*JERUSALEM SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA *
*TO PERFORM AT BARD'S FISHER CENTER*
*Under Music Director and Conductor Leon Botstein, U.S. Tour Brings
Internationally Renowned JSO to the Hudson Valley*
*/"Something phenomenal is taking place in the concerts of the Discovery
Series Botstein is not afraid, and he sweeps the audience up with him."/*
--
*Ma'ariv (Jerusalem)*
ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y.-- On *Saturday, March 11, at 8:00 p.m*.,
Leon Botstein, music director and conductor of the *Jerusalem Symphony
Orchestra* (JSO), brings the JSO to the *Richard B. Fisher Center for
Performing Arts at Bard College, *where it will perform in the acoustically
superb Sosnoff Theater. The concert, part of the JSO's 20-city U.S.
tour, represents the first time this internationally renowned orchestra
has performed in the Hudson Valley region. The program will feature
Martinu*'s /Memorial to Lidice/; Strauss's Concerto in D Major for Oboe
and Orchestra, Laura Albeck, oboe; and Prokofiev's Symphony Number 5 in
B-flat Major, Op. 100.
Tickets are $20, $35, and $45, and are available at the Fisher Center
box office or by calling 845-758-7900 or visiting the Fisher Center
website at www.fishercenter.bard.edu.
Leon Botstein took the reins of the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, national
radio orchestra of the Israel Broadcasting Company, in July 2003. At
the end of the first season, which featured Botstein conducting five of
the JSO's first six subscription concerts, concert attendance was up,
younger listeners were discovering the JSO for the first time, and
financial support - from home and abroad - was on the increase.
Press reports enthusiastically praised both the innovative programming
and the greatly improved quality of the performances. A critic for
/Ma'ariv/ lauded "the new sound at the Jerusalem Orchestra," noting,
"this time the orchestra and its management have chosen a person who can
answer the real needs of the orchestra at this time." /Ha'aretz /called
Botstein's concerts "the hottest thing in Israel this season."
A critic for the /Jerusalem Post/ reported:
"In the new 'Musical Discoveries' series of the Jerusalem Symphony
Orchestra, conductor Leon Botstein aims to acquaint the audience
with unfamiliar, little-known works. This approach is a welcome
and refreshing change from the conventional repertoire, and the
orchestra, obviously intrigued by Botstein's novel ideas of
programming, took the performance of these unfamiliar works as
a challenge and rendered them in an amazingly impressive as well
as accurate way."
*_About Leon Botstein_*
In addition to his post in Jerusalem, Leon Botstein has been music
director of the American Symphony Orchestra for 13 years. Together with
the ASO, Botstein presents concerts in New York's Avery Fisher Hall -
part of Lincoln Center's prestigious "Great Performers" series - and at
the Frank Gehry-designed Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing
Arts in New York's historic Hudson Valley. Botstein, who is president
of Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, NY, is also founder and co-artistic
director of the Bard Music Festival, and, with the American Symphony,
conducts the annual opera presented by the SummerScape Festival at the
Fisher Center. In the just-published issue of /New York /magazine,
critic Peter G. Davis selected Botstein's concerts with the ASO as one
of the best-programmed music series in New York City. Reviewing one of
last season's concerts, /New York Tim/es critic Bernard Holland reported
that "[Botstein's] orchestra was sounding better than I can ever remember
it." Another /Times/ critic, Allan Kozinn, described the performance of
Botstein and the ASO's 2005-06 season-opening concert as "spectacular."
Botstein is also a busy recording artist, working with such ensembles
as the American Symphony Orchestra, NDR Symphony Orchestra Hamburg,
London Philharmonic and the London Symphony Orchestra. His recording
with the LSO of Gavriil Popov's epic Symphony No. 1 and Shostakovich's
Theme and Variations, Op. 3, for Telarc, recently received a Grammy
nomination for Best Orchestral Performance.
