Today the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra and the Spring for Music festival announced the programming for the RPO’s
scheduled 2014 concert at New York City’s Carnegie Hall, as well as the
conductor who will lead the orchestra during the performance.
Michael Christie, the music director of the Phoenix
Symphony, Colorado Music Festival, and the Minnesota Opera, will stand at the
podium for the concert. He will replace outgoing RPO Music Director Arild Remmereit, who was originally
supposed to conduct when the Spring for Music booking
was announced last year.
The full press release follows:
ROCHESTER – The Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO) and Spring
For Music are delighted to announce that the RPO will
pair with singers from the Voice and Opera Department of the Eastman School of
Music to perform Howard Hanson’s opera Merry Mount in concert on May 7, 2014 as
part of the 2014 Spring for Music festival at Carnegie Hall.
RPO President and CEO Charlie Owens said, “It was a thrill
to be selected last year to participate in Spring for Music, and it’s now a
great pleasure to announce that we’ll be taking a program to Carnegie Hall
reflecting both the remarkable musical history of Rochester and its bright
future with the RPO and Eastman as a national center
for music making.”
Howard Hanson, the first American to win the storied Rome
Prize in 1921 and the director of the Rochester’s Eastman School of Music from
1924-1964, composed Merry Mount on commission from the Metropolitan Opera in
1933. At its premiere in February 1934, the work, based on the Nathaniel
Hawthorne story “The Maypole of Merry Mount” with a libretto by Richard L.
Stokes, received over 50 curtain calls.
Joining the RPO and the Eastman singers in this concert
performance of Merry Mount will be conductor Michael Christie, the music
director of the Phoenix Symphony, Colorado Music Festival, and the Minnesota
Opera.
Over the course of its 89-year history, the RPO has
performed at Carnegie Hall 16 times. The last performance was in 1985 under the
direction of then-music director, David Zinman.
Fundraising efforts for the upcoming trip to Carnegie Hall
are underway, and the RPO has already secured a significant commitment from the
Elaine P. and Richard U. Wilson Foundation.
The 2014 Spring For Music festival
begins on May 5, 2014 with a performance by the New York Philharmonic, and runs
to May 11. Other orchestras include the Seattle Symphony, Winnipeg Symphony
Orchestra, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and May Festival Chorus Orchestra, and
the Pittsburgh Symphony.
Spring For Music is a four-year
festival at Carnegie Hall, celebrating and exhibiting the quality and
creativity of North American orchestras. During its inaugural season, Spring For Music was categorized by the press as “bold,”
“gripping,” “vibrant,” “inspired,”
“virtuosic,” and “brilliant.” The New Yorker hailed
it as “fresh at every turn,” while The New York Times stated
that Spring For Music gives “power to the
listener.” The festival, which is presented in partnership with Carnegie
Hall, began in 2011. Tickets originally priced at $25 for any seat in the house
still remain at this very popular price.
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This article appears in Jan 16-22, 2013.
This announcement is of course timed to distract from the RPO members meeting tomorrow (Jan. 23) when the patrons, musicians and supporters unhappy with the termination of Remmereit’s contract will get to confront the authors of that sorry decision. The Carnegie Hall concert was earned by Remmereit through his artistry, leadership and visionary programming. You will not steal it from him — and us — without a fight.