Orpheus Chamber Orchestra Presents Pianist Jan Lisiecki at Carnegie hall, September 26

New York, NY

Now in its 47th year of innovative conductorless concerts in New York and around the world, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra kicks off its 2019-20 season on Thursday, September 26, 2019 at 8:00pm in Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage at Carnegie Hall with a concert of spirited music inspired by the glittering urbanity of Mendelssohn’s “Italian” Symphony, from the brilliant sunshine of Rome to the religious pageantry of Naples. The program features 24-year-old Canadian pianist Jan Lisiecki in Mendelssohn’s passionate Piano Concerto No. 2 in D minor, Op. 40 as well as the composer’s Symphony No. 4, Op. 90, A Major “Italian.”

The evening begins with the world premiere of Orpheus Artistic Partner Jessie Montgomery’s Shift, Change, Turn, and Variations, a piece that augments Mendelssohn’s musical cityscape by tapping into the rhythms of modern life. Both a composer and violinist, Montgomery is Orpheus’s first Artistic Partner, and her post includes taking part in Orpheus educational initiatives throughout the season and having two works premiered by Orpheus in concert: the world premiere of Shift, Change, Turn, and Variations on the season opening concert and a reimagining of Tchaikovsky’s The Seasons, Op. 37a, co-arranged with Jannina Norpoth, to be performed in January 2020 with violinist Vadim Gluzman.

Jessie Montgomery’s Records for a Vanishing City was written for Orpheus in 2016 and has since been performed all over the world. Montgomery says, “Orpheus’ musicianship and care in learning and bringing this work to life caused a major shift in my thinking about orchestral writing. It brought forth a new confidence in my instincts and values for working with large ensembles. I look forward to our next adventures together this year continuing to take more risks within the art form. I think what is interesting about NY in general is that with such a hotbed of artistic activity going on, there are still a lot of connections that we can miss. Bringing music to the community, as well as the concert hall, signifies an opportunity to close those gaps and create a better and stronger community overall. I love the idea of introducing new art forms and styles of music to young people while they are so open to the world around them. Music is felt so immediately, and in an instant has the potential to change someone’s mood or point of view. This is especially important in the times we are in and I am excited that throughout collaboration in the NY public schools, we have an opportunity to invoke that kind of change.”

Of the new piece, Montgomery says, “Inspired by Tchaikovsky’s The Seasons, the new work Shift, Change, Turn, and Variations is my opportunity to contribute to the tradition of writing a piece based on the seasons, as change and rotation is something that we all experience as humans. This piece is a musical exploration of both the external and internal seasons which at times seem to be changing along the same axis.”

In its highly anticipated return to the Deutsche Grammophon label, Orpheus performs on a new release, Mendelssohn, with virtuoso Jan Lisiecki in Mendelssohn’s Piano Concertos in G minor and D minor, released February 1, 2019. Of the album, Gramophone Magazine wrote, “The young Canadian Jan Lisiecki sparkles and shines, bringing to the opening movement of the G minor First Concerto an effortless rapport with the Orpheus CO players...The chamber-like sonorities and intricate interplay – surely the result of this being a conductor-less ensemble – are an endless delight.”

After the Carnegie Hall concert, Lisiecki and Orpheus embark on tour to Canada, Austria, and Germany, with venues to include Ontario’s National Arts Centre (October 15) and Isabel Bader Centre for the Performing Arts (October 16), the Tonhalle Düsseldorf (October 29), Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie (October 30 and November 2), Bremen’s Die Glock (October 31), the Hannover Congress Centrum (November 3), and the Berlin Philharmonie (November 4).

Program Information

ORPHEUS CHAMBER ORCHESTRA
Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage at Carnegie Hall

Thursday, September 26, 2019 at 8:00 PM

Link: https://www.carnegiehall.org/en/calendar/2019/09/26/orpheus-chamber-orchestra-0800pm

Program:

• JESSIE MONTGOMERY: Shift, Change, Turn, and Variations (World Premiere, Commissioned by Orpheus)
• MENDELSSOHN: Piano Concerto No. 2 in D minor, Op. 40

Jan Lisiecki, piano

• MENDELSSOHN: Symphony No. 4 in A Major, Op. 90 “Italian”

Ticket Information

Subscriptions start at $75 and are available at orpheusnyc.org or by calling (212) 896-1704.

