Performances at Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage
3 World Premieres
Tickets & Information: www.nyys.org/events
New York, NY – New York Youth Symphony (NYYS) and Music Director Michael Repper are proud to announce the 2021/2022 season of concerts to be performed in Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage at Carnegie Hall. This season includes the release of the NYYS Orchestra’s debut album featuring works by Valerie Coleman, Jessie Montgomery, and Florence Price, with pianist Michelle Cann performing Price’s Piano Concerto in One Movement. Coleman’s Umoja will also be performed live by the NYYS Orchestra in the Season Opening Concert. Soloists joining the NYYS Orchestra in concert this season include baritone Paulo Szot on Mahler’s Songs of a Wayfarer and Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Some Enchanted Evening from South Pacific, and violinist Grace Park performing Barber’s Violin Concerto. This season also includes world premieres of new works by First Music commission prize winners Jonathan Cziner, Patrick O’Malley, and Liza Sobel. The complete NYYS Orchestra 2021-2022 concert calendar follows at the end of this press release.
NYYS Music Director Michael Repper said, “We are thrilled to return to Carnegie Hall. We’re exceptionally proud of all we accomplished during this period of uncertainty, especially recording our debut album, but performing live for our community is something we have all missed dearly. We are ecstatic to return to the stage and celebrate music and unity together with you through our performances.” 2
Founded in 1963, the NYYS is internationally recognized for its award-winning and innovative educational programs for talented young musicians. As the premier independent music education organization for ensemble training in the New York metropolitan area, the NYYS has provided over 7,000 music students unparalleled opportunities to perform at world-class venues including Carnegie Hall, Jazz at Lincoln Center, Joe’s Pub, and The Times Center, and to study with world-renowned artists. Beyond the instruction from accomplished musicians, students gain valuable life skills — commitment, discipline, focus, collaboration — and friendships that last a lifetime.
Programs of the New York Youth Symphony are sponsored in part by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs (NYC DCA), New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA), the Ford Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP), and the BMI Foundation.
New York Youth Symphony Orchestra 2021/2022 Performance Calendar
Tickets & Information: www.nyys.org/events
ORCHESTRA
Michael Repper, Music Director
The Season Opening Concert
Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage at Carnegie Hall
Sunday, November 21, 2021 at 2:00 PM
Valerie Coleman: Umoja: Anthem for Unity
Patrick O’Malley: Obliviana (First Music commission and World Premiere)
Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 5 in E minor, op. 64
The McCrindle Concert
Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage at Carnegie Hall
Sunday, March 13, 2022 at 2:00 PM
Barber: Violin Concerto, op. 14, featuring Grace Park, violin
Jonathan Cziner: Ruach (and Other Delights) (First Music commission and World Premiere)
William Grant Still: Symphony No. 1, “Afro-American”
The Spring Concert
Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage at Carnegie Hall
Sunday, May 22, 2021 at 2:00 PM
Liza Sobel: First Music commission and World Premiere
Mahler: Songs of a Wayfarer, featuring Paulo Szot, baritone
Rogers/Hammerstein: Some Enchanted Evening, featuring Paulo Szot, baritone
Brahms: Symphony No. 2 in D major, op. 73
About The Directors And Artists
ARTISTIC DIRECTORS
Praised by the Baltimore Sun for his “confidence and expressive nuance,” Michael Repper is one of the most sought-after young conductors in the world. With work spanning four continents, Mr. Repper has an international reputation for engaging and exciting audiences of all spectrums, and for promoting new and diverse musical talents. Mr. Repper is a recipient of both the 2020 and 2021 Solti Foundation US Career Assistance Awards, which were given in recognition of his work with the New York Youth Symphony at Carnegie Hall, Northern Neck Orchestra of Virginia, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, São Paulo Symphony 3
Orchestra, Weill Music Institute at Carnegie Hall, and other ensembles worldwide. An ardent supporter, advocate, and educator of young people, Mr. Repper’s mission is to use music as a vehicle for positive change within our communities.
ORCHESTRA SOLOISTS
Praised by the San Francisco Chronicle as being “fresh, different and exhilarating” and Strings Magazine as “intensely wrought and burnished“, violinist Grace Park captivates audiences with her artistry, passion and virtuosity. Winner of the 2018 Naumburg International Violin Competition, she is one of the leading artists of her generation. Ms. Park’s upcoming season includes her Carnegie Hall debut recital and a world premiere performance of Mason Bates’ first violin sonata. She will also make recital appearances at the Schubert Club, Krannert Center, Dame Myra Hess Memorial Series, and Merkin Concert Hall, and giving her Mexico debut with the Mexico City Philharmonic. Ms. Park has appeared as soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician throughout the United States, Europe, Asia, and Canada at venues such as Walt Disney Hall, The Kennedy Center, The Rudolfinum in Prague, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Jordan Hall and Tri-Noon at Rockefeller University. She has toured with the North Czech Philharmonic, Orchestra Filarmonica di Torino, and Russian Chamber Orchestra. She has performed and participated in festivals such as Music @ Menlo, IMS Prussia Cove, Festival Mozaic, Yellowbarn, and Perlman Music Program, where she has performed with many of today’s celebrated artists. Ms. Park began violin studies at the age of 5 and attended Colburn School of Music. She continued her studies at Colburn Conservatory and New England Conservatory for her Bachelor and Master of Music degrees. Principal teachers were Donald Weilerstein, Miriam Fried, Sylvia Rosenberg, and Robert Lipsett.
