For Immediate Release
December 21, 2005
Eleonor Bindman, Piano
Presented by
MidAmerica Productions at
Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall
January 21, 2006
Saturday, January 21, 2:00 p.m.
Eleonor Bindman, piano
with guest artist Dennis Joseph, clarinet
BRAHMS: Four Pieces for piano, Op. 119
Sonata for clarinet and piano E-flat Major
No. 2, Op. 120
EARL WILD: Concert Etude No. 1, based on
Gershwin’s “Liza”
Concert Etude No. 6, based on Gershwin’s
“I Got Rhythm”
GERSHWIN: Three Preludes for piano
Selections from Porgy and Bess
for clarinet and piano
Selections from Porgy and Bess for clarinet and piano
General admission tickets to Weill Recital Hall concerts are $35. Tickets may be obtained by calling CarnegieCharge at (212) 247-7800, by going online at www.carnegiehall.org, or by visiting the Carnegie Hall Box Office at 57th Street and 7th Avenue. $15 tickets for students and seniors (with proper ID) are available at the Carnegie Box Office. Weill Recital Hall is located at 154 West 57th Street. For more information, call MidAmerica Productions at (212) 239-4699 or visit our web site at www.midamerica-music.com.
A native of Riga, Latvia, Eleonor Bindman started her musical studies at the age of five. Upon arriving in New York, she attended the High School of Performing Arts; earned a B.A. in music from NYU; and continued to study piano on a scholarship at the Elaine Kaufman Cultural Center. Her mentors included Lev Natochenny, Richard Contiguglia and Vladimir Feltsman,
under whose guidance she completed her M.A. at SUNY, New Paltz.
Ms. Bindman's playing at her 1991 New York recital debut was described by The New York Times as "lively, clear textured and urbane, displaying an impressive clarity of purpose and a full grasp of the music's spirit." She has since been an active soloist and chamber musician, performing a varied repertoire throughout the United States and abroad. Her solo appearances with orchestras include engagements with the National Music Week Orchestra, the Staten Island Symphony, the Hudson Valley Philharmonic, the New York Youth Symphony, and the Radio and Television Symphony Orchestra of Moscow, Russia. Ms. Bindman is also a frequent guest at various music festivals, most recently appearing at the 2004 Bravissimo International Festival in Guatemala City.
Eleonor Bindman is a prizewinner of the New Orleans, Ferruccio Busoni and Jose Iturbi international piano competitions and an award recipient of the National Foundation for the Advancement of the Arts and the American Musical Scholarship Association. Ms. Bindman is also the author of a piano transcription of Mussorgsky's Night on Bald Mountain and a set of original pieces for children entitled An American Calendar, both published by Carl Fischer, Inc. Her first CD, Three Works by Modest Mussorgsky, was released in 2000 and a duo piano recording, Out of the Blue, followed in 2002. A brand new release, featuring The Seasons by Tchaikovsky, was issued by the MSR Classics label in January 2005.
Dennis Joseph has performed at virtually all of the major venues in New York City, including Carnegie Hall; conducted at Lincoln Center (Avery Fisher and Alice Tully Halls), and has been featured on the Broadway Stage. A clarinet student of Stanley Drucker and saxophone student of Jimmy Heath, Mr. Joseph has been heard with numerous orchestras in New York, the Far East and Australia, well known jazz and popular artists and in solo and chamber music recitals throughout the metropolitan area. He has performed in Sweet Charity, Thoroughly Modern Mille, The Boy from Oz, Chef's Theatre, Miss Saigon, The Music Man, The Sound of Music, A Year with Frog and Toad, and was featured on stage in Fosse. Mr. Joseph can be heard on the soundtrack to Martin Scorsese's movie The Aviator, and was selected to play the tenor sax/clarinet chair in the Billy Strayhorn Band. He performs every Monday night at Charley O's, in Manhattan, with Vince Giordano's Nighthawks, with whom he recently appeared on the Conan O'Brien show. Mr. Joseph is on the faculty of Nassau Community College, Adelphi University, and the Lucy Moses School, is the conductor of the Junior Strings Orchestra at the Lucy Moses School, and is a candidate for a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the City University of New York Graduate Center.
Since 1989, MidAmerica Productions has produced over 225 chamber concerts in Weill Recital Hall, presenting some of the most exciting chamber musicians working today. For more information about this concert or MidAmerica Productions contact Genan Zilkha at 212-239-0205 or visit www.midamerica-music.com.