Single tickets start at $25 and can be purchased now at carnegiehall.org, by calling CarnegieCharge at (212) 247-7800, or visiting the Carnegie Hall Box Office located at 57th Street and 7th Avenue in NYC.

About Pianist Jan Lisiecki

Pianist Jan Lisiecki’s profound, insightful interpretations and refined technique speak to a maturity beyond his age. At 24, the Canadian has long secured himself a place among the upper echelon of pianists, his career at the top of the international concert scene spanning over a decade.

Lisiecki performs over a hundred yearly concerts in the most prestigious halls, and has worked closely with the world’s leading orchestras and conductors like Sir Antonio Pappano, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Daniel Harding, and Claudio Abbado. Following his acclaimed “Night Music” recitals, he will present a new solo recital program in 2019. This season also sees him perform Lieder recitals with Matthias Goerne in Paris, London, Hamburg, Munich and at New York’s Lincoln Center, and a series of Beethoven concerto cycles with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe. He will continue his collaboration with Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, touring Europe and North America. Further return invitations include Boston Symphony Orchestra, The Philadelphia Orchestra, Camerata Salzburg, Filarmonica della Scala and Santa Cecilia.

Lisiecki has appeared with the New York Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, Staatskapelle Dresden, Bavarian Radio Symphony, and London Symphony Orchestra, and will make his subscription debut with Chicago Symphony Orchestra in December. Having signed an exclusive contract with Deutsche Grammophon at fifteen, Lisiecki’s sixth album for the label sees him leading the Academy of St Martin in the Fields from the piano for all five Beethoven concertos. The September 2019 release, recorded live from Konzerthaus Berlin, will be the first within the label’s celebration of the Beethoven Year 2020.

Previous albums feature works by Mendelssohn with Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, and Chopin with NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester and Krzysztof Urbański. For the latter, Lisiecki received both the ECHO Klassik and the JUNO Award. At eighteen, Lisiecki became both the youngest ever recipient of Gramophone’s Young Artist Award and received the Leonard Bernstein Award at Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival. He was named UNICEF Ambassador to Canada in 2012.

About Orpheus Chamber Orchestra

In 1972, a group of young musicians made history by creating an orchestra without a conductor in which musicians lead themselves democratically. Since then, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra has recorded over 70 albums on all major classical labels, received a Grammy and other awards, toured to 46 countries across four continents, and collaborated with hundreds of world-class soloists. The group has commissioned and premiered 49 new works for chamber orchestra.

Orpheus’ 34 member musicians work together as a collective of leaders and rotate leadership roles for all rehearsals and performances. The orchestra presents annual series in New York City at Carnegie Hall and 92Y and regularly tours to major national and international venues. Orpheus shares its collaborative model through education and community engagement initiatives that promote equity and access to the arts for listeners of all ages.

Orpheus believes in empowering the unique voices of all people to make a valuable contribution. Working together as a collective of leaders, members explore each other’s musical ideas using their signature collaborative method, the Orpheus Process®, and give flight to vibrant, unconventional interpretations. Orpheus performances unfold dynamically, moment-by-moment, creating an energy shared by musicians and audiences alike.

Orpheus is committed to sharing its collaborative Process® with communities worldwide through engagement programs that promote equity and access to classical music for all ages and demographics. These include underwritten concert tickets and in-class visits from musicians for K-12 NYC students, development programs for emerging professionals in the arts, and Orpheus Reflections, a music and wellness program for people living with Alzheimer’s Disease and dementia and their caregivers.

For more information about Orpheus please visit www.OrpheusNYC.org or call 212.896.1700.

Public Relations

Katy Salomon[link email address: katy@morahanartsandmedia.com], Morahan Arts & Media