Park Avenue Chamber Symphony Sets 2015-16 Season

After completing a 15th anniversary season which featured a critically heralded performance of Stravinsky's Rite of Spring, David Bernard, Music Director of the award-winning Park Avenue Chamber Symphony, has announced the ensemble's 2015-16 season of concerts. Highlights include a roster of superb soloists (pianist Jeffrey Biegel, jazz pianist Ted Rosenthal, and cellist Inbal Segev,) insightful programs spanning music from Beethoven through Bartók, and a new concert format where the audience sits among the players of the orchestra for a performance of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony.

"VIVID SENSATIONS"

Saturday evening, October 24, 2015, 8pm

Sunday afternoon, October 25, 2015, 3pm

All Saints Church

230 East 60th Street

New York City

Barber Overture to "The School for Scandal"

Saint-Saëns Piano Concerto No. 2 in G Minor, op. 22,

Jeffrey Biegel, pianist

Rimsky-Korsakov Scheherazade

The season opens with a program of compositions that convey "vivid sensations" - colors and textures to dazzle the senses.

As a precocious 21-year old wunderkind studying at the Curtis Institute of Music, Samuel Barber chose Richard Sheridan's play "The School for Scandal" as the subject for his first fully scored orchestral work. While many overtures are written to introduce operas-foreshadowing the music and plot to come-Barber goes beyond the narrative of "School for Scandal," crafting an animated work that explores and portrays the wit and spirit of the play. After this the concert presents the well-known piano virtuoso Jeffrey Biegel in Saint Saëns Piano Concerto No. 2-a captivating work that begins with a dramatic fantasia in the style of Bach, and ends with a lively, unexpected tarantella. The program concludes with Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade which vividly portrays the waves that rock Sinbad's Ship, the mystery and power of the Kalendar Prince, the love of the young prince and princess growing into a gentle dance, and ...without warning ... you are thrown head-first into a bustling bazaar in Baghdad. Throughout all of this, the gentle voice of our story teller Scheherazade is woven across each episode.-David Bernard

"BRILLIANT INNOVATION"

Sunday evening, December 6, 2015 at 8pm

The Rose Theater

Jazz at Lincoln Center's Frederick P. Rose Hall

Time Warner Center

Broadway & 60th Street

New York City

Gershwin Concerto in F, Ted Rosenthal, pianist

Bartók Concerto for Orchestra

The Park Avenue Chamber Symphony returns to the Rose Theater at Lincoln Center to showcase two outstanding examples of innovation in classical music.

There aren't many composers with more influence on Jazz composition than George Gershwin. Gershwin's hit "I Got Rhythm" features a chord progression that is used as the basis for countless jazz works from Duke Ellington to Thelonious Monk and Charlie Parker. But the most innovative compositions by Gershwin are his classical works, which are influenced strongly by Gershwin's experience in the jazz and popular realm-melodies are infused with an endearing beauty and accessibility that is reminiscent of musical theater, but with a harmonic sophistication and transparent orchestration that dramatically enhances their settings. Gershwin is the only popular composer whose works have found a lasting place in the classical repertoire. We are pleased to present Gershwin's Concerto in F, which shows the composer's artful combinations of contradictory styles and forms. The renowned jazz pianist Ted Rosenthal will join us as soloist in celebration of the 90th anniversary of the Concerto in F's premiere.

Bartók's Concerto for Orchestra is a tour-de-force that features sections of the orchestra as virtuoso soloists. Bartók brings clear innovations from the first note, fusing folk music from Hungary and other Eastern European countries with departures from traditional tonality and non-traditional modes in a brilliant and captivating ride for the audience. -David Bernard

"BEETHOVEN'S 5TH FROM THE INSIDE OUT"

Saturday evening, February 6, 2016, 8pm

DiMenna Center for Classical Music

450 West 37th Street

New York City

Beethoven Symphony No. 5 in C Minor, op. 67

In a typical classical music concert, an audience member sitting in a concert hall is kept at a distance from the musicians. In this innovative program, the Park Avenue Chamber Symphony closes the gap between audience and orchestra by introducing a new way to experience classical music, by seating the audience inside the orchestra. According to Maestro Bernard:

