The 35th Anniversary of MidAmerica Productions

With Alice Tully Hall Concert on January 7, 1984, A New Concept in Concert Presentation

 

NEW YORK, NY, January 11, 2019 – 35 years ago this week, Peter Tiboris made his New York conducting debut, and launched a new way of presenting concerts in New York.

“I had just completed 10 years of teaching and conducting as an Associate Professor of Music at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette,” recalls Maestro Tiboris. “While UL-Lafayette had a strong and distinguished vocal and choral program, I wanted bigger musical challenges, and I felt the best place I could find them was New York City.”

With choirs from Louisiana and New York, and the American Symphony Orchestra, he chose works with great personal meaning with which to make his New York debut:

“I had grown to love the Rossini Stabat Mater very much – forward-looking and dramatic, but not in the same way as his operas. The Constantinides was equally important, because he is not only a wonderful composer, but a close friend.” 

The success of the concert, and the presentation model, led Maestro Tiboris to resign his position at LSU, move to New York, and build MidAmerica Productions into the thriving venture it is today. 

 

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The program for the concert on January 7, 1984:

ROSSINI: Stabat Mater

DINOS CONSTANTINIDES: Lament of Antigone (New York Premiere); Hymnos tou Anthropinou pnevmatos (World Premiere)

 

Phyllis Demetropoulos, soprano

Sharon Munden, mezzo-soprano

Giorgio Aristo, tenor

Sam Jones, bass

 

Camerata Singers of Baton Rouge

Collegiate Chorale of New York

Louisiana Chorale of Acadiana

 

American Symphony Orchestra

 

PETER TIBORIS, Conductor

           

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BACKGROUND INFORMATION

 

ABOUT PETER TIBORIS

Greek-American conductor, music director and impresario Peter Tiboris has been a vital presence on the international music scene for more than forty years.

Founder and Music Director of the Manhattan Philharmonic, Maestro Tiboris is also currently Music Director of the Pan-European Philharmonia in Warsaw, Poland; General Music Director and Conductor of the Symphonisches Orchestra Wien in Austria; and Principal Guest Conductor of the Orchestra da Camera Fiorentina in Florence, Italy. Previous Principal Guest Conductor positions have included the Collegium Symphonium Veneto in Padua, Italy and the Bohuslav Martinu Orchestra in Zlin, Czech Republic.

As General and Artistic Director of MidAmerica Productions in New York since its founding in 1983, Maestro Tiboris has presented more than 1,500 concerts worldwide, including over 550 in Carnegie Hall, and at other New York City venues including Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher (now David Geffen) Hall and Alice Tully Hall (the site of his January 7, 1984 New York debut with the American Symphony Orchestra). In 2004 he founded MidAm International, which produces concerts in major European cultural centers including Paris, Vienna, Salzburg, Florence, Lisbon, Prague, Berlin, Warsaw, Athens, Moscow and St. Petersburg. In 2005, he created the International Festival of the Aegean on the Greek island of Syros where, each July, he presents international-caliber performances of opera, oratorios, concerti, symphonic works, Greek folk music, jazz, theater and ballet. In 2011, the Festival was named “Best cultural organization operating in the wider region of Greece” by the Awards Committee of Music Critics of the Union of Greek Theatre and Music Critics in Athens.

Maestro Tiboris has a vast repertoire, ranging from major choral works to countless symphonies, operas and ballets, including numerous world and American premieres. Among the distinguished orchestras Maestro Tiboris has conducted are London’s Royal Philharmonic and Philharmonia Orchestras, Niedersächsische Orchester Hannover, Virtuosi di Praga, Brno Philharmonic, National Opera Orchestra of Cairo, American Symphony Orchestra, Moscow Radio and Television Symphony Orchestra, Société Philharmonique de Montréal, Israel Symphony Orchestra Rishon Le-Zion, Orchestra del Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, Orchestra di Verona and Orchestra di Siciliana di Palermo. His ballet engagements have included the Balletto di Verona and the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, whose production of Peer Gynt by director/choreographer Renato Zanella was named “Ballet of the Year” by Danza e Danza Magazine. In 2016, he made his Asian debut with the Macau Orchestra and Taipei Philharmonic Chorus in Macau, China

Upcoming engagements for Maestro Tiboris include four concerts in Italy, among them an all-Beethoven program with the Orchestra del Teatro di Messina, and the Verdi Requiem with the Orchestra Filharmonica di Calabria. He will also lead Verdi’s Requiem with the Société Philharmonique de Montréal. A concert with the Pan-European Philharmonia in Warsaw will also be recorded for YouTube. A return to Asia, with engagements in Beijing, Singapore and Hong Kong, is in preparation for 2020.

