Pianist Jeffrey Biegel And Cincinnati Symphony To Perform
World Premiere Of Ellen Taaffe Zwilich's Millennium Fantasy
27 Orchestras Across The U.S. Involved In Commissioning New Work
Pianist Jeffrey Biegel and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra under the
Music Direction of Jesus Lopez Cobos will present the World Premiere
performances of Pulitzer Prize winning composer Ellen Taaffe Zwilich's
Millennium Fantasy for Piano and Orchestra on September 22 and 23, 2000
at Music Hall in Cincinnati.
This new piece will receive many other performances, as 26 other orchestras
across the United States, from Bangor, Maine to San Luis Obispo, California
are part of the group that has commissioned and will perform the new work
over the next two seasons.
The Millennium Fantasy for Piano and Orchestra grew out of discussions
in 1998 between pianist Jeffrey Biegel and arts consultant Jeffrey James
regarding Mr. Biegel's interest in commissioning new music. Then, in
January 1999, Mr. Biegel, having known and admired the music of Ellen
Taaffe Zwilich, decided to contact the composer and speak to her about
such a commission. She quickly agreed, having been greatly impressed
with Mr. Biegel's playing.
The Cincinnati Symphony was the first major orchestra to join the
consortium and agreed to present the World Premiere of the work in
September of 2000.
The group of orchestras crosses the entire spectrum of sizes and geographic
locations. This project team has to date booked 27 orchestras across the
U.S. - from Maine's Bangor Symphony to California's San Luis Obispo
Symphony. This "ecumenical" group represents a complete cross-section of
the American symphony orchestra community. As of August 15, 2000, members
of the consortium, with the conductors leading the performances are:
Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Jesus Lopez Cobos - World Premiere
Acadiana Symphony Orchestra, Xiao-Lu Li - Louisiana Premiere
Alabama Symphony Orchestra, Richard Westerfield - Alabama Premiere
Albany Symphony Orchestra, Claire Fox Hillard - Georgia Premiere
American Symphony Orchestra, Leon Botstein - New York Premiere
Bangor Symphony Orchestra, Christopher Zimmerman - Maine Premiere
Battle Creek Symphony Orchestra, Matthew Hazelwood - Michigan Premiere
Brooklyn College Conservatory Orchestra, Richard Barrett
Champaign-Urbana Symphony, Steven Larsen
El Paso Symphony Orchestra, Gurer Aykal - Texas Premiere
Florida Philharmonic Orchestra, James Judd - Florida Premiere
Greeley Philharmonic, Howard Skinner - Colorado Premiere
Huntington Symphony Orchestra - Kimo Furumoto - West Virginia Premiere
Idaho Falls Symphony Society, George Adams - Idaho Premiere
Kenosha Symphony, Miriam Burns - Wisconsin Premiere
Lawton Philharmonic Orchestra, Miriam Burns - Oklahoma Premiere
Meridian Symphony Orchestra, Claire Fox Hillard - Mississippi Premiere
Music in the Mountains Festival, Paul Perry - California Premiere
Norwalk Symphony Orchestra, Jonathan Scheffer** - Connecticut Premiere
Rockford Symphony Orchestra, Steven Larsen - Illinois Premiere
Rogue Valley Symphony, Arthur Shaw - Oregon Premiere
San Luis Obispo Symphony, Michael Nowak
South Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, Kermit Poling - Arkansas Premiere
Sun Cities Symphony Orchestra, James Yestadt - Arizona Premiere
Western Piedmont Symphony, John Gordon Ross - North Carolina Premiere
Westmoreland Symphony Orchestra, Kypros Markou - Pennsylvania Premiere
Wyoming Symphony Orchestra, Curtis Peacock - Wyoming Premiere
** Guest Conductor
Project support has also been received from the Adele Marcus Foundation,
Abraham J. and Phyllis Katz Foundation, Marvin and Isa Leibowitz and the
South Florida Council of the Chopin Foundation of the United States.
These performances will be presented by Jeffrey Biegel and the orchestras
throughout the 2000-2001 and 2001-2002 seasons. The composer has described
the work in this way:
The musical point of departure of Millennium Fantasy is a folk song my
grandmother sang to me when I was a small child. I can still "hear" her
voice when I remember this, so I thought it would be a special pleasure to
create a musical fantasy based on it.
Millennium Fantasy is in two movements in which the folk song occasionally
rears its head, but more often serves as a springboard for a larger musical
design. While there is significant interaction between the solo piano and
the orchestra, the solo piano leads the exploration in virtuosic style.
The instrumentation for the work is - solo piano; 2 flutes (piccolo); oboe;
English horn; clarinet; bass clarinet; bassoon; contrabassoon; 2 horns; 2
trumpets; percussion (1 player); strings. Duration of the new work is
approximately 20 minutes.
Performance dates for the 2000-2001 season are as follows:
Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra - September 22 and 23, 2000
Rockford (IL) Symphony Orchestra - September 30, 2000
Westmoreland (PA) Symphony Orchestra - October 7 and 8, 2000
Rogue Valley (OR) Symphony - October 21 and 22, 2000
Champaign-Urbana (IL) Symphony - October 28, 2000
Battle Creek (MI) Symphony Orchestra - November 4, 2000
El Paso Symphony Orchestra - November 17 and 18, 2000
Alabama Symphony Orchestra - January 19 and 20, 2001
Albany (GA) Symphony Orchestra - February 2 and 3, 2001
Norwalk Symphony Orchestra - February 10, 2001
Music in the Mountains Festival - June 1, 2001
For more information about Jeffrey Biegel, please visit his website at:
http://www.cyberecital.com/
For more information about this consortium, please contact Jeffrey James
Arts Consulting at 516-797-9166 or [log in to unmask]
For more information about the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, please
contact Rosemary Weathers, Director of Public Relations at 513-744-3258
or [log in to unmask]
For booking information about Jeffrey Biegel, please contact Monica
Robinson, Ltd. Artist Management at 914-962-6062 or [log in to unmask]
Jeffrey James
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