Leon Kirchner News

This summer, the 33rd season of Long Island's longest-running classical music festival comprises 13 concerts from July 31 to August 28, featuring the signature mix of renowned and up-and-coming artists and classic and new music that has made it one of the most noteworthy summer music festivals in the country.

Charged with momentum from the launch of BCMF Spring, the festival's first spring series of two concerts, the 32nd season of Long Island's longest-running classical music festival presents 11 concerts July 29 - August 23, 2015.

One of America's most versatile and prolific living composers, Andre Previn, joins Pacific Symphony as the honored guest and focus of the 15th American Composers Festival (ACF). Previn, who has been called one of America's least easily categorized musicians, began his remarkable career as a Hollywood "wunderkind" and a best-selling jazz pianist. Now 86, Previn has received four Academy Awards for his work in film, 10 Grammy Awards for his recordings (plus one more for his Lifetime Achievement), and he is also an honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire. He's held a series of major conducting posts, including the L.A. Philharmonic and the London Symphony Orchestra, but now exclusively composes. The concert is led by Music Director Carl St.Clair, whose great admiration for the legend shaped this year's ACF to reveal the scope of Previn's prowess as a composer. 

The acclaimed Blair String Quartet will perform works of Haydn, Webern and Mendelssohn in concert at Cumberland County Playhouse on May 23 at 7:30 PM.

NEW YORK, NY — Tonight, May 21, 2015 at 7:30pm, violinist and artistic director Gil Morgenstern's acclaimed Reflections Series International will present its final concert of the 2014-2015 season, “Nature's Bounty,” at Avenues: The World School (259 Tenth Ave.). The program will feature Morgenstern with violinist Harumi Rhodes, violist Kathryn Lockwood, cellist Astrid Schween, and percussionist Yousif Sheronick, performing music and text inspired by composers' personal encounters with both natural and man-made landscapes; immortalizing them through works of unparalleled beauty and drama. This artistic journey, from flowing crystalline streams in China to the haunting terrain of the Middle East to the wide-open prairies of the American Great Plains, includes music by Antonin Dvo?ák, Zhou Long, and Riyad El-Soumbati, along with text from the works of Mary Shelly, Naguib Mahfouz, and Gaetano Cipolla, narrated by Obie Award-winning actor Bill Camp.

The acclaimed Blair String Quartet will perform works of Haydn, Webern and Mendelssohn in concert at Cumberland County Playhouse on May 23 at 7:30 PM.

Orange County, Calif.-May 11, 2015-One of America's most versatile and prolific living composers, Andre Previn, joins Pacific Symphony as the honored guest and focus of the 15th American Composers Festival (ACF). Previn, who has been called one of America's least easily categorized musicians, began his remarkable career as a Hollywood "wunderkind" and a best-selling jazz pianist. Now 86, Previn has received four Academy Awards for his work in film, 10 Grammy Awards for his recordings (plus one more for his Lifetime Achievement), and he is also an honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire. He's held a series of major conducting posts, including the L.A. Philharmonic and the London Symphony Orchestra, but now exclusively composes. The concert is led by Music Director Carl St.Clair, whose great admiration for the legend shaped this year's ACF to reveal the scope of Previn's prowess as a composer. 

Charged with momentum from the launch of BCMF Spring, the festival's first spring series of two concerts, the 32nd season of Long Island's longest-running classical music festival presents 11 concerts July 29 - August 23, 2015.

Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, led by Music Director Jeffrey Kahane, concludes its 46th season with a world premiere by Ted Hearne, a composer hailed for his 'off beat imagination' (New Music Box) whose new work, Respirator, culminates the Orchestra's unique 'Sound Investment' commissioning program on Saturday, May 16, 2015, 8 pm, at Glendale's Alex Theatre, and Sunday, May 17, 2015, 7 pm, at UCLA's Royce Hall. The concert also features Jonathan Biss, 'one of the most accomplished pianists of the younger generation' (BBC Music Magazine), who performs Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 21 in C major. In addition, Kahane conducts Mendelssohn's Nocturne & Scherzo, evocative incidental music from A Midsummer Night's Dream; as well as Mendelssohn's exuberant Symphony No. 4 in A major, 'Italian.' Concert Preludes, pre-concert talks providing insights into the program's music and artists held one hour before curtain and free for ticket holders, feature Kahane in conversation with Hearne. After the performance, ticket holders are invited to mingle with friends and musicians at an after-party in the lobby with complimentary drinks and appetizers.

