Benjamin Lees' Concerto for String Quartet and Orchestra To Be Performed
by The Amarillo Symphony - Harrington String Quartet Joins Music Director
James Setapen for January 22 Performance

Benjamin Lees' Concerto for String Quartet and Orchestra will be performed
by The Amarillo Symphony, James Setapen, Music Director, and the Harrington
String Quartet on Saturday, January 22, 2005 - 8 PM at the Civic Center
Auditorium, 401 South Buchanan in Amarillo, Texas.

Other works on the concert will be Suppe's "Overture to The Beautiful
Galathea", Elgar's "Introduction and Allegro" and Schubert's Symphony
No. 8, "Unfinished"

Single tickets range from $15 to $25, with discounts for students and
seniors.  For tickets, directions to the Civic Center or general information
call (806) 376-8782.  For more information about The Amarillo Symphony,
visit them online at http://www.amarillosymphony.org/.

Benjamin Lees' Concerto for String Quartet and Orchestra was first
performed in 1965 by the Paganini Quartet and the Kansas City Symphony.
It has become the most performed work in the composer's orchestral
catalogue and been presented by more than 35 orchestras, including the
St. Louis Symphony and New York Philharmonic.

Lees' Symphony No. 5, "Kalmar Nyckel" was nominated for a 2003 Grammy
Award for Best Contemporary Composition by the National Academy of
Recording Arts and Sciences.  He was the first recipient of a Fromm
Foundation award for his String Quartet No. 1 and Sonata for Two Pianos.
He has also received two Guggenheim Fellowship, a Copley Foundation
Award, a Fulbright Fellowship, the Sir Arnold Bax Society (London) Medal
and a UNESCO Award (London) for String Quartet No. 2.  In 1967, he was
an Official Guest of the Union of Soviet Composers.  He is published by
Boosey & Hawkes.

His works have been commissioned, performed and recorded by, among others,
the Tokyo Quartet, Aurora Quartet, Sea Cliff Chamber Players, New York
Philharmonic, Boston Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, Chicago Symphony,
NBC Symphony, Vienna Symphony, Detroit Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra,
Houston Symphony, National Symphony, Dallas Symphony, San Francisco
Ballet, American Symphony, Delaware Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony,
Louisville Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte Carlo and Portland
(OR) Symphony.

You can find much more information about Benjamin Lees at his website -
http://www.benjaminlees.com/.  You can also find out about other upcoming
performances of his music at
http://www.jamesarts.com/releases/oct04/BL_102804.htm.

For more information about the music of Benjamin Lees, please contact
Jeffrey James Arts Consulting at 516-797-9166 - tel and fax.

Jeffrey James Arts Consulting
Tel/Fax: 516-797-9166
Website: http://www.jamesarts.com