Experience Beethoven's Fifth Symphony as you never have. In addition to seeing the string section's bows fly, feeling the trumpets and timpani play and watching the conductor from your seat INSIDE THE ORCHESTRA, you will witness the camaraderie and electricity among and between the players and the conductor. This is a whole new perspective on concert going that for the first time brings the audience into the action. -David Bernard

"INTROSPECTION"

Saturday evening, May 21, 2016, 8pm

Saturday afternoon, May 22, 2016, 3pm

All Saints Church

230 East 60th Street

New York, NY

Elgar Cello Concerto in E Minor, Op. 85, Inbal Segev, cellist

Mendelssohn Symphony No. 3, Op.56 ("Scottish")

Two of the most important cello concertos of the romantic era, those by Dvorák and Elgar, were strongly influenced by their composer's personal tragedies. Dvorák's love for his sister-in-law Josefina infused sadness into his Cello Concerto during her extended illness and death. For Elgar, it was the declining health of his wife Alice, that drove an overwhelming poignancy and longing into his Cello Concerto. Alice passed away a few months after the premiere of the Cello Concerto. Elgar had created a work of powerful expression of love and longing and now bereft of his lifelong muse, he never wrote another work as important as this.

Mendelssohn's trip to Scotland at the age of 20 ignited his imagination in profound ways. The immediate result was his "Fingal's Cave Overture." Recalling a stormy voyage to the Hebrides Islands, the "voice" of this work was unlike anything Mendelssohn had written previously. But it was a visit to the Holyrood Chapel in Edinburgh that left a lasting impression, taking 13 years to complete his final symphony, the "Scottish". After drawing you in with a somber and intriguing theme depicting the Holyrood Chapel, this work takes you on a journey through excitement, boundless energy, sublime lyricism all leading to a driving, brilliant finale. Through this work, you will truly feel the deep impact of Mendelssohn's visit to Scotland on his soul. -David Bernard

Park Avenue Chamber Symphony Music Director David Bernard has gained recognition for his dramatic and incisive conducting in over 20 countries on four continents, including a nine-city tour of the People's Republic of China and a guest conducting assignment with the China Conservatory Orchestra.

Active throughout the greater New York City area, Maestro Bernard is increasingly in demand as guest conductor with many of the region's professional ensembles. His recent performances of Mozart's "Jupiter" Symphony with the South Shore Symphony - part of an all-Mozart program that also included the clarinet concerto with soloist Stanley Drucker - was praised as a "taut and energetic performance" by SoundWordSight magazine. In addition, he has conducted the Long Island String Festival, the Massapequa Philharmonic, the New York Symphonic Arts Ensemble, and the Putnam Symphony. Mr. Bernard has previously served as Music Director of the Stony Brook University Orchestra, the Gilbert and Sullivan Light Opera Company of Long Island, and Theater Three. Previously Bernard held the post of Assistant Conductor of both the Jacksonville and Stamford symphony orchestras.

A multiple First Prize Winner of the Orchestral Conducting Competition of The American Prize, David Bernard was described by the judges as "a first rate conductor. With no score, an animated and present Maestro Bernard led a phenomenal performance of incredibly difficult repertoire-masterly in shaping, phrasing, technique and expressivity". A reading of Richard Strauss's Tod und Verklärungbrought high praise from Lucid Culture which found the performance to be "unsurpassed in its dynamic range and attention to detail."

Maestro Bernard recently led the Park Avenue Chamber Symphony at the Rose Theater, Jazz at Lincoln Center's Frederick P. Rose Hall, Time Warner Center in New York City on February 22, 2015 in a program of Stravinsky's Le Sacre du Printemps and the Wagner/Maazel The Ring Without Words, which drew the following superlatives from Alan Young of Lucid Culture (February 24, 2015):

Anyone who experienced Stravinsky's Rite of Spring for the first time in concert Sunday at the Rose Theatre at Jazz at Lincoln Center is spoiled for life. Conducting from memory, David Bernard led a transcendent performance of Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring. Segues were seamless, contrasts were vivid and Stravinsky's whirling exchanges of voices were expertly choreographed.

