Our Story

Peter Tiboris created and conducted his first concert in New York on January 7, 1984, at Lincoln Center, featuring The American Symphony Orchestra, soloists, and three choruses, the Louisiana Chorale of Acadiana, Camerata Singers of Baton Rouge, and Collegiate Chorale of New York. Although he didn’t realize it at the time, Mr. Tiboris had just created his own, successful, production company, MidAmerica Productions, which was to become the foremost independent producer of choral concerts in Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage at Carnegie Hall.

During its 40 plus years, MidAmerica Productions has brought together conductors, soloists, and choral and instrumental ensembles from the U.S. and abroad to appear at New York’s top venues, including Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage, Weill Recital Hall, and Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall; and Alice Tully Hall and Avery Fisher Hall (now David Geffen Hall) at Lincoln Center. Additionally, MidAmerica Productions has presented concerts in numerous U.S. cities and in countries throughout the world, including Greece, England, Austria, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Italy, France, Portugal, and Russia.

MidAmerica Productions' concerts have showcased choral groups singing oratorios with talented conductors, full orchestra, and professional soloists; individual instrumental and choral groups performing as part of the Ensemble Spotlight Series; and solo recitals. Diverse programs have included Madrigal Festivals, Vocal Jazz Festivals, National Wind Ensemble, National Festival Youth Orchestra, and Sweet Adelines. Among the renowned guest conductors who have led MidAmerica’s concerts are John Rutter (who has conducted more than 135 concerts in Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage at Carnegie Hall), Sherrill Milnes, Lukas Foss, Helmuth Rilling, H. Robert Reynolds, JoAnne Falletta, Michael Morgan, and Jonathan Willcocks. More than 900 conductors have conducted on MidAmerica's series in New York and abroad, sharing the stage with 1500 solo artists from the world’s greatest opera companies and concert stages, and 4700 choral ensembles from the U.S. and abroad. There have been 174 youth and collegiate orchestras as well as 146 youth and collegiate bands, jazz bands, and wind ensembles.

Over the years, MidAmerica has commissioned new works and presented numerous premieres in Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage at Carnegie Hall and Avery Fisher Hall. World premieres have included Dinos Constantinides’ Byron’s Greece, Hymn to the Human Spirit, and Midnight Fantasy II for wind ensemble; John Rutter’s Cantate Domino, Distant Land, Magnificat, and Mass of the Children; and John Leavitt’s A Christmas Garland. U.S. premieres have featured new and older works such as Mozart’s Die Schuldigkeit des ersten Gebots, Reimann’s Concerto for Violin and Cello, Tchaikovsky’s Ode to Joy, Mikis Theodorakis’ Electra and Rhapsody for Cello and Orchestra, and René Clausen’s Hellas: In the Name of Freedom. In 2015, John Rutter conducted the New York premiere of his work, Canticles of Creation; in 2018, he returned to conduct the Carnegie Hall premiere of his latest major work, Visions.

In addition to its Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage series, MidAmerica Productions has presented nearly 400 chamber music concerts in Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall since 1989. World-class soloists, chamber ensembles, and members of orchestras such as the New York Philharmonic, The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, The Philadelphia Orchestra, The Atlanta Symphony, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic have appeared on MidAmerica’s chamber music series.

In the early 1990s MidAmerica Productions began to produce classical music recordings under the name Elysium Recordings, Inc. Thirty CDs, ranging in style from classical to jazz, to cabaret, operas, oratorios, symphonies, and solo recitals have been released on the Elysium label. For these recordings, MidAmerica has gathered some of the finest talents on the scene today, including Stanley Drucker, principal clarinet of the New York Philharmonic for more than 60 years; David Chan and Rafael Figueroa, concertmaster and principal cellist of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra; dramatic soprano Eilana Lappalainen; and the late Lukas Foss, eminent composer, pianist, and conductor.

In 1998, MidAmerica presented the first Mykonos International Music Festival in Greece. Later renamed Festival of the Aegean to reflect its broadened scope, the Festival was relocated to the picturesque island of Syros, Greece in 2005. In 2019, the Fifteenth Annual International Festival of the Aegean, incorporating operatic, choral, and symphonic music, took place over a two-week period.

In 2004, MidAm International, Inc. was formed to support MidAmerica’s growing presence in Europe. Since then, concerts have taken place in Vienna, Salzburg, Florence, Verona, Paris, Lisbon, Porto, Athens and Syros, with concerts slated in 2022 for Florence, Verona, Venice, Lake Garda, Paris, Vienna, Salzburg, Athens, Syros, Lisbon, Porto, and London.