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Press Releases
The North/South Chamber Orchestra to Open its 35th Season on October 12 at 3 PM
On Sunday afternoon October 12, 2014 the North/South Chamber Orchestra under the direction of Max Lifchitz will inaugurate its 35th consecutive season performing new and recent works by four composers based in the New York City area.
The free-admission event will start at 3 PM and end approximately at 4:30 PM. It will be held at the intimate but acoustically superior auditorium of Christ & St Stephen’s Church (120 West 69th St – between Broadway and Columbus) on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. The auditorium is ADA accessible. Admission is free – no tickets required.
The following compositions will be heard for the first time: Elizabeth Bell’s Concerto for Chamber Orchestra; Douglas Ovens' Manhattan Cityscape; and Raoul Pleskow’s Eight Brief Pieces. Max Lifchitz’s Yellow Ribbons No. 40, written to mark North/South Consonnance's 25th season will round off the program.
The composers will be present at the concert to introduce their works and meet with the audience.
Performers and composers are available for media events and interviews and may be contacted through the North/South Office at ns.concerts@att.net
ABOUT THE COMPOSERS
Elizabeth Bell attended Wellesley College and The Juilliard School where she studied with Vittorio Giannini and Peter Mennin. Described by the American Record Guide as “one of our country’s leading composers” and by Fanfare Magazine as “a fine composer whose instrumental music is particularly striking,” her works for voice, solo instruments, chamber ensembles, and orchestra, have been performed throughout the US and abroad. Bell’s Concertino for Chamber Orchestra is a transcription of a work for large orchestra recently completed by Max Lifchitz. The three movement work follows the traditional fast-slow-fast pattern. An introspective slow movement is preceded by a grandiloquent opening statement and followed by an agile and sprightly finale.
Born in Vienna, Austria, Raoul Pleskow was educated in New York were his teachers included Karol Rathaus, Otto Luening and Stefan Wolpe. The Composer-in-Residence at C. W. Post College of Long Island University -- where he taught from 1959 until 1994 -- Pleskow's many awards and honors include grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Martha Baird Rockefeller Fund, the National Institute of Arts and Letters and a fellowship from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. His compositions have been performed throughout the United States and Europe. Pleskow’s Eight Brief Pieces consist of a collection of contrasting bagatelles for winds and strings built around traditional contrapuntal devices.
“Haunting and, at times, whimsical” is how the music of Douglas Ovens has been described by the press. Active as percussionist and composer, Ovens has performed his own works for solo percussion at the Akiyoshidai International Arts Village in Yamaguchi, Japan; the Atlantic Center for the Arts in Florida; the Philadelphia Fringe Festival and many others venues around the United States. He has received commissions from the North/South Chamber Orchestra (New York City), the Allentown Symphony, Lehigh Valley Chamber Orchestra, Asheville Symphony as well as many modern dance companies. Ovens is Professor of Music at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, PA. The music of Ovens' Manhattan Cityscape aims to recreate the constant hum and growl that is in the background, when not in foreground, when in the city. The moments of quiet in the piece are like those moments when, upon turning a corner, one finds oneself –surprisingly - surrounded by quiet.
Max Lifchitz - the North/South Chamber Orchestra’s founder – began his musical training in his native México City. A scholarship from The Juilliard School afforded him the opportunity to relocate to New York City where he maintains a busy schedule as composer and performer. His Yellow Ribbons No. 40 belongs to an ongoing series of compositions written as homage to the former American hostages in Iran. These compositions represent a personal way of celebrating the artistic and political freedom so often taken for granted in the West. The tragic events that befell New York City on September 11, 2001 convinced the composer that returning to work on this series begun in the early 1980’s was both appropriate and worthwhile.
ABOUT NORTH/SOUTH CONSONANCE, INC
Since its inception in 1980, North/South Consonance has brought to the attention of the New York City public over 1,000 recent works by composers representing a wide spectrum of aesthetic views. Its activities are made possible in part, with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.