NEW YORK, NY — On Thursday, May 21, 2015 at 7:30pm, violinist and artistic director Gil Morgenstern's acclaimed Reflections Series International will present its final concert of the 2014-2015 season, “Nature's Bounty,” at Avenues: The World School (259 Tenth Ave.). The program will feature Morgenstern with violinist Harumi Rhodes, violist Kathryn Lockwood, cellist Astrid Schween, and percussionist Yousif Sheronick, performing music and text inspired by composers' personal encounters with both natural and man-made landscapes; immortalizing them through works of unparalleled beauty and drama. This artistic journey, from flowing crystalline streams in China to the haunting terrain of the Middle East to the wide-open prairies of the American Great Plains, includes music by Antonin Dvo?ák, Zhou Long, and Riyad El-Soumbati, along with text from the works of Mary Shelly, Naguib Mahfouz, and Gaetano Cipolla, narrated by Obie Award-winning actor Bill Camp.

The critically acclaimed young cellist Nicholas Canellakis will make his Carnegie Hall Stern Auditorium debut on April 19, 2015, at 2pm as soloist with the American Symphony Orchestra under its music director, Leon Botstein.

The Cooperstown Summer Music Festival, under the artistic direction of flutist Linda Chesis, presents Three Faces of Romanticism on Sunday, April 26 at 4 pm at the Otesaga Hotel in Cooperstown. The concert features Ms. Chesis, Nicholas Canellakis, cello; and Roman Rabinovich, piano, performing works by Beethoven, Reinecke and Rachmaninoff.

Tonight, February 12, 2015 at 8pm, Concerts on the Slope will present Composer-in-Residence Robert Sirota's Triptych at St. John's Episcopal Church in Park Slope (139 St. John's Place).

On Thursday, February 12, 2015 at 8pm, Concerts on the Slope will present Composer-in-Residence Robert Sirota's Triptych at St. John's Episcopal Church in Park Slope (139 St. John's Place).

Music for the holidays by composer Robert Sirota will be featured in a special holiday concert, Songs of the Season, presented by The Metropolitan Museum of Art (1000 Fifth Avenue) in The Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium tonight, December 19, 2014 at 7pm. The Met Museum Presents concert will include performances by The Choristers of The Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine led by conductor Malcolm J. Merriweather, soprano Mellissa Hughes, violist Nadia Sirota, and harpist Victoria Drake.

JCC Manhattan presents PREformances with Allison Charney on Monday, December 15th at 7:30pm.

Music for the holidays by composer Robert Sirota will be featured in a special holiday concert, Songs of the Season, presented by The Metropolitan Museum of Art (1000 Fifth Avenue) in The Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium on Friday, December 19, 2014 at 7pm. The Met Museum Presents concert will include performances by The Choristers of The Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine led by conductor Malcolm J. Merriweather, soprano Mellissa Hughes, violist Nadia Sirota, and harpist Victoria Drake.

On Sunday, November 16, 2014 at 3pm, Concerts on the Slope will present Composer-in-Residence Robert Sirota's Trio for Piano, Violin, and Cello at St. John's Episcopal Church in Park Slope (139 St. John's Place). The concert will also include Schubert's Nocturne, Marjorie Merryman's Echo, and Brahms' Trio in C Major, and will be performed by violinist Tema Watstein, pianist Cherie Khor, and Artistic Director of Concerts on the Slope, cellist Benjamin Larsen. Concerts on the Slope are open to the public and no tickets are required; a free will donation is suggested.

Artistic Directors David Finckel and Wu Han have announced plans for The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center's 45th anniversary season. The 2014-2015 Season offers an extraordinarily vibrant palette of diverse and innovative programming performed by a vast and impressive roster comprised of 109 of the world's finest chamber music artists. The season begins tonight, October 15, 2014, and runs through May 15, 2015. Performances take place in Alice Tully Hall, the Rose Studio, and the Kaplan Penthouse.

Ellen Taaffe Zwilich, one of America's most honored and sought-after composers, marked her 75th birthday on April 30, 2014, and her 2014-15 season is bracketed by the premieres of two major works. It begins in September at the ninth quadrennial International Violin Competition of Indianapolis, with the world premiere of a work commissioned by the competition; she is also a member of the jury. And in April, flutist Trudy Kane performs the world premiere of Concerto for Flute and String Orchestra with the Frost Symphony Orchestra.