Orchestra - About Us

The Grammy® Award-winning Orpheus Chamber Orchestra is internationally renowned for its fine artistry and distinctive approach to music-making, with a performing and recording legacy spanning 35 years. Performing with many of today’s most dynamic and esteemed soloists, Orpheus presents an annual concert series at Carnegie Hall that illuminates both classic orchestral repertoire and new works by contemporary composers.  Noted by critics and audiences alike for their unsurpassed energy, sensitivity, and connection to listeners, Orpheus is considered one of New York’s cultural treasures.

Orpheus’ 2007-2008 season saw collaborations with world-renowned artists, including pianists Yefim Bronfman and Christian Zacharias, soprano Dame Felicity Lott, and violinists Nikolaj Znaider and Sarah Chang. The Orchestra premiered commissioned works by Christopher Theofanidis, Tania León and Charles Wuorinen.

Orpheus’ 2008-2009 season at Carnegie continues their legacy of collaboration with acclaimed soloists, including pianists Jean-Yves Thibaudet and Jonathan Biss, sitarist Anoushka Shankar, violinist Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, and acclaimed mezzo-soprano Susan Graham, who will premiere several new songs by Ned Rorem. Orpheus has also commissioned a new Concerto for Sitar and Orchestra by the illustrious Ravi Shankar. New works by Pulitzer Prize winners Paul Moravec and Melinda Wagner will mark the next installments of Orpheus’ The New Brandenburgs commissioning project, a four-year project premiering six new orchestral works modeled on J.S. Bach’s “Brandenburg” concerti.
In addition to appearances at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Orpheus tours on a regular basis throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia. Orpheus’s 2007-2008 season tour included appearances in Asia and throughout the United States at concert halls in the Miami and Washington, DC regions, as well as New Jersey, Indiana, Nebraska, and Pennsylvania. Orpheus’ June 2008 Asia tour includes performances in Japan and Korea.

The Orpheus recording legacy consists of more than 70 albums and a 2001 Grammy® Award for Shadow Dances: Stravinsky Miniatures. Their extensive catalog for Deutsche Grammophon includes the Baroque classics, works by Haydn, Mozart, Dvorák, Grieg and Tchaikovsky, as well as a number of 20th century masterpieces. Additional releases include a recording of English and American folk songs with countertenor Andreas Scholl (Decca); Creation, a collection the jazz-inspired music from 1920s Paris with saxophonist Branford Marsalis (SONY Classical); and a critically-acclaimed series of Mozart’s greatest piano concerti with Richard Goode (Nonesuch). Orpheus resumed recording in 2007, after a hiatus of more than six years, and released its first disc on EMI Classics – a recording of Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons with Sarah Chang. Orpheus’ next album with EMI Classics, Mozart piano concerti with the young pianist Jonathan Biss, is set for release in the fall of 2008.

Orpheus continues to build bridges between conservatory training and the professional music field with the Orpheus Institute, through which Orpheus musicians share their unique artist-centered philosophy, methodology and skills with college-aged pre-professional musicians.  A year-long comprehensive curriculum provides opportunities for students to develop musical and administrative leadership skills that will enhance their ability to participate fully in any performing arts organizations that might employ them.

Founded in 1972 by cellist Julian Fifer and a group of fellow musicians who aspired to present musician-led performances of standard and contemporary orchestral repertoire, Orpheus is a self governing organization. Central to its distinctive personality is its practice of sharing and rotating leadership roles. For every work, the members of the orchestra select the concertmaster and the principal players for each section.