MidAmerica Productions to Celebrate Special 40th Anniversary Concert With Over 500 Musicians

On January 7, 1984, Peter Tiboris created his first concert in New York, at Lincoln Center, of which The New York Times called his conducting, culminating in the birth of MidAmerica Productions.

Exactly forty years later to the day, Maestro Tiboris and Composer/Conductor John Rutter, C.B.E. will be leading over 500 choral artists in an epic anniversary concert celebrating four decades of making life-changing music on the world's greatest stage. Tiboris will be conducting Beethoven's Ninth Symphony (Ode to Joy) with the New England Symphonic Ensemble (Preston Hawes, Artistic Director) a chorus of 250+, and distinguished soloists. MidAmerica Productions' Conductor Laureate John Rutter, CBE will conduct an additional 225 performers with the New England Symphonic Ensemble in his Magnificat to complete the other half of the concert.

This historic event will take place on Sunday, January 7, 2024 at 3pm at Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage at Carnegie Hall and is a testament to MidAmerica Productions' long-standing commitment to excellence in the arts, as it promises to be an unforgettable afternoon of dramatic music and celebration. The concert also marks the 200th anniversary of Beethoven's ninth and final symphony debut at Vienna's Theater am Kärntnertor on May 7, 1824. Many musicologists and critics consider Beethoven's symphony to be his magnum opus and a pinnacle in the annals of music history. This renowned classical composition is celebrated as one of the most frequently played symphonies globally.

John Rutter will return to the MidAmerica stage for his 130th conducting engagement, this time to celebrate the 24th anniversary of the world premiere of his "Magnificat," which was specially created at the encouragement of Peter Tiboris and MidAmerica on May 26, 1990 at the American Choral Director's Association conference in New York City..

"The chorus numbered over 200 voices," Rutter recalled of the world premiere, "every one of them happy and excited at the prospect of joining forces in the magnificent setting of Carnegie Hall... [so] I wanted to write something joyous because that would reflect the mood of the
performers..."

"The 'Magnifcat' continued Rutter, "is known as the Canticle of the Blessed Virgin, and it is mainly in the sunny southern countries-Spain, Mexico, Puerto Rico-that Mary is most celebrated and enjoyed. This led me to conceive the music as a bright, Latin-flavored fiesta. On feast days of the Virgin Mary in Latin countries, the population sings, dances, dresses in its most colorful clothes, processes in the open air, and celebrates. I wrote my setting in that spirit."

According to Kathleen Sabogal, archives and museum director for the Carnegie Hall Corporation, "MidAmerica Productions is the most prolific presenter of choral concerts in the history of Carnegie Hall" dating back to May 5, 1891, at the opening of the hall when Tchaikovsky conducted the first concert.

MidAmerica Productions was founded by Peter Tiboris in 1983, and since then, it has produced countless concerts of exceptional quality in various prestigious venues around the world. "It has been an honor to work with so many talented musicians and choirs over the years, and we look forward to sharing this special event with our audience, said Tiboris." Peter Tiboris has conducted an exhaustive number of major works since the start of his career, and this Ninth Symphony is one of his most cherished favorites. Beethoven's music, like Mozart's scores, is central to his life. He recently released a recording of selections from Beethoven's Symphony #6 "Pastoral" performed on March 23, 2023, in Warsaw, Poland, with the Pan-European Philharmonia, and is available for viewing on Youtube.

"I began as many of us did, pursuing a career in academia, but after some 10 years as a professor, I sought bigger challenges, and the only place I felt I could do this was in New York City. I moved there in 1983, founded MidAmerica Productions, and established a formula for concert presentation that hadn't been tried before, and that turned out to be very successful. All that followed was a consequence of that move. I am thrilled and overjoyed to continue presenting concerts all these years later."

The anniversary concert is expected to draw a large audience, and tickets will be available starting Monday, October 9, 2023, through Carnegie Hall. Tickets range from $50 to $125, and interested parties can purchase them in three ways: through Carnegie Charge, at the Box Office at 881 Seventh Avenue and 57th Street, or by contacting groupsales@carnegiehall.org or calling 212-903-9705 for groups of 10 or more.

The official participating choirs include the Ridgefield HS Concert Choir (Lauren Verney-Fink, Director), Highland Chorale (Doug Heyburn, Director), Cranford HS Concert Choir (Anthony Rafaniello, Director), Bergen County Academies Chamber Choir (Louis Spinelli, Director) Metuchen HS (Stefeny Krombholz, Director), Continuo Arts Symphonic Chorus (Candace Wicke, Director), Clarum Sonum (Rider Foster, Director), Clearview Vocal Ensemble, Mullica Hill, NJ (Jack Hill, Director), Rowan University Choirs & The Greater South Jersey Chorus (Christopher B. Thomas, Director) and The Arcadian Chorale & Richmond Choral Society of Staten Island (Marina Alexander, Director)

ABOUT PETER TIBORIS, General Director and Music Director of MidAmerica Productions
and MidAm International Greek-American conductor, music director, and impresario Peter Tiboris has been a vital presence on the international music scene for more than forty years. Founder and Music Director of the Manhattan Philharmonic, Maestro Tiboris is also currently Music Director of the Pan-European Philharmonia in Warsaw, Poland; General Music Director and Conductor of the Symphonisches Orchestra Wien in Austria; and Principal Guest Conductor of the Orchestra da Camera Fiorentina in Florence, Italy. Previous Principal Guest Conductor positions have included the Collegium Symphonium Veneto in Padua, Italy, and the Bohuslav Martinů Orchestra in Zlin, Czech Republic.