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For Immediate Release
December 5, 2005
New York, NY - MidAmerica Productions presents two concerts featuring outstanding ensembles and conductors, as well as the 10th Annual National Festival Orchestra, on January 15th and 16th, 2006 at Isaac Stern Auditorium, Carnegie Hall.
Sunday, January 15, 8:30 p.m.
New England Symphonic Ensemble
Timothy Sharp, Conductor
THOMPSON: Testament of Freedom
TIPPETT: "Five Negro Spirituals" from A Child of Our Time
Participating choruses: Perham High School Concert Choir, Perham, MN; Sanctuary Choir of First Baptist Church, Forest City, NC; The Voices of the Mountains, Bristol, TN; First Baptist Church Sanctuary Choir, Cookeville, TN; Chancel Choir of Christ United Methodist Church, Memphis, TN; Variations of Bluefield College, Bluefield, VA
Raymond Sprague, Conductor
MORTEN LAURIDSEN: Lux Aeterna
Participating choruses: Davidson College Concert Choir, Davidson, NC; Nyack College Chorale, Nyack, NY; Seahawk Voices, Myrtle Beach, SC; Charleston County School of the Arts Chorale, North Charleston, SC
Monday, January 16, 8:00 p.m.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Day
New England Symphonic Ensemble
Francesco di Mauro, Conductor
Soloists: Lisa Houben, Soprano, and Leonardo López Linares, Baritone
VERDI:Overture from La Forza del Destino
GIORDANO: "La Mamma Morta" from Andrea Chenier
PUCCINI: "Sola, Perduta, Abbandonata" from Manon Lescaut
Intermezzo from Manon Lescaut
VERDI: "Eri Tu" from Un Ballo in Maschera
GIORDANO: "Nemico Della Patria" from Andrea Chenier
VERDI: "Mira, di Acerbe Lagrime" from Il Trovatore
10th Annual National Festival Orchestra
Benjamin Zander, Conductor
SHOSTAKOVICH: Symphony No. 5
Tickets, at $89, 54, 35, may be obtained by calling CarnegieCharge at (212) 247-7800, going online at www.carnegiehall.org, or by visiting the Carnegie Hall Box Office at West 57th Street and Seventh Avenue in NYC. For more information, call our Box Office at (212) 239-4699 or visit our web site at www.midamerica-music.com.
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Timothy Sharp holds the Elizabeth Daughdrill Chair in the Fine Arts at Rhodes College, Memphis, TN, where he conducts the Rhodes Singers and MasterSingers Chorale and Orchestra. Mr. Sharp has conducted feature concerts at the International Church Music Festival in Bern, Switzerland; programs at St. Mark's Cathedral in Venice, Italy; and recently The Choral Cycles of Morten Lauridsen at Carnegie Hall with Lauridsen in residence. Mr. Sharp is author of Precision Conducting, Achieving Choral Blend and Balance, and Precision Conducting Anthology, as well as contributing author to Up Front! Becoming the Complete Choral Conductor, and Collaborative Creativity. He writes the "Hallelujah!" column for Choral Journal and is on the Choral Journal Editorial Board. His research is published by the International Musicological Society, the Moravian Music Journal, Choral Journal, and the Society publish his research for Education, Music, and Psychology Research. Sharp received his DMA and MCM degrees from the School of Church Music, Louisville, KY. He studied conducting at the Aspen Music School, musicology at Harvard University, and through a Rotary Foundation Scholarship throughout schools in Belgium. He has just returned from a year as a visiting fellow at Cambridge University where he is a life member at Clare Hall.
Raymond Sprague is professor of music, director of choral activities and currently serves as chair of the music department at Davidson College. He conducts the concert choir and chamber singers, as well as teaching courses in music history. He came to Davidson from the University of New Orleans where he was the Virginia Koch Professor of Music, associate chair of the music department, and director of choral activities. He received a BA from Williams College, a MM in theory and composition from the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, and a DMA in choral literature and performance from the University of Colorado in Boulder. Previous appointments also have included music instructor at the Albuquerque Academy in New Mexico, director of choral activities at Saint Mary's College in Notre Dame, Indiana, and director of music at Saint Charles Avenue Baptist Church in New Orleans. Mr. Sprague was also the founder of the Louisiana Vocal Arts Chorale, and served as its artistic director for seven years. In fall of 1999, Mr. Sprague made his Carnegie Hall debut under the auspices of Mid - America productions.