Paul Pelkonen of Superconductor praised the "large and ambitious program" for its "ferocity, building a dark, memorable crescendo around the rising chords that indicate the procession of the ancients, and blasting through the thunderous Final Dance and Sacrifice in powerful fashion. ... The final cataclysm showed the benefits of considerable preparation, with Mr. Bernard relishing each bar of the famous final chords." (February 25, 2015)

Devoted to the music of our own time, Bernard has presented world premières of scores by Bruce Adolphe, Chris Caswell, John Mackey, and Ted Rosenthal, while distinguished concert collaborators include Carter Brey, David Chan, Catherine Cho, Pedro Díaz, Stanley Drucker, Bart Feller, Whoopi Goldberg, Sirena Huang, Judith Ingolfsson, Christina Jennings, Anna Lee, Jessica Lee, Kristin Lee, Jon Manasse, Spencer Myer, Todd Phillips, and James Archie Worley.

Maestro Bernard's discography includes 17 albums spanning music from Vivaldi to Copland, including a complete Beethoven symphony cycle praised for its "intensity, spontaneity, propulsive rhythm, textural clarity, dynamic control, and well-judged phrasing" (Fanfare). About his release of 20th century orchestral music by Copland, Stravinsky, Vaughan Williams, and Bartók Fanfare Magazine wrote:

David Bernard is an exceptional conductor... His performances are marked by a strong sense of the music's structure, an outstanding feeling for orchestral texture and phrasing, and a dynamic rhythmic propulsion that makes itself felt even in quiet passages. (July 2014)

Maestro Bernard is passionately committed to elementary and secondary school music education, continuously developing new talent and providing solo performance experience to exciting young artists. His leadership in fundraising for music education programs has bolstered outreach, community music schools and conservatory preparatory programs-most notably the Harmony Program (a New York City initiative modeled after Venezuela's "El Sistema") and the Lucy Moses School. Mr. Bernard and the Park Avenue Chamber Symphony have also established the Parent's Association Endowed Scholarship Fund at The Juilliard School Pre-College Division.

David Bernard is an alumnus of The Juilliard School, Curtis Institute of Music, Stony Brook University, Tanglewood, and Saratoga Performing Arts Center.

Pianist, composer, and arranger Jeffrey Biegel has had a fascinating career. In 2015, Moravian College in Bethlehem, PA, conferred the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Humane Letters upon Mr. Biegel, for his achievements as a world-renowned pianist, recording artist, chamber music collaborator, and champion of new piano music, composer, arranger and educator. He recently recorded Lucas Richman's Piano Concerto: In Truth with Maestro Richman conducting the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, on the Albany label for release summer 2015, and Steve Barta's new Symphonic Arrangement of Claude Bolling's Suite for Flute and Jazz Piano No. 1 with the renowned jazz flutist, Hubert Laws, due spring 2015. He recently performed two world premieres for piano and orchestra with Orchestra Kentucky, conducted by Jeff Reed: Peter Tork's Moderato ma non troppo, and Nashville's Grammy-winning composer, Dick Tunney's Concerto for Piano and Orchestra. Biegel's

recording for Naxos of William Bolcom's Prometheus for piano, orchestra and chorus, with Carl St. Clair leading the Pacific Symphony Orchestra and Pacific Chorale is scheduled for release in 2015, as well as E1 label's release of Volume 2: The Complete Sonatas for Piano by Mozart. Biegel's Naxos discography also includes Leroy Anderson's 'Concerto in C' with Leonard Slatkin conducting the BBC Concert Orchestra, Ellen Taaffe Zwilich's Millennium Fantasy and Peanuts Gallery, Kenneth Fuchs's Falling Trio, Vivaldi's Four Seasonsand other concertos arranged by Andrew Gentile, as well as Cesar Cui's 25 Preludes. Koch Records' Classical Carols, is a holiday recording merging well known piano music with traditional holiday carols, arranged by Carolyne M. Taylor. GPR Records released Mr. Biegel's all-Chopin recording, Life According to Chopin, in 2014, distributed worldwide by Naxos.

