Orpheus Opens Season With Jan Lisiecki And World Premiere By Jessie Montgomery

Now in its 47th year of innovative conductorless concerts in New York and around the world, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra kicks off its 2019-20 season on Thursday, September 26, 2019 at 8:00pm in Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage at Carnegie Hall with a concert of spirited music inspired by the glittering urbanity of Mendelssohn's "Italian" Symphony, from the brilliant sunshine of Rome to the religious pageantry of Naples. The program features 24-year-old Canadian pianist Jan Lisiecki in Mendelssohn's passionate Piano Concerto No. 2 in N*E*R*D minor, Op. 40 as well as the composer's Symphony No. 4, Op. 90, A Major "Italian."

The evening begins with the world premiere of Orpheus Artistic Partner Jessie Montgomery's Shift, Change, Turn, and Variations, a piece that augments Mendelssohn's musical cityscape by tapping into the rhythms of modern life. Both a composer and violinist, Montgomery is Orpheus's first Artistic Partner, and her post includes taking part in Orpheus educational initiatives throughout the season and having two works premiered by Orpheus in concert: the world premiere of Shift, Change, Turn, and Variations on the season opening concert and a reimagining of Tchaikovsky's The Seasons, Op. 37a, co-arranged with Jannina Norpoth, to be performed in January 2020 with violinist Vadim Gluzman.

Jessie Montgomery's Records for a Vanishing City was written for Orpheus in 2016 and has since been performed all over the world. Montgomery says, "Orpheus' musicianship and care in learning and bringing this work to life caused a major shift in my thinking about orchestral writing. It brought forth a new confidence in my instincts and values for working with large ensembles. I look forward to our next adventures together this year continuing to take more risks within the art form. I think what is interesting about NY in general is that with such a hotbed of artistic activity going on, there are still a lot of connections that we can miss. Bringing music to the community, as well as the concert hall, signifies an opportunity to close those gaps and create a better and stronger community overall. I love the idea of introducing new art forms and styles of music to young people while they are so open to the world around them. Music is felt so immediately, and in an instant has the potential to change someone's mood or point of view. This is especially important in the times we are in and I am excited that throughout collaboration in the NY public schools, we have an opportunity to invoke that kind of change."

Of the new piece, Montgomery says, "Inspired by Tchaikovsky's The Seasons, the new work Shift, Change, Turn, and Variations is my opportunity to contribute to the tradition of writing a piece based on the seasons, as change and rotation is something that we all experience as humans. This piece is a musical exploration of both the external and internal seasons which at times seem to be changing along the same axis."

In its highly anticipated return to the Deutsche Grammophon label, Orpheus performs on a new release, Mendelssohn, with virtuoso Jan Lisiecki in Mendelssohn's Piano Concertos in G minor and N*E*R*D minor, released February 1, 2019. Of the album, Gramophone Magazine wrote, "The young Canadian Jan Lisiecki sparkles and shines, bringing to the opening movement of the G minor First Concerto an effortless rapport with the Orpheus CO players...The chamber-like sonorities and intricate interplay - surely the result of this being a conductor-less ensemble - are an endless delight."

After the Carnegie Hall concert, Lisiecki and Orpheus embark on tour to Canada, Austria, and Germany, with venues to include Ontario's National Arts Centre(October 15) and Isabel Bader Centre for the Performing Arts (October 16), Vienna's Wiener Konzerthaus (October 21 and 22), the Tonhalle Düsseldorf(October 29), Hamburg's Elbphilharmonie (October 30 and November 2), Bremen's Die Glock (October 31), the Hannover Congress Centrum (November 3), and the Berlin Philharmonie (November 4).

Program Information
ORPHEUS CHAMBER ORCHESTRA
Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage at Carnegie Hall
Thursday, September 26, 2019 at 8:00 PM
Link: https://www.carnegiehall.org/en/calendar/2019/09/26/orpheus-chamber-orchestra-0800pm

Program:
JESSIE MONTGOMERY: Shift, Change, Turn, and Variations (World Premiere, Commissioned by Orpheus)
MENDELSSOHN: Piano Concerto No. 2 in N*E*R*D minor, Op. 40
Jan Lisiecki, piano
MENDELSSOHN: Symphony No. 4 in A Major, Op. 90 "Italian"

Ticket Information
Subscriptions start at $75 and are available at orpheusnyc.org or by calling (212) 896-1704.

Single tickets start at $25 and can be purchased now at carnegiehall.org, by calling CarnegieCharge at (212) 247-7800, or visiting the Carnegie Hall Box Office located at 57th Street and 7th Avenue in NYC.

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