For further information about the concert and recording activities sponsored by North/South Consonance, Inc. please visit http://www.northsouthmusic.org/
The free-admission event will start at 3 PM and end approximately at 4:30 PM. It will be held at the intimate but acoustically superior auditorium of Christ & St Stephen’s Church (120 West 69th St – between Broadway and Columbus) on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. The auditorium is ADA accessible. Admission is free – no tickets required.
The following compositions will be heard for the first time: Elizabeth Bell’s Concerto for Chamber Orchestra; Douglas Ovens' Manhattan Cityscape; and Raoul Pleskow’s Eight Brief Pieces. Max Lifchitz’s Yellow Ribbons No. 40, written to mark North/South Consonnance's 25th season will round off the program.
The composers will be present at the concert to introduce their works and meet with the audience.
Performers and composers are available for media events and interviews and may be contacted through the North/South Office at ns.concerts@att.net
ABOUT THE COMPOSERS
Elizabeth Bell attended Wellesley College and The Juilliard School where she studied with Vittorio Giannini and Peter Mennin. Described by the American Record Guide as “one of our country’s leading composers” and by Fanfare Magazine as “a fine composer whose instrumental music is particularly striking,” her works for voice, solo instruments, chamber ensembles, and orchestra, have been performed throughout the US and abroad. Bell’s Concertino for Chamber Orchestra is a transcription of a work for large orchestra recently completed by Max Lifchitz. The three movement work follows the traditional fast-slow-fast pattern. An introspective slow movement is preceded by a grandiloquent opening statement and followed by an agile and sprightly finale.
Born in Vienna, Austria, Raoul Pleskow was educated in New York were his teachers included Karol Rathaus, Otto Luening and Stefan Wolpe. The Composer-in-Residence at C. W. Post College of Long Island University -- where he taught from 1959 until 1994 -- Pleskow's many awards and honors include grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Martha Baird Rockefeller Fund, the National Institute of Arts and Letters and a fellowship from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. His compositions have been performed throughout the United States and Europe. Pleskow’s Eight Brief Pieces consist of a collection of contrasting bagatelles for winds and strings built around traditional contrapuntal devices.
“Haunting and, at times, whimsical” is how the music of Douglas Ovens has been described by the press. Active as percussionist and composer, Ovens has performed his own works for solo percussion at the Akiyoshidai International Arts Village in Yamaguchi, Japan; the Atlantic Center for the Arts in Florida; the Philadelphia Fringe Festival and many others venues around the United States. He has received commissions from the North/South Chamber Orchestra (New York City), the Allentown Symphony, Lehigh Valley Chamber Orchestra, Asheville Symphony as well as many modern dance companies. Ovens is Professor of Music at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, PA. The music of Ovens' Manhattan Cityscape aims to recreate the constant hum and growl that is in the background, when not in foreground, when in the city. The moments of quiet in the piece are like those moments when, upon turning a corner, one finds oneself –surprisingly - surrounded by quiet.
Max Lifchitz - the North/South Chamber Orchestra’s founder – began his musical training in his native México City. A scholarship from The Juilliard School afforded him the opportunity to relocate to New York City where he maintains a busy schedule as composer and performer. His Yellow Ribbons No. 40 belongs to an ongoing series of compositions written as homage to the former American hostages in Iran. These compositions represent a personal way of celebrating the artistic and political freedom so often taken for granted in the West. The tragic events that befell New York City on September 11, 2001 convinced the composer that returning to work on this series begun in the early 1980’s was both appropriate and worthwhile.
ABOUT NORTH/SOUTH CONSONANCE, INC
Since its inception in 1980, North/South Consonance has brought to the attention of the New York City public over 1,000 recent works by composers representing a wide spectrum of aesthetic views. Its activities are made possible in part, with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.
For further information about the concert and recording activities sponsored by North/South Consonance, Inc. please visit http://www.northsouthmusic.org/
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