Francesco Di Mauro was appointed to his current position as artistic coordinator of the Sicilian Symphony Orchestra in 2000. Mr. Di Mauro graduated from the Paris Conservatory, and regularly conducts operas, symphonic, and chamber orchestras in Italy, France, Germany, Switzerland, Spain, Croatia, Portugal, Poland, the Czech Republic, the Slovak Republic, Bulgaria, Argentina, Brazil, Mexico. He has also been engaged by The National Opera Theatre in Zagreb; the National Chamber Opera Theatre in Warsaw; the Krakow Philharmonic Orchestra; the Poznan Philharmonic Orchestra; the San Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra; The Radio-Television Orchestra of Sofia; the Kiev Philharmonic Orchestra; the Zurich Tonally Symphony Orchestra; the Chamber Orchestra of Mannheim; the Arturo Toscanini Foundation Symphony Orchestra; the Turin Philharmonic Orchestra; and
the Porto Philharmonic Orchestra.
Benjamin Zander has established an international reputation as a guest conductor. After completing his studies in cello at the State Academy in Cologne, and later London University, Mr. Zander was invited to continue his post graduate work at Harvard University. He has since made Boston his home having joined on the Faculty of the New England Conservatory, where he teaches the interpretation class, and conducts the youth philharmonic orchestra. Mr. Zander has also served for as the conductor of the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra for twenty-six seasons, which included a season consisting entirely of works by Mahler. He also has also conducted the Philharmonia Orchestra of London, with whom he has recorded Beethoven and Mahler symphonies for the Telarc label. High Fidelity named his recording of Mahler 6th as the best classical recording of 2002.
The National Festival Orchestra celebrates its tenth anniversary this season. The NFO was founded with the mission of identifying talented music students from across the country who have already demonstrated their musical ability and commitment to the art and to provide them with an intensive orchestral training residency in New York. These young artists work with legendary performers culminating in a performance on the world's most famous concert stage, Carnegie Hall. The NFO is created anew each season with participants selected though taped auditions and represent the finest music programs in the country. National Festival Orchestra Performers have come from every state in America and have gone on to attend prestigious music schools and to perform as professionals.
Virginia-Gene Rittenhouse, artistic director and principal conductor of the New England Symphonic Ensemble, is a violinist, pianist, composer, and conductor. A graduate of The Juilliard School, Boston University, and the Peabody Conservatory, Dr. Rittenhouse has performed as recitalist and soloist with orchestras throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, Japan, South Africa, and the West Indies. She is the recipient of numerous awards, including the London Associate Board Overseas Award, the New York Concert Artists Guild Award, the International Music Guild Award, and the New York Madrigal Society Award.
The New England Symphonic Ensemble was organized more than two decades ago by Dr. Virginia-Gene Rittenhouse. Since 1982 the ensemble has toured extensively throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, Australia, Africa, Russia, and Israel, and has performed frequently at Carnegie Hall under the auspices of MidAmerica Productions.
Over the past 22 years, MidAmerica Productions has brought together conductors, choruses, soloists, and orchestral musicians for performances at some of the world's greatest venues, especially at New York's Isaac Stern Auditorium at Carnegie Hall.
Under the guidance of MidAmerica's founder, Peter Tiboris, the company has presented over 790 concerts worldwide and more than 660 in New York at Isaac Stern Auditorium at Carnegie Hall, Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall, and Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall.
More than 2115 American ensembles, representing each of the 50 states, have appeared with MidAmerica in New York, as have 75 symphonic and choral ensembles from Europe, the Far East, South America, and Canada. There have more than 300 guest conductors, 620 solo artists, and 88,000 performers who have appeared on MidAmerica's series in Carnegie Hall.
In addition to presenting classic choral and instrumental works, MidAmerica Productions has championed the works of contemporary composers. On MidAmerica's series in Carnegie Hall and at Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall, there have been approximately 31 World Premieres, 16 United States Premieres, and 50 New York Premieres.
For more information about MidAmerica Productions, please contact Kathleen Drohan at 212-239-0205 or
kdrohan@midamerica-music.com
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