Paulo Szot is one of the most acclaimed and versatile baritones in the world, having garnered international acclaim as an opera singer and an award-winning musical theater actor. Born in São Paulo, Brazil, he began his musical training at the age of five (studying piano and violin) and studied at the Jagiellonian University in Poland, the country from which his parents had emigrated during World War II. Over the years, Mr. Szot has presented a vast, both operatic and symphonic repertoire with major opera companies, orchestras and festivals throughout Europe, North & South America and Australia. After winning the Tony Award for Best Actor in 2008 for South Pacific at Lincoln Center, Mr. Szot made his Metropolitan Opera debut in 2010 with Shostakovich’s The Nose, conducted by Valery Gergiev. In 2012, the baritone made his debut at La Scala in the leading role of A. Raskatov’s A Dog’s Heart. In 2019, Mr. Szot completed his 7th season with The Met. He also completed his “Artist in Residence” year with the OSESP Orchestra, performing in a series of concerts, recitals, and masterclasses. Mr. Szot has recorded a CD of Brazilian songs by Claudio Santoro, “Jardim Noturno”. Broadcasts and DVDs include South Pacific (LCT, 2010), Le Nozze di Figaro (Aix-en-Provence, 2012), The Nose (Met, 2013), Manon (Met, 2014), New Year’s Gala (NY Phil, 2016), Cosi fan Tutte (Paris Opera, 2017), Street Scene (Teatro Real Madrid, 2018), Merry Widow (Rome Opera, 2019), Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 & Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 (OSESP, 2019), Bernstein’s Mass (Ravinia Festival, 2020).
FIRST MUSIC COMPOSERS
2020/2021 Grand Prize Winner Jonathan Cziner (b. 1991) is an American composer based in New York City. His music combines colorful harmony and texture with nostalgic lyricism, creating a sound-world that ranges from mysterious to vibrant. A 2018 Charles Ives Scholarship recipient from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, Mr. Cziner’s works have been performed in the United States and Europe by ensembles including the Minnesota Orchestra, New Jersey Symphony Orchestra (NJSO), Juilliard Orchestra, and New Juilliard Ensemble. His orchestral work Resonant Bells, premiered by David Robertson and the NJSO, was awarded the William Schuman Prize for most outstanding score at the BMI Student Composer Awards as well as the 2018 Palmer Dixon Prize, awarded to the most outstanding work composed at the Juilliard School. flowers of fire, was written to commemorate the 100 year anniversary of the World War I armistice and was premiered by the Juilliard Orchestra with soprano Kathleen O’Mara and Jeffery Milarsky in February 2019. Mr. Cziner received a Bachelor of Music degree at NYU studying with Justin Dello Joio, and completed his Master of Music 4
degree at The Juilliard School under the tutelage of Robert Beaser. He is currently in the midst of his studies in Juilliard’s C.V. Starr doctoral program.
Patrick O’Malley (b. 1989) is a composer of orchestral and chamber music, currently living in Los Angeles, California. He is inspired by mysterious dichotomies in nature and art, composing music that often embraces abstract worlds rather than concrete images. When writing a new piece, he considers the listener’s imagination as much as every other musical element – an admittedly and enjoyably subjective endeavor. His works have been performed across the United States and also in Europe. Most recently, Mr. O’Malley has been recognized or performed by organizations including the Albany, Columbus and Milwaukee Symphonies, the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s National Composer Intensive, and The American Prize. He was named Composer of the Year by the Sioux City Symphony for 2018, and he has been awarded various fellowships from Copland House, the Los Angeles Film Conducting Intensive, Avaloch Music Farm, and the Aspen Music Festival. He also serves as the arranger and a conductor for the concert series Journey LIVE with Fifth House Ensemble and Austin Wintory. Mr. O’Malley is completing his doctoral degree in music at the University of Southern California where he studies with Andrew Norman and Sean Friar. He divides his time between living in Los Angeles, and Lake Charlevoix, Michigan.
Liza Sobel is a composer and soprano based in Chicago. Her compositions are often influenced by current social issues. Recent inspirations include anxiety and stress in today’s society, the negative impact of social media and its link with depression and suicide, and sexual assault. Her music has been performed at Carnegie Hall, Le Poisson Rouge, Symphony Space, Bang on a Can, the Aspen Music Festival, Eighth Blackbird’s Creative Lab, Aldeburgh Britten-Pears Young Artist Programme, Brevard Music Institute, and Bowdoin Music Festival. Performers that have played her music include: the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Spektral String Quartet, Cygnus Ensemble, Third Coast Percussion, Nouveau Classical Project, Ekmeles Vocal Ensemble, orkest de ereprijs, West Point Woodwind Quintet, and New Brunswick Chamber Orchestra. Ms. Sobel’s Ticking Time Bomb was selected for the 2020 Minnesota Orchestra Composer Institute. Her Requiem won the American Prize in the choral division and was a finalist in the BMI Young Composers Award. She was a Fulbright scholar to the UK. Ms. Sobel is a doctoral candidate in composition at Northwestern University. She previously studied at Rutgers University’s Mason Gross Conservatory (MA); Cornell University (BA with honors), and Manhattan School of Music.