Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra Presents Mahler Symphony No. 2 RESURRECTION

The Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra presents the final concert in the 2016/17 FAIRWINDS Classics Series, Mahler 2: Resurrection on Saturday, April 8, conducted by Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra Music Director Eric Jacobsen. Performance is at Bob Carr Theater, 401 W. Livingston Street, Orlando, Florida at 8 p.m.

The Philharmonic, under the direction of Eric Jacobsen, will lead the large orchestra, vocalists Samantha Barnes Daniel, soprano and Virginie Verrez, mezzo-soprano, and the University of Central Florida Chorus in this eighty-minute program that is one of Mahler's greatest and most well-known masterworks. Mahler's Resurrection Symphony tells the story of life, the search for understanding and meaning, and a universal expression of hope. This program has no intermission.

Single tickets are available online at orlandophil.org, by calling 407.770.0071, or in person at the Box Office, located at The Plaza Live (425 N. Bumby Avenue, Orlando). The Box Office is open Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. (Ticket prices subject to change.)

Now in its 24th season, The Orlando Philharmonic is Central Florida's professional orchestra, comprised of accomplished musicians recruited from around the world. Presenting over 125 events each year, the orchestra provides captivating musical experiences and education programs to people of all ages, and is committed to building a rich, sustainable future for symphonic music in Central Florida. Learn more at OrlandoPhil.org.

Artists

Eric Jacobsen

Hailed by The New York Times as "an interpretive dynamo," conductor and cellist ERIC JACOBSEN has built a reputation for engaging audiences with innovative and collaborative projects. Following an international search, Eric Jacobsen was appointed Music Director of the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra in the 2015-2016 Season.
At the close of his successful debut season, Mr. Jacobsen had already started a new trend in programming and community engagement. A particularly well-received production of Mozart's The Magic Flute led to programming two operas, Candide and The Elixir of Love, in the 2016-17 Season with inventive directors Alison Moritz and Mary Birnbaum. Emanuel Ax and Steven Copes were guests in a season based around Russian Masterworks and the celebration of American composer John Adams' 70th birthday.

Jacobsen is the co-founder and Music Director of the adventurous orchestra The Knights. As Music Director, Jacobsen has led the "consistently inventive, infectiously engaged indie ensemble" (The New York Times) at venues ranging from Carnegie Hall to the Ojai Music Festival, and international hot spots such as the Dresden Musikfestspiele and Cologne Philharmonie. Recent collaborators include cellists Yo-Yo Ma and Jan Vogler, violinists Itzhak Perlman and Gil Shaham, and singers Dawn Upshaw and Susan Graham. Under Jacobsen's baton, The Knights have an extensive recording collection -- a first release with Warner Classics, a collaboration with Gil Shaham on the Prokofiev Violin Concerto No. 2, and three albums for Sony Classical.

Also in demand as a guest conductor, Jacobsen has led and will lead the Camerata Bern, the symphonies Detroit and Alabama, ProMusica Chamber Orchestra, Deutsche Philharmonie Merck, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Naples Philharmonic, and Silk Road Ensemble. A dedicated chamber musician, Jacobsen is a member of Yo-Yo Ma's venerated Silk Road Project. He has participated in residencies and performances in Azerbaijan, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, Switzerland and across the USA including The Art Institute of Chicago and The Hollywood Bowl.

Jacobsen is also a founding member of the genre-defying string quartet Brooklyn Rider, dubbed "one of the wonders of contemporary music" (Los Angeles Times). After 10 years with Brooklyn Rider, Mr. Jacobsen stepped away from the group to focus on his passion for conducting and the orchestra.

As a cellist, Jacobsen has performed with Renee Fleming on David Letterman and at the inaugural concert at Zankel Hall at Carnegie. He has also appeared with The Silk Road Ensemble at the opening ceremonies of the Special Olympics in Shanghai.

Recently married, Jacobsen and his wife, popular American folk singer and songwriter Aoife O'Donovan, split their time between their Orlando home and their Brooklyn, New York residence.

