Orchestra of St. Luke’s To Begin 2011-12 Season

On February 16, 2012, Orchestra of St. Luke's (OSL) will welcome back its first music director, the visionary Sir Roger Norrington, in Haydn's Symphony No. 39 in G minor and Mozart's Symphony No. 39 in E-flat Major. Hailed by The New York Times as "a pianist you want to hear no matter what he performs," Jeremy Denk will make his OSL debut in Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 1 in C Major.

OSL@DMC
Since opening The DiMenna Center for Classical Music in March 2011, OSL has used its new home to expand community programs and to engage the public in its artistic process. The Center has already hosted free concerts, arts education programs and a radio broadcast as part of the new OSL@DMC series. Throughout the 2011/2012 season, OSL will expand OSL@DMC to include musician coaching programs, lectures, open rehearsals and more.

Collaborations
On September 8 and 9, 2011 OSL will join forces with its building partner Baryshnikov Arts Center (BAC) for the first time since moving in to its new home at The DiMenna Center for Classical Music. To celebrate the 100th anniversary of the premiere of Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde OSL and BAC will present Das Lied at 100: Mahler by Schoenberg, a performance of Schoenberg and Riehn's chamber arrangement of the work conducted by George Manahan, with mezzo-soprano Jennifer Johnson Cano and tenor Paul Groves.

On September 10 and 11 OSL will take part in two free performances presented by The Joyce Theater Foundation, Inc. to commemorate the 10th anniversary of September 11, 2001. This special presentation will feature performances by OSL with Paul Taylor Dance Company; the Limón Dance Company with Voices of Ascension; Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater's Matthew Rushing and Musicians Yacouba Cissoko and Sam Dicke. The program will also include a world premiere by Jessica Lang featuring Clifton Brown and Jamar Roberts. Under the direction of composer David LaMarche, OSL and Paul Taylor Dance Company will present Brandenburgs, Paul Taylor's 1988 uplifting masterwork set to Johann Sebastian Bach's Brandenburg Concertos Nos. 3 and 6 and Sonata for Violin and Continuo. The work displays Taylor's special affinity for the music of Bach-also seen in such works as Esplanade, Musical Offering and Promethean Fire. OSL will also perform Purcell's Chaconne in G minor for strings.

On April 24, 2012, OSL will perform in a special one-night-only concert of The Sound of Music at Carnegie Hall. Presented with full orchestra, cast and chorus performing the timeless score by Rodgers & Hammerstein, Gary Griffin will direct the production, and Rob Fisher will serve as musical director. Additional cast members will be announced. This performance is part of a gala benefit to support the music education programs of Carnegie Hall's Weill Music Institute. The Sound of Music gala event is sponsored by Ernst & Young LLP.
On February 12, 2012, OSL will perform in Carnegie Hall's 2011/2012 Carmina Burana Choral Project. This unique choral program recruits 200 high school and 40 middle school students from throughout New York City to perform Carmina Burana on the main stage at Carnegie Hall. The concert will also feature three new compositions written by high school age composers, sung by a separate choir of 150 high school students and inspired by Carmina Burana. New composers will be chosen through a national application process and commissioned to write for a full symphony orchestra and chorus.
On May 9, 2012 OSL will accompany Young Concert Artists (YCA) for its gala concert, featuring the music of Prokofiev, Tchaikovsky and Edward Elgar at AlIce Tully Hall. OSL and YCA have collaborated on concerts for several years, supporting YCA's mission to help launch the careers of exceptional young musicians from all over the world. This year's gala concert soloists include Narek Hakhnazaryan, Ran Dank and Hahn-Bin.

On May 22 - 25, 2012 OSL will again take part in Carnegie Hall's annual Link Up program-performing a six-concert series entitled Come to Play for thousands of New York City-area students. In recent years OSL's partnership with Carnegie Hall's Link Up program has helped establish a template for arts education programs like it throughout the country.

Arts Education
Since its inception in 1976, OSL's Arts Education program has introduced more than one million students to the beauty and power of the performing arts. In the 2011/2012 season OSL will once again present free performances for public school children from every borough. This year's Arts Education concerts shine a spotlight on composer William Bolcom-with a look at the man, his music and his Classical music influences. On November 29 - December 2, OSL will perform Bolcom's Commedia (for "Almost" 18th Century Orchestra) at The Kaye Playhouse at Hunter College. In the spring, OSL will perform Bolcom's Orphée-Serenade with new choreography developed in collaboration with the Jerome Robbins Foundation through their New Essential Works (NEW) program.

As part of its New York City Department of Education-accredited in-school partnerships, OSL will also send musicians and teaching artists to deliver a year-long arts integration curriculum in more than 30 classrooms in the Bronx, Queens, Brooklyn and Manhattan. To learn more about OSL's free education concerts or school partnerships, visit OSLartsed.org.