Rice’s Shepherd School Symphony debuts at Carnegie (Feb 18) & in Baltimore (Feb 15)
As the centerpiece of its inaugural East Coast tour, Rice University’s Shepherd School Symphony Orchestra makes its Carnegie Hall debut on Tuesday, February 18. The program will showcase Pulitzer Prize-winner Christopher Rouse’s Violin Concerto performed by its dedicatee, Cho-Liang “Jimmy” Lin, Professor of Violin at the Shepherd School and a former Musical America Instrumentalist of the Year. According to the New York Times, Rouse’s concerto “is a showpiece for a virtuoso, and Cho-Liang Lin took full advantage. He squeezed as much passion as he could into the slow, wandering melody of the first movement and was dazzling in the cadenza.” The Carnegie concert marks the second major debut of the tour, following the orchestra’s first appearance at Baltimore’s Meyerhoff Symphony Hall on February 15, with Jon Kimura Parker, Shepherd’s Professor of Piano, as the “insightful, energetic soloist” (New York Times) in Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. Bookending both the Carnegie and Baltimore programs are Berlioz’s Le corsaire overture and Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra, conducted by music director Larry Rachleff, under whose leadership the Shepherd School now offers one of the nation’s pre-eminent orchestral programs.
The Shepherd School
Founded in 1975, the Shepherd School has built a reputation as one of the nation’s finest university-level music programs. In its relatively short history, the School has amassed a pre-eminent group of artist-teachers, attracting the most promising young musicians in training from around the world. The Shepherd School Symphony Orchestra, under the artistic direction of Larry Rachleff, is widely regarded as one of the premier student orchestras in the country.
Larry Rachleff
Conductor-educator Larry Rachleff is renowned for his rich, productive rapport with orchestra musicians. He has served as principal conducting teacher for the American Symphony Orchestra League, the Conductors’ Guild and the International Workshop for Conductors in the Czech Republic. As an advocate of contemporary music, he has collaborated with such leading composers as Samuel Adler, Luciano Berio, George Crumb, Michael Daugherty, and John Harbison.
Besides serving as the Walter Kris Hubert Professor of Music and Music Director of the Shepherd School Symphony Orchestra and Shepherd School Chamber Orchestra, Rachleff is music director of the Rhode Island Philharmonic, and was formerly music director of the San Antonio Symphony. His recent and upcoming engagements include collaborations with the Houston Symphony, Seattle Symphony, Utah Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony, Kansas City Symphony, Phoenix Symphony, Dayton Philharmonic, and Toledo Symphony, among many others. Summer festival engagements include Tanglewood, Aspen, Interlochen, Chautauqua, and Brevard, as well as Music Academy of the West, the Grand Teton Music Festival, and Italy’s Opera Theatre of Lucca.
Shepherd School Symphony: first East Coast tour
Saturday, Feb 15, 7:30pm
Baltimore, MD
Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall
Hector Berlioz: Le corsaire, Op. 21
Sergei Rachmaninoff: Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Op. 43 (Jon Kimura Parker, piano)
Bela Bartók: Concerto for Orchestra
Shepherd School Symphony Orchestra / Larry Rachleff
Tuesday, Feb 18, 8pm
New York, NY
Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium
Hector Berlioz: Le corsaire, Op. 21
Christopher Rouse: Violin Concerto (Cho-Liang Lin, violin)
Bela Bartók: Concerto for Orchestra
Shepherd School Symphony Orchestra / Larry Rachleff
Contacts:
Glenn Petry
Director of Public Relations
21C Media Group
(212) 625-2038
[email protected]
Amy Hodges
Senior Media Relations Specialist
Office of Public Affairs, Rice University
(713) 348-6777
[email protected]
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© 21C Media Group, February 2014