As General and Artistic Director of MidAmerica Productions in New York since its founding in 1983, Maestro Tiboris has presented more than 1,400 concerts worldwide, including 591 in Carnegie Hall, and at other New York City venues including Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher (now David Geffen) Hall and Alice Tully Hall (the site of his January 7, 1984 New York debut with the American Symphony Orchestra). In 2004 he founded MidAm International, which produces concerts in major European cultural centers including Paris, Vienna, Salzburg, Florence, Lisbon, Prague, Berlin, Warsaw, Athens, Moscow, and St. Petersburg. In 2005, he created the International Festival of the Aegean on the Greek island of Syros where, each July, he presents international-caliber performances of opera, oratorios, concerti, symphonic works, Greek folk music, jazz, theater, and ballet. In 2011, the Festival was named "Best cultural organization operating in the wider region of Greece" by the Awards Committee of Music Critics of the Union of Greek Theatre and Music Critics in Athens.

Maestro Tiboris has a vast repertoire, ranging from major choral works to countless symphonies, operas, and ballets, including numerous world and American premieres. Among the distinguished orchestras Maestro Tiboris has conducted are London's Royal Philharmonic and Philharmonia Orchestras, Niedersächsische Orchester Hannover, Virtuosi di Praga, Brno Philharmonic, National Opera Orchestra of Cairo, American Symphony Orchestra, Moscow Radio and Television Symphony Orchestra, Société Philharmonique de Montréal, Israel Symphony Orchestra Rishon Le-Zion, Orchestra del Teatro dell'Opera di Roma, Orchestra di Verona, and Orchestra di Siciliana di Palermo. His ballet engagements have included the Balletto di Verona and the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma, whose production of Peer Gynt by director/choreographer Renato Zanella was named "Ballet of the Year" by Danza e Danza Magazine. In 2016, he made his Asian debut with the Macau Orchestra and Taipei Philharmonic Chorus in Macau, China.

A Wisconsin native, Peter Tiboris studied music at the University of Wisconsin and received a doctorate from the University of Illinois. He is married to soprano Eilana Lappalainen, and they reside in the U.S., Germany, and Greece.

ABOUT JOHN RUTTER, Conductor Laureate and Composer

John Rutter was born in London in 1945 and received his first musical education as a chorister at Highgate School. He went on to study music at Clare College, Cambridge, where he wrote his first published compositions and conducted his first recording while still a student.

His compositional career has embraced both large and small-scale choral works, orchestral and instrumental pieces, a piano concerto, two children's operas, music for television, and specialist writing for such groups as the Philip Jones Brass Ensemble and the King's Singers. His larger choral works, Gloria (1974), Requiem (1985), Magnificat (1990), Psalmfest (1993), and Mass of the Children (2003) have been performed many times around the world. He co-edited four volumes in the Carols for Choirs series with Sir David Willcocks, and, more recently, has edited the first two volumes in the new Oxford Choral Classics series, Opera Choruses (1995) and European Sacred Music (1996). A new volume in the series, Sacred Choruses, was published in 2018.

From 1975 to 1979 he was Director of Music at Clare College, whose choir he directed in a number of broadcasts and recordings. After giving up the Clare post to allow more time for composition, he formed the Cambridge Singers as a professional chamber choir primarily dedicated to recording, and he now divides his time between composition and conducting.

He has guest-conducted or lectured at many concert halls, universities, churches, music festivals, and conferences in Europe, Africa, North and Central America and Australasia. In 1980 he was made an honorary Fellow of Westminster Choir College, Princeton, and in 1988 a Fellow of the Guild of Church Musicians. In 1996 the Archbishop of Canterbury conferred a Lambeth Doctorate of Music upon him in recognition of his contribution to church music. He was honored in the 2007 Queen's New Year Honours List, being awarded a CBE for services to music. Most of John Rutter's music is published by Oxford University Press. John Rutter has conducted over 125 concerts as MidAmerica Productions' Conductor Laureate.

MidAmerica Productions at 40
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 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 125 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 800 conductors have conducted on MidAmerica's series in New York and abroad, sharing the stage with 1300 solo artists from the world's greatest opera companies and concert stages, and 3700 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, Atlanta Symphony, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic have appeared on MidAmerica's chamber music series.