New Century Chamber Orchestra
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| New Century Chamber Orchestra | |
|---|---|
| Also known as | NCCO |
| Origin |  San Francisco, California, United States |
| Genre(s) | Classical |
| Occupation(s) | Chamber orchestra |
| Years active | 1992-present |
| Label(s) | D'Note Records, Mondovibe, New Albion Records |
| Website | www.ncco.org |
| Members | |
| Music Director Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg |
|
| Former members | |
| Founding Music Director (1992-1999) Stuart Canin Former Music Director (1999-2006) Krista Bennion Feeny |
|
The New Century Chamber Orchestra was founded in 1992 by musicians looking to present classical music in the San Francisco Bay Area and to communicate more vividly with audiences. The music director chooses the programs and guides the artistic vision, but the seventeen members of the orchestra perform as part of a conductorless orchestra. Musical decisions are made collaboratively, resulting in an enhanced level of commitment on the part of the musicians to concerts of remarkable precision, passion and power.
In addition to performing classic pieces of chamber orchestra repertoire, New Century commissions important new works, breathes life into rarely heard jewels of the past, performs world premieres, and brings pieces from other genres such as jazz and rock into the chamber orchestra setting. New Century's mission is to bring outstanding chamber orchestra performances to Bay Area communities. They perform in intimate venues with excellent acoustics, great sightlines and welcoming atmospheres in four cities: Berkeley, Palo Alto, San Francisco and San Rafael.
Contents |
[edit] Former Music Directors
Stuart Canin served as New Century's first Music Director from 1992–1999. A former Concertmaster of the San Francisco Symphony and the San Francisco Opera, Canin currently serves as Concertmaster of the Los Angeles Opera under Music Director James Conlon and General Director Placido Domingo. He also served as Concertmaster of the New Japan Philharmonic in the 1990's, performing and touring under Seiji Ozawa and Mstislav Rostropovich. Mr. Canin was born in New York City and studied at Juilliard, where his principal teacher was Ivan Galamian. Mr. Canin won the International Paganini Competition in Genoa and the Handel Medal from the city of New York. He served as Concertmaster in Hollywood for studio orchestras, performing on such films as Schindler's List, Titanic and Forrest Gump. Mr. Canin will return to the NCCO in April 2008 to lead a program of Shostakovich, Mendelssohn, and Mozart.
A native of Menlo Park, CA, Krista Bennion Feeney served as New Century's Music Director and Concertmaster from 1999–2006. She is currently Concertmaster of the Mostly Mozart Festival at Lincoln Center during the summer and Co-Concertmaster of the Orchestra of St. Luke's year-round at Carnegie Hall and throughout the summer at the Caramoor Festival in Katonah, New York. Ms. Feeney has performed as a soloist with the Orchestra of St. Luke's, the St. Louis Symphony, the [[San Francisco Symphony]], the New York String Orchestra in Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, the Brandenburg Ensemble and the Elgin Symphony Orchestra, among others. As a member of the Loma Mar quartet, she recorded new quartet compositions by Paul McCartney for his 1999 CD entitled Working Classical (EMI Records). She was a student of Isadore Tinkelman and Stuart Canin's at the San Francisco Conservatory, and later studied with Jaime Laredo and Felix Galimer at the Curtis Institute of Music.
[edit] Recordings
New Century released two compact discs on the New Albion label in 1996, the first a collaborative project with Kent Nagano and the Berkeley Symphony Orchestra featuring the work of 20th century- Swiss composer Frank Martin, and the second featuring works by Dmitri Shostakovich. The Shostakovich, entitled Written in the Heart's Blood, was a 1997 Grammy Award finalist. In 1998, the orchestra recorded and released works of Argentine composers Alberto Williams and [[Alberto Ginastera]] on the d'Note label. In 2004, the orchestra recorded and released Oculus, a CD of Kurt Rohde's compositions on the Mondovibe label. All of the recordings have been distributed both internationally and in the United States.
In December 1996, mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade performed at the group's season opening with a new piece by composer Jake Heggie, entitled On the Road to Christmas, written specifically for von Stade.
[edit] Touring
During the 1999–2000 season, the orchestra traveled to Tucson, San Diego, San Bernardino, Phoenix, Orange County, Redding and Portland. Earlier tours took the Orchestra to Phoenix, New Orleans, Arcata and Santa Barbara.
[edit] Highlights
In 2000, New Century performed in a multimedia multi-ethnic collaboration with Chinese composer Gang Situ entitled Strings Calligraphy. The composition examines the parallels between string music and calligraphy, the control of the erhu bow and calligraphy paintbrush and musical renderings and the flow of calligraphy on paper. The uses of shape and line—dance, string instruments and visual imagery— were interwoven as elements of the performance. Chinese characters were projected on downstage screens, as dancers on a platform imitated the shape of the characters.
Sir Simon Rattle conducted the New Century Chamber Orchestra's 10th Anniversary Celebration concert in June 2002 in a co-presentation with Marin Academy. He led the orchestra in music by Elgar, Schoenberg and Mozart. This was only the second time that Rattle had conducted in the Bay Area since 1980.
[edit] Educational Programs
New Century is committed to being a vital part of the community and to educational outreach in the communities where it performs. The orchestra provides musical education to 3rd, 4th and 5th grade students in an intensive program at schools in Marin City and San Rafael’s Canal District. In addition to several annual classroom visits by a string quartet, selected students are offered free instrumental music instruction with a goal of having the students on as close of an educational equivalency as possible with their suburban peers.
[edit] 2008 News
Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg has been named Music Director of the New Century Chamber orchestra beginning in the fall of 2008. She will lead the group for 3 years. [1]
Clarice Assad is the New Century Chamber Orchestra's 2008-2009 featured composer.
[edit] Orchestra Members
Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, Music Director
Violin
- Candace Guirao
- Dawn Harms
- Robin Mayforth
- Anna Presler
- Karen Shinozaki Sor
- Iris Stone
- Deborah Tien Price
- Michael Yokas
Viola
- Linda Ghidossi-DeLuca
- Cassandra Lynne Richburg
- Kurt Rohde
Cello
- Robin Bonnell
- Joanne Lin
Bass
- Anthony Manzo
[edit] References
- ^ "SF Gate" January 22, 2008, http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/01/22/state/n143357S70.DTL