Also in 2020, Maestro Tiboris will celebrate “Beethoven/250,” leading seven performances of the Ninth Symphony around the world in recognition of the 250^th anniversary of the composer’s birth: at Carnegie Hall on Saturday, May 16th; four performances during the Festival of the Aegean, starting on Sunday, July 12^th (three in Syros and one in Athens Concert Hall); and two in Vienna’s Minoritenkirche, on Wednesday, June 17^th, and Wednesday, December 16^th – Beethoven’s actual birth date.

In 1995 Maestro Tiboris founded Elysium Recordings, which has a catalogue of 27 releases, ten of which feature him as conductor. He has also recorded for Bridge Records and Albany Records. His discography includes the first commercial recording of Mascagni’s opera Silvano; and world-premiere recordings of works by Beethoven, Mozart and Schubert incorporating the Mahler “Retuschen,” as well as of David Rosen’s critical edition of Verdi’s Requiem.

A Wisconsin native, Peter Tiboris studied music at the University of Wisconsin and received a doctorate from the University of Illinois. He is married to soprano Eilana Lappalainen, and they reside in the U.S., Germany, and Greece.

 

ABOUT MIDAMERICA PRODUCTIONS

Peter Tiboris created and conducted his first concert in New York on January 7, 1984, at Lincoln Center, featuring the American Symphony Orchestra, soloists, and three choruses: the Louisiana Chorale of Acadiana, Camerata Singers of Baton Rouge, and Collegiate Chorale of New York. He didn’t realize it at the time, but Mr. Tiboris had just created his own production company, MidAmerica Productions, which would go on to become the foremost independent producer of choral concerts in New York’s Carnegie Hall. 

For 36 years, MidAmerica Productions has brought together conductors, soloists, and choral and instrumental ensembles from the U.S. and abroad to appear at New York’s top venues, including the Isaac Stern Auditorium/ Ronald O. Perelman Stage, Weill Recital Hall, and Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall; and Alice Tully Hall and Avery Fisher Hall (now David Geffen Hall) at Lincoln Center. In addition to presenting instrumental and choral works, MidAmerica Productions has championed contemporary composers with approximately 92 World Premieres, 21 United States Premieres and 99 New York Premieres.

Additionally, MidAmerica Productions has presented concerts in numerous U.S. cities and in countries throughout the world, including Greece, England, Austria, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Portugal, Italy, France and Russia.

 

MIDAMERICA BY THE NUMBERS

Changing Lives One Concert At A Time. Over the past 35 years, MidAmerica Productions has not only discovered new artists but produced their concert debuts in the historic venue of the main Carnegie Hall stage. At the start of 2019, noteworthy MidAmerica statistics include:

 

• 1,369 Concerts Worldwide
• 1036 Concerts in New York
• 578 Concerts in Stern Auditorium at Carnegie Hall
• 384 Concerts in Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall
• 21 Concerts in David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center
• 11 Concerts in Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center
• 92 World Premieres
• 21 United States Premieres
• 99 New York City Premieres
• 3,560 Choral Ensembles
• 173 Youth and Collegiate Orchestras
• 145 Youth and Collegiate Bands, Jazz Bands and Wind Ensembles
• 826 Guest Conductors
• 1,342 Guest Soloists
• 70 European Concerts (Austria, Czech Republic, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Russia, France)
• 171 Festival of the Aegean (Syros, Greece) Concerts

 

Media Contact: 

Daniel Guss

Director of Public Relations and Publications

MidAmerica Productions

212-239-0205 x 204

dguss@midamerica-music.com