Cumming Leads Hartt Symphony Orchestra at Univ. of Hartford, 10/1

September 23, 2010. The Hartt School presents the Hartt Symphony Orchestra on Friday, October 1, at 7:30 PM in Millard Auditorium, University of Hartford, 200 Bloomfield Avenue, West Hartford. This concert of orchestral masterpieces is conducted by Edward Cumming, Hartt's Interim Director of Orchestral Activities and long-time Music Director of the Hartford Symphony Orchestra. Admission is $20, with discounts for seniors, students, and groups. Please call the University Box Office at 860.768.4228 or 800.274.8587 or visit www.hartford.edu/hartt for more information.

This first concert of the 2010-2011 season includes Dukas's Sorcerer's Apprentice, Debussy's Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune, Ravel's La Valse, and Dvorak's Symphony No. 8. A reception celebrating Maestro Cumming's season at Hartt follows the performance. The Debussy piece will be conducted by Hartt graduate conducting student Joseph Hodge.

About Edward Cumming: Edward Cumming is in his ninth season as Music Director of the Hartford Symphony Orchestra, hailed for its remarkable artistic growth during his tenure.

Before coming to Hartford, Cumming was Resident Conductor of the Pittsburgh Symphony, where he stepped in for an ailing Mariss Jansons to conduct a program including Mahler's Kindertotenlieder and Debussy's Jeux, of which the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette wrote, "some conductors could not do as well even with months to prepare." During his time in Pittsburgh, he was Music Director of the nationally-acclaimEd Pittsburgh Youth Symphony Orchestra, which was one of five orchestras invited to the biennial National Youth Orchestra Festival in 1998 and 2002.

World premieres in Hartford include Valerie Coleman's The Painted Lady, Richard Cumming's Aspects of Hippolytus, Michael Gatonska's Wandering the Moon Nursery, and Stephen Michael Gryc's Passagi (Concerto for Trombone and Orchestra), with Joe Alessi as soloist. In 2003 and 2006, the League of American Orchestras awarded Mr. Cumming and the HSO the ASCAP award for Adventurous Programming of Contemporary Music.

As Resident Conductor of the Florida Orchestra from 1989 to 1993, Cumming conducted a recording of the "Star Spangled Banner" with Whitney Houston and the Florida Orchestra for Super Bowl XXV. After filling in as guest conductor in 1996, he was appointed Artistic Director of the Flagstaff Festival of the Arts the following summer.

In Europe, Mr. Cumming has led La Orquesta Ciudad de Granada (Spain), the South Bohemian State Orchestra in the Czech Republic, the BBC Ulster Orchestra in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and most recently the Sinfonica di Roma. In the United States, he has conducted the Philharmonic orchestras of Los Angeles, Rochester, and Buffalo, as well the San Diego, Oregon, San Antonio, Santa Barbara, and Detroit symphony orchestras. In Asia, he has conducted the Singapore Symphony, and most recently made his Israeli debut with the Be'er Sheva Sinfonietta.

Mr. Cumming studied with Otto-Werner Mueller at Yale University, where he received a Doctorate in Music in 1992. As an undergraduate at the University of California at Berkeley, he was awarded the prestigious Eisner Prize for Creative Achievement in the Arts.

The Hartt School is the comprehensive performing arts conservatory of the University of Hartford that offers innovative degree programs in music, dance, and theatre. Founded 90 years ago, Hartt has been an integral part of the University of Hartford since its charter merged the then Hartt School of Music, the Hartford Art School, and Hillyer College to create the University in 1957. 2010 marks Hartt's 90th year of providing world class performing arts education to students in Greater-Hartford and around the world. With more than 400 concerts, recitals, plays, master classes, dance performances, and musical theatre productions a year, performance is central to Hartt's curriculum. For more information about The Hartt School, visit www.hartford.edu/hartt.

 

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