This page is no longer being updated and remains online for informational and historical purposes only. The information is accurate as of the last page update.
For questions about page contents, contact the Communications Division.
There are two opportunities to enjoy the Orpheus Chamber Ensemble tonight for those without a ticket to the sold-out Williams Center concert.
As usual, Orpheus, which is performing with pianist André Watts, will open its pre-concert rehearsal from about 5-6:30 p.m.
At 7 p.m., the Williams Center box office will distribute a limited number of Available Seating (standby) tickets, which are free for students with Lafayette ID. Holders of those tickets will stand in a line marked by a sign in the lobby. They will be seated according to their order in line – not by ticket numbers – for any regular tickets returned or unused.
Anyone with a regular ticket for tonight’s concert who does not plan on using it is asked to return it to the box office.
Special guests from state and local government will help celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Williams Center for the Arts when Orpheus performs with Watts today – exactly 20 years after the cultural center’s dedication concert by the Guarneri String Quartet.
The program will include Concerto for Chamber Orchestra in E-flat, “Dumbarton Oaks,” by Stravinsky; Piano Concerto No. 1 in C Major, Op. 15, by Beethoven; Danses Concerantes by Stravinsky, and Symphony No. 92 in G major, “Oxford,” by Haydn.
Orpheus will also appear in concert at the Williams Center Friday, Feb. 6, and will celebrate its 50th Williams Center performance Thursday, March 25, in the annual J. Mahlon and Grace Buck Concert, featuring bassist Edgar Meyer as guest artist.
Now in its 18th consecutive year, the Orpheus series is Lafayette’s proudest accomplishment in cultural programming, with memorable performances highlighted by such celebrated guest artists as Gil Shaham, Jeffrey Kahane, Branford Marsalis, Mischa Maisky, and James Galway. Williams Center audiences enjoy the orchestra’s final polishing of its award-winning recording projects, major international tours, and numerous Carnegie Hall programs.
Recognized internationally as one of the world’s great chamber orchestras, Orpheus celebrates its 31th season with concert activity spanning three continents, including appearances in the major cities of North America, Europe, and Asia. The centerpiece of each Orpheus season is its five-concert series at Carnegie Hall.
Accompanying the critical acclaim for the orchestra’s live appearances are numerous distinctions and awards, including a 2001 Grammy Award for Shadow Dances: Stravinsky Miniatures, three 1999 Grammy Awards for its jazz-inspired Ravel and Gershwin collaboration with Herbie Hancock, a 1998 Grammy nomination for its recording of Mozart piano concertos with Richard Goode, and the 1998 “Ensemble of the Year” award by Musical America.
Orpheus was founded in 1972 by cellist Julian Fifer and a group of fellow musicians who aspired to perform chamber orchestral repertory as chamber music through their own close collaborative efforts, and without a conductor. Orpheus developed its approach to the study and performance of this repertory by bringing to the orchestral setting the chamber music principles of personal involvement and mutual respect. Orpheus is a self-governing organization, making the repertory and interpretive decisions ordinarily assumed by a conductor. Holt/NY Times Books published a book about Orpheus and its management model, Leadership Ensemble: Lessons in Collaborative Management from the World’s Only Conductorless Orchestra, written by former Orpheus executive director Harvey Seifter and business writer Peter Economy.
Members of Orpheus have received recognition for solo, chamber music, and orchestral performances. Many of the core members hold teaching positions at prominent conservatories and universities in the New York and New England areas, including Juilliard, Manhattan School of Music, New England Conservatory, Mannes College of Music, Columbia University, and Yale University.
The Orpheus recording legacy consists of nearly 70 albums. Included in the catalogue of over 50 recordings for Deutsche Grammophon are Baroque masterworks of Handel, Corelli, and Vivali, Haydn symphonies, Mozart symphonies and serenades, the complete Mozart wind concerti with Orpheus members as soloists, Romantic works by Dvorák, Grieg, and Tchaikovsky, and a number of 20th-century classics by Bartók, Prokofiev, Fauré, Ravel, Schoenberg, Ives, Copland and Stravinsky. Recent collaborations include a recording of English and American folk songs with countertenor Andreas Scholl (Decca); “Creation,” a jazz-inspired CD of classics from 1920s Paris with saxophonist Branford Marsalis (SONY Classical); and a critically acclaimed series of recordings of Mozart piano concertos with Richard Goode (Nonesuch).
During the 2003-04 season, Orpheus is performing with some of the world’s finest soloists in concerts at Carnegie Hall and on tour in the United States and Europe: Watts, Jennifer Larmore, Sarah Chang, Edgar Meyer, and Zhang Qiang. Orpheus will present the world premiere of An Afternoon on the Perfume River, commissioned by the group from Paul Chihara, as well as the New York premieres of works by Meyer and Tan Dun. Orpheus also continues its series of concerts at Trinity Church and its educational programs at Baruch College/CUNY and in New York City elementary, middle, and high schools. The 2003-04 season also marks the launch of a major new multimedia outreach program, 3 Places, designed to bring composers together with diverse communities throughout New York City.
André Watts’ performances each year with the world’s great orchestras and conductors and his sold-out recitals and appearances at the most prestigious international festivals bring him to every corner of the globe. In addition to regular visits to major summer music festivals, including Ravinia, Tanglewood, Saratoga, the Mann Music Center, Mostly Mozart, and the Hollywood Bowl, Watts’ recent engagements include appearances with the Chicago, Pittsburgh, National, Detroit, and Dallas symphonies and the Minnesota Orchestra; a Florida tour with the Atlanta Symphony; recitals at Lincoln Center and the Kennedy Center; a European tour with the Baltimore Symphony; and an appearance at the Proms in London.
Highlights of the 2003-04 season include performing with the Philadelphia Orchestra, both at the Kimmel Center and the Mann Center; being a featured guest for the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s season-opening concerts; playing with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra in Boston, Chicago, and Atlanta; and returning to the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the St. Louis, Cincinnati, Milwaukee, Seattle, and Oregon symphonies, among many others.
Watts has appeared on numerous television programs produced by PBS, the BBC, and the Arts and Entertainment Network. His 1976 New York recital, aired on the program Live From Lincoln Center, was the first full-length recital broadcast in the history of television and his performance at the 38th Casals Festival in Puerto Rico was nominated for an Emmy Award in the category of Outstanding Individual Achievement in Cultural Programming. His most recent television appearances are with the Philadelphia Orchestra at its 100th Anniversary Gala, a program broadcast nationwide as well as throughout Europe and Asia, and with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.
The nationally recognized Performance Series attracts more than 10,000 people each season. It has been cited for performing excellence by the National Endowment for the Arts, National Dance Project, Chamber Music America, Lila Wallace Reader’s Digest Fund, Pennsylvania Arts and Humanities Councils, and Association of Performing Arts Presenters.
The 2003-04 Performance Series at Lafayette is supported in part by gifts from Friends of the Williams Center for the Arts; by the F.M. Kirby Foundation; by provisions of the Alan and Wendy Pesky Artist-in-Residence Program, the James Bradley Fund, and the Ed Brunswick Jazz Fund; and by grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, Pennsylvania Performing Arts on Tour, and New England Foundation for the Arts.