FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Sarah Snyder
ssnyder3@umd.edu
301.405.8151
May 12, 2014 – College Park, MD - The UMD School of Music’s National Orchestral Institute and Festival (NOI) welcomes nearly 100 talented orchestral musicians for four-weeks of dynamic music-making, May 31-June 28, at The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center. NOI features outstanding young musicians and world-renowned conductors in chamber and orchestral concerts that celebrate musical traditions while also exploring new ways of engaging audiences. Selected by a rigorous, cross-country audition process, NOI participants quickly coalesce into energetic ensembles that perform adventuresome programming. Performances take place every Saturday night between May 31 and June 28, 2014; additional free events are open to the public.
Now in its 27th year, NOI has nurtured an entire generation of American orchestral musicians. James Undercofler, NOI’s artistic director, notes, “The musicians you hear at the National Orchestral Institute will surely be tomorrow’s first-rank players in orchestras throughout the world.” Alumni of NOI have gone on to win positions with virtually every major U.S. symphony orchestra including the Boston, Cleveland, Detroit, National, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Seattle Symphony Orchestras; the Los Angeles and New York Philharmonics; and the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra.
Programs
The 2014 National Orchestral Institute and Festival features a full schedule of concerts, showcases, open rehearsals and other events – free and ticketed – beginning on Saturday, May 31 at 8pm with the National Festival Orchestra Pops Concert, featuring George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue and other American classics, conducted by John Morris Russell, famed conductor of the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, and UMD School of Music alumna, Emily White, as piano soloist. NOI will culminate on Saturday, June 28 with the National Festival Orchestra in performance of Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5, conducted by world-renowned conductor and former director of the National Symphony Orchestra, Leonard Slatkin. A complete schedule of events is below.
A Gathering of Young Virtuosos
Each year, NOI conducts a rigorous audition process at 18 sites around the country to select nearly 100 orchestral virtuosos who plan orchestral careers. They participate in a four-week intensive program to hone their skills as musicians in chamber music, unconducted chamber orchestra, and orchestral performance and career management, studying under the tutelage of distinguished musicians who help them polish their ensemble skills. Each week culminates with a public performance in The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center.
Guest Conductors
James Ross
James Ross is a musician of international repute. His musical activities cover three fields: conducting, horn playing and teaching. Presently, he is the Director of Orchestral Activity at the University of Maryland and Associate Director of the Conducting Program at the Juilliard School. This past June, the New York Philharmonic closed their season with “Petrushka Project,” a piece inspired by UMSO’s “The Petrushka Project,” which was conducted by Ross and debuted in 2008 at the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center. Recently, he also received critical acclaim for his direction of the UMD Symphony Orchestra’s performance of Appalachian Spring, a piece that explored music and movement, with movement design by Liz Lerman.
John Morris Russell
John Morris Russell, Conductor of the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, “has shown a new generation, the strength and versatility of symphonic pops,” according to the Cincinnati Enquirer. Maestro Russell has worked with many of North America’s most preeminent ensembles, including the orchestras of Dallas, Detroit, Houston, Toronto, Vancouver as well as Miami’s New World Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Cleveland Orchestra. A leader in orchestral educational programming, Maestro Russell conducted “LinkUP!” concerts at Carnegie Hall, which provide elementary school students the opportunity to learn and perform music, for 12 years. As Associate Conductor of the Cincinnati Symphony and Pops Orchestras (1995-2006), he created the “Classical Roots” series, which celebrates the music of African-American composers, as well as the “Sound Discoveries” educational concert series. Maestro Russell also serves as Music Director of the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra in South Carolina, and is Conductor Laureate of the Windsor Symphony Orchestra in Ontario, Canada, where he was Music Director between 2001 and 2012.
Christopher Seaman
British conductor Christopher Seaman has recently been named Conductor Laureate of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, where he served as Music Director for 13 years. While in Rochester, Maestro Seaman created the ASCAP award-winning lecture series “Symphony 101.” He has also served as Artistic Advisor of the San Antonio Symphony, Music Director of the Naples Philharmonic in Florida and conductor-in-residence of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. A sought-after guest conductor, Maestro Seaman has appeared with orchestras in North America, Israel, Eastern Europe, the Far East, Australia and New Zealand, as well as Great Britain, where he has served as Principal Conductor of the BBC Scottish Symphony and the Northern Sinfonia.
Leonard Slatkin
Leonard Slatkin is Music Director of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and the Orchestre National de Lyon, France. Maestro Slatkin’s more than 100 recordings have won seven Grammy awards and earned 64 nominations. Maestro Slatkin has served as Music Director of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra and the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, D.C., and as Chief Conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra in London. He has held Principal Guest Conductor positions with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Philharmonia Orchestra of London and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. Maestro Slatkin is the founder and director of the National Conducting Institute and the St. Louis Symphony Youth Orchestra and continues his conducting and teaching activities at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, the Manhattan School of Music and The Juilliard School.