*_What the Critics are saying about Botstein and the JSO_*
"Leon Botstein continues to open the audience's ears. To take
the listeners out of the automatic pilot routine that dominates
the concert halls, to make them to sit up in their seats, and
not only search for the enjoyment in the music, but mostly to
think about it. That calls for courage. A music director needs
courage in order to break out of the opening-concerto-symphony
mold and perform five concertos instead; a really scandalous
program. It takes bravura to choose works that few have heard
of before, and not be afraid to allow players from the orchestra
perform as soloists. His daring succeeds again and again, and
the Musical Discoveries concert captivated the audience in spite
of its unconventionality." -- /Ha'aretz/, November 3, 2005
"We take off our hat to the Jerusalem Symphony orchestra and its
Musical Director, Leon Botstein. Bucking convention, [they] do
not flinch from presenting audiences, again and again, with
musically and intellectually daring and challenging programs."
-- /Ha'aretz/, March 6, 2005
"Botstein has brought a revolution to Jerusalem." -- /Ma'ariv/
November 23, 2004
*_The Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra_*
The Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra was founded in the 1940s as the national
radio orchestra and was known as the "Kol Israel Orchestra." In the
1970s, the orchestra expanded and became the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra,
Israel Broadcasting Authority. Since its inception, the orchestra has
had six musical directors: Mendi Rodan, Lukas Foss, Gary Bertini, Lawrence
Foster, David Shallon, and from 2003, Leon Botstein.
Since its inauguration, the orchestra's repertoire has comprised an
exciting combination of the masterpieces of the past and the most exciting
musical compositions written in our generation. The orchestra was the
first to perform in Israel the works of Sofia Gubaidulina, Henri Dutilleux,
Alfred Schnittke and others. The JSO has always encouraged Israeli
composers by commissioning and performing their works. Currently its
composer in residence is Betty Olivero.
Through the years, some of the greatest musicians have performed
with the orchestra, including Arthur Rubinstein, Igor Markevitch, Otto
Klemperer, Henryk Szeryng, Isaac Stern, Radu Lupu and Yefim Bronfman.
One of the most notable premieres performed by the orchestra was /The
Seven Gates of Jerusalem/ by Polish composer Krzystof Penderecki, conducted
by Maestro Lorin Maazel, which was composed for the finale of the Jerusalem
3000 celebrations. This was a joint venture with the Bavarian Radio
Orchestra. The work was again performed by the two orchestras in Munich
in April 2000 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Bavarian Radio.
The JSO presents four concert series every season. The Musical Discoveries
Series features both masterpieces and rare works by 19th- and 20th-century
composers. This series is conducted by Maestro Botstein and can be heard
on radio stations throughout the United States. The orchestra also
offers the more traditional Classical Series; The Oratorios Series in
collaboration with the opera house Tel Aviv-Yaffo; and the Do Re Mix
Series for children and their families. The orchestra also performs
each year during the Israel Festival. It participated in the International
Opera Festival in the Roman amphitheater in Caesarea: In May 2000 the
orchestra performed /Turandot /by Puccini and in June 2001 took part in
a production of /La Forza del Destino /by Verdi.
The orchestra has often toured Europe and the United States, and has
played in some of the most prestigious venues, including Vienna, Dusseldorf,
Frankfurt, Luzerne and New York. The orchestra also records regularly.
Its next major recording project is a CD for the Milken Archive of Jewish
Music.
The Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra's 2006 tour is made possible by the
American Friends of the Jerusalem Symphony, the Lillian Goldman Charitable
Trust, the Crown Family Foundation, and the Jerusalem Foundation.
Promotional support generously provided by WMHT-FM CLASSICAL MUSIC RADIO
89.1, 88.7, 97.7.
For further information and tickets, call the Fisher Center box office
at 845-758-7900 or visit the website at www.fishercenter.bard.edu.
Emily Darrow <[log in to unmask]>
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