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