Little Orchestra Society Presents THE ORCHESTRA - A HAPPY FAMILY at Hunter College, 8/27-28

The Little Orchestra Society (The LOS) inaugurates the 2012-2013 season with an audience favorite from its acclaimed Lolli-Pops™ series, The Orchestra – A Happy Family. Performances will take place on Saturday October 27 at 10:00 a.m. and 11:30 a.m., and Sunday, October 28 at 1:00 p.m. and 2:30 p.m., at The Kaye Playhouse at Hunter College (68th St. between Park and Lexington Aves.). The musicians of The LOS, led by guest conductor Philip Mann and joined by the colorful Lolli-Pops™ characters, introduce their musical families to yours, where the drums Bang, the strings Bow, the brass Buzz and the winds Toot.

Regaled with sweet treats of musical bonbons-from candy canes and chocolates to sugarplums and cakewalks-kids love to visit their friends Bang the Lion, Buzz the Bee, Toot the Bird and Bow the Panda. With music by Tchaikovsky and Debussy, the program is directed and choreographed by Annette Jolles. Children, with complimentary fun batons, help the conductor close the show.

THE ORCHESTRA – A HAPPY FAMILY

(recommended for ages 3-5)

Philip ManN, GUEST CONDUCTOR

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2012, 10:00 A.M. AND 11:30 A.M.

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2012, 1:00 P.M. AND 2:30 P.M.

Program includes (subject to change):

Victor Herbert - "March of the Toys" from Babes in Toyland

Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky - "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy" from The Nutcracker

Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky - Waltz from Serenade for Strings

Claude Debussy - "Cakewalk" from Children's Corner Suite

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - "Turkish" Rondo

Jacques Offenbach - "Can-can" from Orpheus in the Underworld

Traditional - "Turkey in the Straw"

Gioachino Rossini - Overture to William Tell

John Philip Sousa - Stars and Stripes Forever

Performances are at The Kaye Playhouse at Hunter College (68th Street, between Park and Lexington Avenues). Single tickets: $15 (rear balcony/rear orchestra) or $45 (front balcony/front orchestra); Six-concert subscriptions $90 (rear balcony/rear orchestra) or $180 (front balcony/front orchestra); 3-concert series from $45 (rear balcony/rear orchestra) or $99 (front balcony/front orchestra); available by calling 212/971-9500 or at littleorchestra.org.

In the Lolli-Pops™ series (recommended for ages 3-5) the programs introduce young children to the basic elements of music, and incorporate dance, music and visual art with the help of characters who each represent one of the four families of the orchestra. At each Lolli-Pops™ concert children actively participate in the program and also receive musical instruments or educational materials to take home. Preparatory and follow-up activities are sent via email to all concert attendees. The Lolli-Pops™ series was originally created by the Orchestra's late Music Director, Dino Anagnost.

American conductor Philip Mann is quickly gaining a worldwide reputation as an "expressively graceful yet passionate" artist with a range spanning opera, symphonic repertoire, new music, and experimental collaborations. Beginning his third season as Music Director of the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, both previous years shattered attendance records and were accompanied by unprecedented artistic growth, new energy, and financial health. Formerly as the San Diego Symphony's Associate Conductor, he conducted hundreds of performances of Jacobs Subscription Masterworks, Symphony Exposed, family, young people's concerts, Kinder Konzert, pops, and other special programs and projects. As an American Conducting Fellow, the San Diego Union Tribune raved, "Mann was masterful… a skilled musical architect, designing and executing a beautifully paced interpretation, which seemed to spring from somewhere deep within the music rather than superimposed upon it."

As winner of the Vienna Philharmonic's Karajan Fellowship at the Salzburg Festival, Mann has relationships with orchestras and operas worldwide: including the Cleveland Orchestra, l'Orchestre symphonique de Québec, Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, Georgian State Opera, and the National Symphony of Cyprus, with appearances at New York's Avery Fischer Hall and London's Barbican Center. His recent Beethoven 9 was described as "Titanic" and his Canadian debut with l'Orchestre symphonique de Québec was dubbed by Le Soleil as a "Tour de Force," and led to an immediate reengagement in 2013. Other upcoming engagements include the Grand Rapids Symphony, New Mexico Philharmonic, and the Georgian State Opera. Previously, the music director of the Oxford City Opera and Oxford Pro Musica Chamber Orchestra, he also held positions with Music in the Mountains and the Indianapolis Symphony. Mann has worked with leading artists Joshua Bell, Sharon Isbin, Dmitri Alexeev, Midori, Marvin Hamlisch and given premiers of composers John Corigliano, Jennifer Higdon, Michael Torke, and Franco Donatoni.

Elected a Rhodes Scholar, Mann studied and taught at Oxford, and has served as assistant conductor to Franz Welser-Möst, Simon Rattle, Leonard Slatkin, Jaime Laredo, Mario Venzago, Bramwell Tovey, Pinchas Zukerman, Jahja Ling, and others. At Oxford, he won a competition for principal conductor of the Oxford University Philharmonia where under his leadership, its performances and tours received international acclaim. Mann studied with Alan Hazeldine of London's Guildhall School, Colin Metters at the Royal Academy of Music, and worked with Leonard Slatkin at the National Symphony's Kennedy Center Conducting Institute and Michael Tilson Thomas at the New World Symphony. Mentorship followed with Esa-Pekka Salonen and Jorma Panula at the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and Robert Spano with the Atlanta Symphony. Mann was also appointed visiting lecturer in orchestral conducting at Indiana University and worked with the renowned opera theater. Additional studies came under the Bolshoi Theater's music director, Alexander Vedernikov at the Moscow State Conservatory, Gustav Meier, Kenneth Keisler, and with Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Robert Ward. He is the recipient of numerous awards including commendations from several cities, and the state of California.

