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Orpheus Chamber Orchestra will give the second of its three Lafayette performances in the 2003-04 season 8 p.m. Friday, Feb. 6, at the Williams Center for the Arts, highlighting the evening with the world premiere of Paul Chihara’s tone poem, “An Afternoon on Perfume River,” commissioned by Lafayette in honor of the Williams Center’s 20th anniversary.
Violinist Liang-Ping How will perform as soloist for the piece and Chihara will talk about his composition during a 7 p.m. pre-concert discussion. The evening also will include Max Bruch’s popular “Violin Concerto in G Minor” and folkloric favorites from the Czech-Hungarian tradition, Dvorák’s “Czech Suite” and Kodály’s “Dances of Galanta.”
Tickets cost $25 for the public; availability is limited for this concert and the ensemble’s March 25 evening with bassist Edgar Meyer, in which Orpheus will celebrate its 50th Williams Center performance in the annual J. Mahlon and Grace Buck Concert. For information, contact the box office at 610-330-5009.
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: André Watts, Jennifer Larmore, Sarah Chang, Edgar Meyer, and Zhang Qiang. Orpheus is presenting the New York premieres of works by Meyer and Tan Dun. It 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 marks the launch of a major new multimedia outreach program, 3 Places, designed to bring composers together with diverse communities throughout New York City.
A member of Orpheus since 1980, Liang-Ping How has toured extensively throughout North and South America, Europe, and Asia with Orpheus and many other ensembles. He has often appeared as soloist and has recorded with Orpheus for Deutsche Grammophon. How made his solo debut with the National Youth Orchestra of Taiwan at age seven and his Carnegie Hall debut in 1974 with the New York String Orchestra and Alexander Schneider.
How’s chamber music activities have included performances at the Grand Teton Music Festival, Spoleto, the Met Museum of New York, Caramoor Music Festival, and the Lockenhaus Festival. He also appeared with the New York Philomusica at the International Music Festival of Sofia in Bulgaria and the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and as the Concerto soloist in Philadelphia.
How began studying violin at age four and later studied at Interlochen Arts Academy and the Curtis Institute of Music with Jamie Laredo. He lives in Santa Fe, N.M., and is a member of Santa Fe Opera Orchestra.
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.