2014 National Orchestra Institute and Festival Events
All events take place at The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center.
National Festival Orchestra: Russell Conducts Pops Concert
Saturday, May 31, 2014, 8PM
Venue
Dekelboum Concert Hall
Tickets
- Regular: $35
- Subscriber: $28
- UMD Faculty & Staff: $28
- Senior Citizen: $30
- UMD Alumni Association: $30
- Students/Youth: $10
Description
John Morris Russell, conductor of the famed Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, opens the National Orchestral Institute with an all-American program featuring Gershwin’s beloved Rhapsody in Blue with piano soloist and UMD School of Music alumna, Emily White. This upbeat program of audience favorites also features music from Bernstein’s West Side Story and music by film composer John Williams.
National Orchestral Institute: Festival Chamber Music Recital
Thursday, June 5, 2014, 8PM
Venue
Gildenhorn Recital Hall
Tickets
Free, no tickets required
Description
Drawn from the world of professional chamber music, the artist faculty of the National Orchestral Institute perform a diverse program of chamber music featuring Johannes Brahms’ String Sextet No. 2 along with works by Hovhannes, Britten and von Weber.
National Festival Chamber Orchestra
Saturday, June 7, 2014, 8PM
Venue
Dekelboum Concert Hall
Tickets
- Regular: $25
- Subscriber: $20
- UMD Faculty & Staff: $20
- Senior Citizen: $20
- UMD Alumni Association: $20
- Students/Youth: $10
Description
In this concert, the musicians of NOI lead each other, performing chamber orchestra repertoire without a conductor, including Haydn’s Symphony No. 103 “Drumroll,” Respighi’s Trittico botticelliano and Ives’ Symphony No. 3 “Camp Meeting.”
National Orchestral Institute: Chamber Music Marathon Concerts
Sunday, June 8, 2014, 2PM & 5PM
Venue
Gildenhorn Recital Hall
Tickets
Free, no tickets required
Description
After fewer than two weeks of rehearsals and coaching, NOI participants masterfully perform a variety of chamber music repertoire for strings, winds and percussion. Drop in for any portion of this event.
National Festival Orchestra: Ross Conducts Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony
Saturday, June 14, 2014, 8PM
Venue
Dekelboum Concert Hall
Tickets
- Regular: $25
- Subscriber: $20
- UMD Faculty & Staff: $20
- Senior Citizen: $20
- UMD Alumni Association: $20
- Students/Youth: $10
Description
James Ross conducts a program of titans including Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No.5, Edgard Varèse’s Amériques and the Adagio from Gustav Mahler’s unfinished Symphony No. 10.
National Festival Orchestra: Seaman Conducts Holst’s The Planets
Venue
Dekelboum Concert Hall
Tickets
- Regular: $25
- Subscriber: $20
- UMD Faculty & Staff: $20
- Senior Citizen: $20
- UMD Alumni Association: $20
- Students/Youth: $10
Description
Christopher Seaman, Conductor Laureate of the Rochester Philharmonic, leads the National Festival Orchestra in a program featuring Gustav Holst’s The Planets.
National Festival Chamber Orchestra: Peter and the Wolf Family Concert
Sunday, June 22, 2014, 3PM & 5PM
Venue
Grand Pavilion
Tickets
Free, no tickets required
Description
In this family-friendly performance, members of the National Orchestral Institute play Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf and give their own imaginative musical interpretations of beloved children’s books.
National Festival Orchestra: Slatkin Conducts Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony
Saturday, June 28, 2014, 8PM
Venue
Dekelboum Concert Hall
Tickets
- Regular: $25
- Subscriber: $20
- UMD Faculty & Staff: $20
- Senior Citizen: $20
- UMD Alumni Association: $20
- Students/Youth: $10
Description
To conclude the festival, world-renowned conductor and former Music Director of the National Symphony Orchestra, Leonard Slatkin, leads the orchestra in a concert featuring Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5.
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Located on the University of Maryland campus and a part of the College of Arts and Humanities, the School of Music is a dynamic arts community committed to cultivating and transforming musical traditions and preparing students for meaningful engagement with their art, their culture and the world community. The School is an integral part of the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, a premier arts presenting venue and creative laboratory for professional artists, teachers and students, serving the university and community. The School of Music, the School of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies, the Michelle Smith Performing Arts Library, and the staff and administration of the Center comprise the Center‘s creative community.
The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center is supported by a grant from the Maryland State Arts Council, an agency dedicated to cultivating a vibrant cultural community where the arts thrive. An agency of the Department of Business & Economic Development, the MSAC provides financial support and technical assistance to nonprofit organizations, units of government, colleges and universities for arts activities. Funding for the Maryland State Arts Council is also provided by the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency.