New World Symphony Opens Season with World Premiere of Video Work by Tal Rosner Today

The New World Symphony, America's Orchestral Academy (NWS), opens its 2013-2014 season this weekend, October 5 and 6 with the world premiere of a video work by artist and filmmaker Tal Rosner. The video, which accompanies the Four Sea Interludes from Benjamin Britten's opera Peter Grimes, is co-commissioned by NWS, Los Angeles Philharmonic, The Philadelphia Orchestra and San Francisco Symphony. The New World Symphony performances, which will include a WALLCAST concert on October 5, are conducted by NWS Founder and Artistic Director Michael Tilson Thomas and feature Gershwin's Cuban Overture and Piano Concerto in F performed by renowned pianist Yuja Wang, as well as Stravinsky'sPulcinella Suite.

Peter Grimes-Britten's first opera, which premiered in 1945 at Sadler's Wells in London-is the story of a fisherman tormented by the mysterious deaths of two apprentices. The Four Sea Interludes were composed to accommodate scenic changes during the opera, guiding the listener from one environment into the next. Rosner takes this concept as inspiration, and uses visuals to explore the space between destinations and the structures that connect them-for example bridges, roads and overpasses. Rosner has dedicated each movement of the piece to one of the four cities where the work will be performed, featuring original footage that highlights each location's architecture, geography and proximity to water.

Rosner helped inaugurate the New World Center in 2011 with a set of visual commissions, creating the video mural Chronograph for the center's 7,000 square-foot projection wall façade and a video to accompany Thomas Adés' Polaris: A Voyage for Orchestra, a commissioned work that was featured in the New World Symphony's first performance in its new campus.

"Collaborating with Michael Tilson Thomas and the NWS Fellows has been a wonderful opportunity," remarked Tal Rosner. "I am particularly thrilled to be working with music from Peter Grimes, a composition that I was introduced to early in life which changed the way I understood opera, and a work that has interested me since 2008 when Michael and I first discussed collaborating on this project."

The October 5 and 6 concerts are sponsored by Sandra and Stephen Muss, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Carnival Cruise Lines, the City of Miami Beach and Miami-Dade County. The WALLCAST concert on October 5 is supported by the Susan D. Kronick and Edward Manno Shumsky WALLCAST Endowment and The Miami Foundation.

NWS's 2013-2014 season includes a series of commissions, partnerships and events that showcase NWS as a laboratory for generating new ideas about the way music is taught, presented and experienced. Highlights include the commissioning and presentation of new works by emerging and established artists, the development of multi-media collaborative projects, and the continuation of innovative concert formats. Upcoming video commissions include the world premieres of works by Netia Jones(October 17, 2013), Adam Larsen (February 15, 2014) and Emily Eckstein (April 26, 2014).

For additional details and a complete 2013-2014 season schedule please visit www.nws.edu.

Program Information
New World Center
500 17th Street
Miami Beach, FL 33139

A GERSHWIN OPENING
Saturday, October 5, 2013 at 7:30PM (WALLCAST concert)
Sunday, October 6, 2013 at 2:00PM
Michael Tilson Thomas, conductor
Yuja Wang, piano

Britten: Four Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes (with video by Tal Rosner)
Stravinsky: Suite from Pulcinella
Gershwin: Cuban Overture
Gershwin: Piano Concerto in F
Tickets: From $35

To purchase tickets visit www.nws.edu or call the Box Office at 800-597-3331.

Tal Rosner
Tal Rosner is BAFTA-winning artist and filmmaker. His work on multi-disciplinary collaborations, from orchestral music and contemporary dance to television graphics, has been described as "most astounding" (The Times), "ingenious" (Variety) and "heralding a new genre" (The New Yorker). With a unique style of digital craftsmanship, he stands out at the forefront of international moving image practice, both on screen and on stage.

In January 2011, Rosner's multiple-channel film Polaris-with music by Thomas Adès-inaugurated New World Center, andChronograph, a site-specific digital art mural that he created in collaboration with artist Casey Reas, was commissioned for the building's 7,000-square-foot exterior projection wall. talrosner.com

Michael Tilson Thomas
Michael Tilson Thomas is the Founder and Artistic Director of the New World Symphony, America's Orchestral Academy; Music Director of the San Francisco Symphony; and Principal Guest Conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra. In addition to these posts, he maintains an active presence guest conducting with the major orchestras of Europe and the United States.

His recorded repertoire of more than 120 discs includes works by composers such as Bach, Beethoven, Mahler, Prokofiev and Stravinsky as well as his pioneering work with the music of Charles Ives, Carl Ruggles, Steve Reich, John Cage, Ingolf Dahl, Morton Feldman, George Gershwin, John McLaughlin and Elvis Costello. He recently completed recording the complete orchestral works of Gustav Mahler with the San Francisco Symphony.

Among his many honors and awards, Mr. Tilson Thomas is a Chevalier dans l'ordre des Arts et des Lettres of France, was Musical America's Musician of the Year and Conductor of the Year, Gramophone Magazine's Artist of the Year and has been profiled on CBS' 60 Minutes and ABC's Nightline. He has won 11 Grammy Awards for his recordings. In 2008 he received the Peabody Award for his radio series for SFS Media, The MTT Files. In 2010 he was awarded the National Medal of Arts in a ceremony in the White House.

Yuja Wang
Pianist Yuja Wang has performed with many of the world's most prestigious orchestras including those of Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Washington D.C. Abroad, she has performed with the Berlin Staatskapelle, China Philharmonic, FilarMonica Della Scala, Israel Philharmonic, London Philharmonic, Orchestre de Paris, Orquesta Nacional España, Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra, the NHK Symphony in Tokyo, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Orchestra Mozart and Santa Cecilia, among others. Lauded for her controlled, prodigious technique, Wang has been praised for her authority over the most complex technical demands of the repertoire, the depth of her musical insight, as well as her fresh interpretations and charismatic stage presence. yujawang.com

About the New World Symphony
The mission of NWS is to prepare highly gifted graduates of distinguished music programs for leadership roles in orchestras and ensembles around the world. NWS is dedicated to the artistic, personal and professional development of outstanding instrumentalists. The NWS fellowship program provides top graduates of music programs the opportunity to enhance their musical education with the finest professional training. As a laboratory for musical education and expression, NWS seeks to develop twenty-first century first-class musicians through a wide range of performance and instructional activities. Under the artistic direction of Michael Tilson Thomas, the program offers in-depth exposure to traditional and modern repertoire, with the active involvement of leading guest conductors, soloists and coaches. The relationships with these artists are extended through NWS's pioneering experimentation with distance learning via Internet2.

About the New World Center
Designed by Frank Gehry and opened in January 2011, the New World Center is a unique performance, education, production and creative space with state-of-the-art capabilities, owned and operated by the New World Symphony. A global hub for creative expression and collaboration and a laboratory for the way music is taught, presented and experienced, the building enables the New World Symphony to continue its role as a leader in integrating technology with music education and concert presentation. New World Center is used by the New World Symphony for educational activities, musical and related cultural performances and events, rehearsals, Internet2 transmissions, recordings, broadcasts and webcasts.

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