Samantha Barnes Daniel is a native of Central Florida and an alumna of the University of Central Florida where she earned degrees in Vocal Performance, French Horn, and English Literature. She then pursued a Master's Degree at Northwestern University in Chicago. Ms. Barnes Daniel spent two summers as a young artist at Chautauqua Opera in 2009 and 2010, and joined the Pullin Opera Studio as a resident artist at Arizona Opera in 2010. She was a member of the Opera Tampa Singers from 2012-14. Ms. Barnes Daniel twice won first place at the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions for the Central Regionals in 2008 and the Southeastern Regionals in 2012. Both years she continued on to the National Semi-Finals on the Metropolitan Opera Stage. She is also a prize winner from the American Opera Society of Chicago, was a Sarah Tucker Grant Nominee in the Richard Tucker Foundation Competition, a semi-finalist in the Palm Beach Opera Vocal Competition, and a finalist in the Marcello Giordani International Vocal Competition. Ms. Barnes Daniel's recent work includes several roles with Florida Opera Theater and the Orlando Philharmonic, including Mrs. Gobineau in The Medium, Countess Ceprano in Rigoletto, Ciesca in Gianni Schicchi, Flora in La Traviata, and soloist in Mahler's 3rd Symphony and Barber's Knoxville: Summer of 1915,. She is a founding member of the professional women's ensemble, Helena and maintains a private voice studio of 35 students in the Orlando area.

Virginie Verrez

French mezzo-soprano Virginie Verrez is a recent graduate of New York's Juilliard School. A winner of the 2015 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, she joined the Metropolitan Opera's Lindemann Young Artist Development Program in the 2015/16 season. She is the winner of the 2016 Dallas Opera Guild Vocal Competition.

Highlights in her 2016/17 season include Stéphano Roméo et Juliette and Enrichetta I Puritani at the Metropolitan Opera and Mercédès Carmen at the Festival d'Aix-en Provence. Concert engagements include Berlioz' Roméo et Juliette and Schumann's Das Paradies und die Peri with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra and Daniel Harding, Erika in Barber's Vanessa with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin and David Zinman and Duruflé's Requiem with the Netherlands Radio Choir and Ed Spanjaard.

She has also sung Erika Vanessa in Santa Fe, Béatrice Béatrice et Bénédict at the Saito Kinen Festival, Fenena Nabucco at the Passionstheater in Oberammergau, Cherubino Le nozze di Figaro at the Juilliard School and Mércèdes Carmen for Wolf Trap Opera.

Future seasons see her make major débuts with the Opéra National de Paris, the Dallas Opera and the Opéra de Lille.

Virginie has also given recitals in Lille, at the Dallas Opera, in Paris, Baden bei Wien and in Vienna. As a participant at the Schubert Institute she has worked with renowned artists such as Roger Vignoles and Robert Holl. She has studied at the International Meistersinger Akademie in Neumarkt, Germany.

She is a winner of both the 2014 Gerda Lissner Foundation International Vocal Competition and the 2014 Mary Trueman Vocal Competition and was also awarded Le Prix Jeune Espoir and Le Prix Spécial du Jury at the 2014 Festival Nuits Lyriques en Marmandais. She is also the recipient of a Lucrezia Bori Grant and won the Lissner Charitable Fund in the 2013 Opera Index Competition.

University of Central Florida University Chorus and Women's Chorus The choral organizations at UCF offer students an opportunity to study and perform a variety of choral music of many styles, contexts and cultures, including classical masterworks with orchestra, and art, folk and popular music of many traditions. The University and Women's Choruses present local concerts throughout the academic year and have performed regionally, nationally and internationally for professional music conferences and festivals, including events at Carnegie Hall, Canterbury Cathedral and Queen Elizabeth Hall in London. They have partnered with the Orlando Philharmonic in concerts of Beethoven, Mahler, Verdi, Puccini, Copland, Vivaldi, Monteverdi and Bach.

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