THE CONCERTO AMERICA PROJECT

Pianist Jeffrey Biegel and Composer Charles Strouse Join Forces to Create
Concerto America for Piano and Orchestra

The internationally renowned pianist Jeffrey Biegel and Tony Award winning
composer Charles Strouse have announced the availability of The Concerto
America Project* for state premieres by American orchestras as well as
international premieres by orchestras outside the U.S.

This is a national consortium of private, corporate and musical
organizations that have jointly commissioned and will present a new
work titled Concerto America for Piano and Orchestra written by the
internationally celebrated Mr. Strouse, creator of such Broadway
classics as Bye, Bye Birdie, Annie, Golden Boy and Applause.

Orchestras interested in participating in The Concerto America Project*
should contact Jeffrey James Arts Consulting at 516-797-9166 or by E-mail
at [log in to unmask]

Support for this project has been received from The Chopin Foundation
of the United States, Marvin & Isa Leibowitz and Carol Carnes.  Their
generous support will allow the project to offer this piece for state
or international premieres without commissioning cost to the orchestras
involved.  The only cost to each orchestra will be Mr. Biegel's soloist
fee, which can be discussed with Monica Robinson, Ltd.  Artist Management
at 914-962-6062 or [log in to unmask] and a negotiable standard rate for
score and parts rental.  Media and technical support will be supplied by
Steinway & Sons and Culturekiosque.com

This project will build on the success of the Millennium Consortium
Project, in which Mr. Biegel and 27 orchestras throughout the U.S.
commissioned the Millennium Fantasy for piano and orchestra from Pulitzer
Prize-winning composer Ellen Taaffe Zwilich.  This was premiered by the
Cincinnati Symphony in September, 2000 and will be ongoing through the
2001-2002 season, involving orchestras across the U.S., from the Bangor
Symphony in Maine to California's Music in the Mountains Festival.

The pianist and composer envision bringing together up to 50 American
orchestras.  Their goal is to have one from each of the 50 states to
perform this new work.  Mr. Strouse has supplied the following notes
about Concerto America:

"In this new work, I recapture the musical atmosphere of my youth.  As
a native New Yorker, the Concerto gives me the opportunity for nostalgic
reflection of my big city roots.  Concerto America is a thematic evocation
of my fascination with American popular music, wending its way through such
diverse milieus as rumba clubs, summer stock, the Borscht Belt and early
rock and roll.

Before reaching my ultimate destination, I studied with American composers
Aaron Copland and David Diamond, and, as an American in Paris, with Darius
Milhaud and Nadia Boulanger.  I returned from my studies with Boulanger
with an urge to be an American composer.  Concerto America reflects the
themes that called to me upon my return."

Instrumentation for the work will be standard with no extraordinary
requirements for winds, brass or percussion.  Duration of the new work
is approximately 20 minutes.  For more information about this project,
including the projected community benefits, please visit:

   http://www.jamesarts.com/artists.htm#JEFFREYBIEGEL,PIANIST

If you have any questions about The Concerto America Project*, please
contact Jeffrey James Arts Consulting at 516-797-9166 - tel and fax or
by E-mail at [log in to unmask]

*Previously known as the American Rhapsody Project.

Jeffrey James <[log in to unmask]>