An avid composer, Mr. Biegel and his son, Craig, co-composed The World In Our Hands, published by the Hal Leonard Corporation. The Hal Leonard Corporation has also published Christmas In A Minute, an SATB choral version of Chopin's Minute Waltz as well as his arrangement of The Twelve Days of Christmas for SATB divisi a cappella choir, and, Hanukah Fantasy for SATB/piano, orchestration by Lucas Richman, among many others.

Leonard Bernstein said of pianist Jeffrey Biegel: "He played fantastic Liszt. He is a splendid musician and a brilliant performer." These comments helped to launch Mr. Biegel's 1986 New York recital debut, as the recipient of the coveted Juilliard William Petschek Piano Debut Award, at Alice Tully Hall. He studied at The Juilliard School with Adele Marcus, herself a pupil of Josef Lhevinne and Artur Schnabel. Mr. Biegel is currently on the piano faculty at the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music at Brooklyn College, a City University of New York (CUNY).

Ted Rosenthal is one of the leading jazz pianists of his generation. He actively tours worldwide with his trio, as a soloist, and has performed with many jazz greats, including Gerry Mulligan, Art Farmer, Phil Woods, Bob Brookmeyer, and James Moody. Winner of the 1988 Thelonious Monk International Jazz Piano Competition, Rosenthal has released fifteen CDs as a leader. Rhapsody in Gershwin (2014), which features his arrangement of Rhapsody in Blue for jazz trio, reached #1 in jazz album sales at iTunes and Amazon. Wonderland (2013), was selected as a New York Times holiday pick, and received much critical praise: "Sleek, chic and elegant" - Howard Reich, Chicago Tribune. Impromptu (2010), showcases his re-imaginings of classical themes for jazz trio. " Rosenthal is artistic director of Jazz at the Riverdale Y and previously was artistic director of Jazz at Dicapo Theatre, both in New York City. He has also performed with Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, The Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, and Jon Faddis and the Carnegie Hall Jazz Band. In addition, Rosenthal is the pianist of choice for many top jazz vocalists including Helen Merrill, Ann Hampton Callaway and Barbara Cook. He appeared on Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz on National Public Radio and performed with David Sanborn on NBC's Night Music.

Cellist Inbal Segev's playing has been described as "characterized by a strong and warm tone . . . delivered with impressive fluency and style," by The Strad and "first class," "richly inspired," and "very moving indeed," by Gramophone. Equally committed to new repertoire for the cello and known masterworks, Ms. Segev brings interpretations that are both unreservedly natural and insightful to the vast range of solo and chamber music that she performs. Ms. Segev is currently recording all of Bach's cello suites at the Academy of Arts and Letters in New York City for release in September 2015. Audiences will have the opportunity to look behind the scenes at the making of Ms. Segev's album through a companion documentary currently being filmed about her journey through the music of Bach. In February 2015, she made the world premiere recording of Lucas Richman's Three Pieces for Cello and Orchestra with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra for release in fall 2015. Ms. Segev's discography also includes Sonatas by Beethoven and Boccherini (Opus One), Nigun (Vox), and Max Schubel's Concerto for Cello (Opus One). With the Amerigo Trio she has recorded serenades by Dohnányi (Navona).

Segev is a founding member of the Amerigo Trio with former New York Philharmonic concertmaster Glenn Dicterow and violist Karen Dreyfus. In addition, Segev has collaborated with artists such as Emanuel Ax, Agustin Dumay, Pamela Frank, Gilbert Kalish, Michael Tree, and the Vogler Quartet at venues and festivals across North America, Europe, and Israel. She has toured the US with the American Chamber Players since 2003 and previously played with the Jupiter Chamber Players.

Ms. Segev's many honors include the America-Israel Cultural Foundation Scholarship and top prizes at the Pablo Casals International Competition, the Paulo International Competition, and the Washington International Competition. She began playing the cello in Israel at age five and at 16 was invited by Isaac Stern to come to the U.S. to continue her studies. Ms. Segev earned a Bachelor's degree from The Juilliard School and a Master's degree from Yale University, studying with noted masters Joel Krosnick, Harvey Shapiro, Aldo Parisot, and Bernhard Greenhouse.

Inbal Segev (pronounced Inn-BAHL SEH-gehv) lives in New York with her husband, and three young children. She performs on a cello made by Francesco Rugeri in 1673.

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