival. Schwarz is the Distinguished Professor of Music; Conducting and Orchestral Studies of the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami and Music Director of the Frost Symphony Orchestra. In his over five decades as a respected classical musician and conductor, Schwarz has received hundreds of honors and accolades including nine Emmy Awards, 14 GRAMMY nominations, eight ASCAP Awards, and the Ditson Conductor's Award. He was the first American named Conductor of the Year by Musical America and has received numerous honorary doctorates. The City of Seattle named the street alongside the Benaroya Hall “Gerard Schwarz Place” in his honor. Learn more at gerardschwarz.com.

Additional Masterworks Series concerts in the 50th Anniversary Season are Emanuel Ax, piano (March 6); and Ignat Solzhenitsyn, piano (April 25). 

Tickets are $25-$95 and may be purchased online at PalmBeachSymphony.org, by phone at (561) 281-0145 and at the Palm Beach Symphony Box Office weekdays from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. at 700 South Dixie Highway, Suite 100, West Palm Beach. The Kravis Center is 701 Okeechobee Blvd, West Palm Beach, FL  33401.

Proud sponsors of Palm Beach Symphony include The Rocco A. and Mary Abessinio Foundation, Cindy Anderson and Jerome Canty, Max and Christine Ansbacher, Mrs. James N. Bay, Alan Benaroya, Arthur & Mara Benjamin Foundation, JoAnne Berkow, Kathy Lee Bickham and John Bickham, Leslie Rogers Blum, Jeffrey and Tina Bolton, James R. Borynack and Adolfo Zaralegui / FINDLAY Galleries, Braman Motorcars, Thomas and Carol Bruce, CIBC Private Wealth, Amy and John Collins, The Colony Hotel, CORPGOV, Suzanne Mott Dansby, The David Minkin Foundation, The Frederick A. DeLuca Foundation, Willard H. Dow and Kelly Winter, Dr. Richard and Diane Farber, Bill and Kem Frick/The Frick Foundation, Inc., Gerry Gibian and Marjorie Yashar, Morgan Glazar/Tom James Company, Paul and Sandra Goldner, Douglas and Jo Gressette, Steel Grove Capital, Irwin and Janet Gusman, Walter Harper, Thomas E. Harvey & Cathleen P. Black Foundation,  Doris Hastings Foundation, Carol S. and Joseph Andrew Hays, John Herrick, Addison Hines Charitable Trust, George Hines, HSS Florida, IPO Edge, Charles and Ann Johnson/The C and A Johnson Family Foundation, Elaine Kay, Leonard and Norma Klorfine Foundation, The Kovner Foundation, Gary and Linda Lachman/The Lachman Family Foundation, Patricia Lambrecht/The Lambrecht Family Foundation, Tova Leidesdorf, Lugano Diamonds, The Honorable Bonnie McElveen-Hunter, The McNulty Charitable Foundation, Metals Mint, David Moscow, NetJets, Palm Beach Design Masters, Patrick and Milly Park/The Park Foundation, Nancy and Ellis J. Parker, III, PNC Private Bank, Lois Pope, Provident Jewelry, Ari Rifkin/The Len-Ari Foundation, Dr. Martha Rodriguez and Dr. Jesus Perez-Mendez, Karen Rogers, Ronald Rosenfeld, David Schafer, Seth Sprague Foundation, Robin B. Smith, Kimberly V. Strauss, Dodie and Manley Thaler and the Thaler/Howell Foundation, Don and Mary Thompson, Jerome and Carol Trautschold, Sieglinde Wikstrom/The Wikstrom Foundation, and The Ann Eden Woodward Foundation/James and Judy Woods. Programs are also sponsored in part by the State of Florida, Department of State, Division of Arts and Culture, and the Florida Council on Arts and Culture.

 

Palm Beach Symphony is South Florida's premier orchestra known for its diverse repertoire and commitment to community. Founded in 1974, this 501(c)(3) nonprofit arts organization adheres to a mission of engaging, educating, and entertaining the greater community of the Palm Beaches through live performances of inspiring orchestral music under the direction of its Music Director Gerard Schwarz. The orchestra is celebrated for delivering spirited performances by first-rate musicians and distinguished guest artists. Recognized by The Cultural Council for Palm Beach County with a 2020 Muse Award for Outstanding Community Engagement, Palm Beach Symphony continues to expand its education and community outreach programs with children's concerts, student coaching sessions and master classes, instrument donations and free public concerts. For more information, visit www.palmbeachsymphony.org.

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