Annette Jolles has created a diverse body of work as a director, writer and producer for stage and television. She has developed and directed numerous new works including the Off-Broadway premieres of That Time of the Year and Little By Little (The York Theatre Company), Wallenberg (White Plains Performing Arts Center), Passion of the Hausfrau (Portland Stage Company), The Jerusalem Syndrome (NYMF), Suddenly Hope (Denver Civic Theater, Garfield Theater, & Rich Forum Theater), Manhattan Madcaps of 1924 (Symphony Space "Summer Stock on Broadway" Series) and Big Red Sun (Theatreworks Palo Alto's New Works Festival). As a founding partner of KTW Productions, she produced, co-wrote and direcTed Keeping the Word and The Handshake, which toured nationwide.

Since 1992, she has been Director/Choreographer for The Little Orchestra Society, staging their acclaimed Lolli-Pops™ Series for young children at Florence Gould Hall and the Kaye Playhouse, as well as productions of Menotti's Amahl and the Night Visitors, Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel, Berezowsky's Babar the Elephant, and a new adaptation of Peter and the Wolf, all at Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center.

Theatrical concert credits include the 92nd Street Y's Lyrics and Lyricists series, Grind (The York's Musicals in Mufti), and New Voices Concerts at London's Southbank Centre and Symphony Space, where she also staged Broadway and Beyond with host Rob Fisher, and their monumental Wall to Wall Sondheim tribute.

For the past three years, she produced and directed Restoring Honor at the Lincoln Memorial, Restoring Courage in Jerusalem's Davidson Center, and Restoring Love at Cowboys Stadium in Dallas, TX, as well as their supporting events at the Kennedy Center, the Caesarea Amphitheatre and Jerusalem's Old Train Station. As a producing partner in Bard Theatricals, she was represented on Broadway with Looped, starring Valerie Harper, and Scottsboro Boys, for which she received a 2011 Tony nomination for Best Musical.

For twenty years, Ms. Jolles has produced, directed and associate directed for Bard Entertainment, a television Production Company specializing in live multi-camera events and entertainment specials. Her extensive work in television has earned her three Emmy Awards as producer of the 9/11 Memorial from Ground Zero andproducer/writer for Mitzi Gaynor: Razzle Dazzle! (PBS), and six additional Emmy nominations. Highlights of broadcasts include Holiday in Bryant Park and Broadway Under the Stars (CBS), Celebrate Israel Parade (WWOR/My9), Egypt Week Live (Discovery), Homecoming (ESPN), The Dr. Joy Browne Show (Discovery Health), Company and Camelot (PBS, Live from Lincoln Center), (Romance/Romance, Nunsense 1, 2 & 3, Stop the World… (PBS, A&E, TNN), This American Life Live 1 & 2 (movie theater simulcasts), the New York Giants and New York Yankees Ticker Tape Parades, and eight years of the world feed of the Times Square New Year's Eve festivities.

She is a summa cum laude graduate of Yale University, where she currently teaches musical theater performance and direction

The Little Orchestra Society/Orpheon, Inc. (The LOS), now in its 65th season, performed its inaugural concert at The Town Hall on October 20, 1947, and has since been devoted to presenting music and educational programming that inspires audiences of all ages to encourage a lifetime of participation in the arts.The LOS honors both the past, by presenting ensemble pieces created by the great early composers, while also "orchestrating the innovation" in classical music through world premieres of new works -- more than 65 throughout its history. The Orchestra performs dynamic repertoire using multiple art forms to create meaningful experiences for today's audiences.

The LOS's mission to present music in engaging, educational contexts was refined under the direction of the late Maestro Dino Anagnost, who led the orchestra from 1979 to 2011. Throughout its history, the Orchestra has given many important premieres and launched the careers of major musical talents in its concert programming for adult audiences. In addition to its concert performances, its music education and community engagement programs educate and entertain New York Metropolitan Area children and their families, as well as senior citizens, through the Musical Connections, Live In Concert! and Project 65Plus programs.

Musical Connections: The School Partnership Program, a year-long music education program, teaches students the basic elements of music by engaging them in the process of composing their own works. Live In Concert! seeks to instill a lasting love of music in children and their families and to create new audiences for classical music. New York City public school students and children from publicly-funded daycare centers and social service agencies attend The Little Orchestra Society's dress rehearsals and concerts without charge. Project 65Plus recognizes the importance of life-long learning and provides senior New Yorkers with free admission to the Orchestra's concerts. The LOSalso works to serve grandparents who are caregivers. More than 12,000 people participate in LOS music education and public service programs each year.

The Little Orchestra Society's concert series includes the Peabody Award-winning Happy Concerts for Young People for children ages 6-12, the Lolli-Pops for children ages 3-5, and the concerts for adults, which have included Vivaldi's Venice, Cathedral Concerts – Great Music Under a Byzantine Dome and Sound Discoveries. For more information, please visit littleorchestra.org or call 212-971-9500.

 

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