The North/South Chamber Orchestra Announces Season Finale

The North/South Chamber Orchestra will conclude its 44th consecutive season on June 23, 2024, performing four recent works by composers from New York City.

The free-admission concert will start at 7 PM and end around 8:20 PM. It will be held at the intimate and acoustically superior auditorium of Christ & St Stephen's Church (120 West 69th St - between Broadway and Columbus) on Manhattan's Upper West Side. First come, first served. No registration or ticket required.

The program will introduce the public to a work written especially for the occasion by Carolyn Steinberg. The new composition found its inspiration in the art work by the Italian master Giorgio Morandi (1890-1964). Titled Three Pieces after Morandi, Steinberg's music evokes three paintings by the late artist, namely A Tennis Court, Still Life, and Various Objects on a Table.

Carolyn Steinberg earned a doctorate in composition from The Juilliard School Upon returning to New York City after an extended sojourn in Europe. The recipient of the Goddard Lieberson Award of the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, performances of her works have been sponsored by prestigious European institutions, including the Donaueschingen and Darmstadt festivals. A versatile musician, Ms. Steinberg often performs around town as the flutist of the Chucho Ramirez Jazz Quintet.

The program also includes three works premiered and recorded by the North/South Chamber Orchestra during past seasons.

Elizabeth Bell's Concertino for Chamber Orchestra is in three contrasting movements arranged around the traditional fast-slow-fast pattern. Originally a full orchestra piece, the work was transcribed for chamber orchestra by Max Lifchitz in 2014. The American Record Guide alluded to Elizabeth Bell as "one of our country's leading composers" while Fanfare Magazine described her as "a fine composer whose instrumental music is particularly striking." One of the founders of New York Women Composers, Inc., Bell also worked as music critic for the Ithaca Journal in Upstate New York and served for five years on the Board of Governors of the American Composers Alliance.

A dynamic figure in America's musical life, Max Lifchitz was born in México City and has lived in New York since 1966. Active as composer, pianist, and conductor, Lifchitz was awarded first prize in the 1976 International Gaudeamus Competition for Performers of Twentieth Century Music held in Holland. The San Francisco Chronicle described him as "a stunning, ultra-sensitive pianist" while The New York Times praised Mr. Lifchitz for his "clean, measured and sensitive performances." The American Record Guide remarked that "Mr. Lifchitz is as good on the podium as he is behind the piano." His series of Yellow Ribbons compositions celebrate the artistic and personal freedom so often taken for granted in the West. Performing both Yellow Ribbons Nos. 40 and 42 as part of this concert seems appropriate in light of the suffering caused by the ongoing conflicts around the world as well as the political polarization being experienced in this country and abroad.

North/South Consonance's concert activities are made possible with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs. Additional support from the BMI Foundation, the Music Performance Trust Fund, the Zethus Fund, and numerous generous individual donors is gratefully acknowledged.

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