New Philharmonia to Open Season With Concerts At Grace Church In Newton

New Philharmonia Orchestra will begin its 30th Anniversary Season with two performances November 23rd & 24th  at Grace Church in Newton Corner. Dates have also been set for the final two concerts of the season; March 1st and 2nd, and May 3rd and 4th.  

Music Director Jorge Soto will conduct a concert featuring two monumental works. Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4 in F minor Op. 36, and Aaron Copland’s Lincoln Portrait, a composition that is uniquely American in spirit and employs Abraham Lincoln’s own words as the narration. 

Noting that this is both New Phil’s 30th and Newton’s 150th anniversary, Soto said “It is only fitting that Newton Mayor Ruthanne Fuller will be our guest narrator for this performance during our dual anniversaries,” said Soto. Mayor Fuller joins an illustrious roster who have shared Lincoln’s words since Copland wrote the piece in 1942 including Eleanor Roosevelt, poet Carl Sandburg, actor Henry Fonda and civil rights icon Coretta Scott King.  

On December 15, the Boston Ballet School joins the New Phil for their annual family holiday concert. The fun and festive program features holiday favorites including excerpts from Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker as well as other seasonal favorites.

On March 1st and 2nd, Soto will conduct Robert Schumann’s Symphony No. 4 and Hector Berlioz’s Harold in Italy  featuring Boston Symphony Orchestra violist Danny Kim as the guest soloist.  A member of the BSO since 2016, Kim completed his undergraduate degree at University of Wisconsin-Madison and earned his Master of Music in viola performance from the Juilliard School.   

As an organization founded by musicians three decades ago, New Phil’s final concerts of the season on May 3rd and 4th feature two of its members. Bassoonist and composer Luke Blackblurn's Symphony No. 1-Thalassa will make its world premiere. Blackburn's recent accolades include the 2024 American Academy of Arts and Letters Charles Ives Scholarship, ASCAP’s 2021 Morton Gould Young Composer Award, the Lyra Society’s 2021 Costello Competition for Composition, and Boston Musica Viva’s Write it Now commissioning initiative. 

Concertmaster Julia Wong, a founding member of New Philharmonia will be the featured soloist as Maestro Soto leads the orchestra in Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade.  In her professional life, Dr. Wong is a radiation oncologist at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. 

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