Haydn: Symphony No. 59 in A major "Fire"
Paul Moravec: Brandenburg Gate (World Premiere, Commissioned by Orpheus as part of The New Brandenburgs)
Ibert: Hommage à Mozart
Saint-Saens: Piano Concerto No. 2 in G minor

October 16, 2008 - Thursday - 8:00 PM

Carnegie Hall - New York, New York
Box Office Phone: 212-247-7800

Expect fireworks when Orpheus opens its 36th season with four brilliantly colored works from different musical eras, beginning with Haydn’s white-hot “Fire” Symphony. Jean-Yves Thibaudet, whom The New York Times has praised for “…incisive rhythms, Ravelian colorings, [and] telling intricacy,” takes on Saint-Saëns’ blazing Romantic masterwork, his second piano concerto. And, Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Paul Moravec channels the silvery timbre of J.S. Bach’s 2nd Brandenburg Concerto for 21st century listeners in his new work.

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Jonathan Biss, piano

Haydn: Overture to L'infedeltá delusa
Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 22 in E-flat major
Ives: The Unanswered Question
Elliott Carter: Symphony No. 1 (100th Birthday Celebration)

December 6, 2008 - Saturday - 8:00 PM

Carnegie Hall - New York, New York
Box Office Phone: 212-247-7800

Innovators of the past ignite future musical innovation. Mozart’s music clearly evolved after hearing Haydn; it marked a turning point in his art. And when Carter first heard Ives, he, too, was inspired. Discover the pathways each innovator took: hear Haydn followed by Mozart’s concerto, with pianist Jonathan Biss, praised for his “bright textured playing” by The New York Times (and recently recorded by Orpheus and Mr. Biss for EMI Classics). Then listen to two American classics: Charles Ives’ The Unanswered Question and Elliott Carter’s first symphony, presented in honor of his 100th birthday.

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Mozart: Incidental Music from Thamos, King of Egypt
Ravi Shankar: Concerto for sitar & orchestra (World Premiere, Orpheus commission)
Kodaly: Summer Evening
Haydn: Symphony No. 99 in E-flat major

January 31, 2009 - Saturday - 8:00 PM

Carnegie Hall - New York, New York
Box Office Phone: 212-247-7800

Music has the power to transcend differences, crossing borders, time and space. Here are four composers who have blended folk elements and the music of different cultures into their work. Mozart looked to the stories of Egypt, Haydn’s travels expanded his trademark blend of grandeur, humor and charm, Kodály embraced the folk music of Eastern Europe in his rapturous Summer Evening, and Ravi Shankar has synthesized classical and folk Indian music with Western forms, handing these traditions from father to daughter in a work written
especially for his daughter Anoushka.

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Haydn: Symphony No. 6 in D major (Le Matin)
Piazzolla: Four Seasons of Buenos Aires for violin & orchestra
Melinda Wagner: New Work (World Premiere, Commissioned by Orpheus as part of The New Brandenburgs)
Brahms: Variations on a Theme by Haydn

March 21, 2009 - Saturday - 8:00 PM

Carnegie Hall - New York, New York
Box Office Phone: 212-247-7800

As trailblazers, inspired by the past to create something brand new, Brahms’ Variations honors Haydn, whose inventive contributions to symphonic style in works like Le Matin forged the new classical movement. Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Melinda Wagner has shaped her new piece around J.S. Bach’s 4th “Brandenburg” concerto. And the virtuosity of Orpheus members and the dynamic Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg are on full display in an audacious work by Piazzolla, who took Vivaldi’s pictorial music, revolutionary for its time, and infused it with the language of the tango.

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Haydn: Symphony No. 26 in D minor Lamentatione
Ned Rorem: Songs (New orchestrations by Rorem & new songs)
Ravel: Pavane pour une infante défunte
Stravinsky: Danses Concertantes

May 11, 2009 - Monday - 8:00 PM

Carnegie Hall - New York, New York
Box Office Phone: 212-247-7800

Orpheus concludes its season with a celebration of great orchestrators, including Haydn, whose expanded instrumentation added rich colors and textures to his orchestrations. Three 20th century geniuses, Ravel, Stravinsky and Ned Rorem, took the idea of orchestral color to new heights in their work. Now Ned Rorem enhances his legacy, adding new songs to his repertoire and orchestrating this collection for the first time, especially for Orpheus and the glorious Susan Graham, long considered to be a premiere interpreter of his work.

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