Oct 16-19: Michael Christie and New West Symphony present Delights and Dances - Live, In-Person Performances in Four Los Angeles-area Venues

New West Symphony Presents Delights and Dances
Michael Christie, Artistic and Music Director

Live, In-Person Performances in Four Los Angeles-Area Venues
October 16-19, 2021

Saturday, October 16, 2021 at 3pm | Ventura
Performing Arts Center at Ventura College 

Saturday, October 16, 2021 at 7pm | Agoura Hills
Performing Arts Education Center, A-PAEC at Agoura High School

Sunday, October 17, 2021 at 3pm | Camarillo
Rancho Campana Performing Arts Center 

Tuesday, October 19, 2021 at 7pm | Malibu
Lisa Smith Wengler Center for the Arts at Pepperdine University

General Admission Tickets ($40) and Information: www.newwestsymphony.org/delights-and-dances

“[New West Symphony is] embracing the mission of refreshing the modern concert experience for a new generation” – Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles, CA – After a year-long, around-the-world virtual tour, the New West Symphony (NWS), with Grammy-winning conductor Michael Christie as Artistic and Music Director, returns to the stage to experience the joy of live classical music performances once again. “Delights and Dances” is a 70-minute program with no intermission, designed to embrace music of several eras and genres, featuring music by Schubert, Grieg, Copland, Morricone, Florence, Michael Abels, and more. Four performances will take place October 16-19, 2021 in Ventura, Agorua Hills, Camarillo, and Malibu. Proof of vaccination and masks are required at all venues. 

"Musicians of the New West Symphony are eager to take the stage and do what they do best – passionately performing great music in beautiful harmony,” says Christie. “The program is a mix of pieces from several eras and genres we know will delight as well as those that will get your toes tapping. Patrons have been asking when we will return to the concert platform and these performances are an opportunity for all of us to gather and revel in the live concert experiences we've all been yearning for.”

Program for "Delights and Dances”

SCHUBERT Ave Maria

GRIEG Holberg Suite

LILLEY/LOESSER ”I’ve Got Spurs that Jingle, Jangle, Jingle”

PRICE ”Juba” from String Quartet in A minor

MORRICONE Gabriel’s Oboe

MICHAEL ABELS Delights and Dances

TCHAIKOVSKY Finale from Serenade for Strings

COPLAND “Hoe-down” from Rodeo

Tickets and more information at www.newwestsymphony.org/delights-and-dances. 

About New West Symphony: Now in its 27th season, the New West Symphony draws its players from the rich talent pool of accomplished Los Angeles-area musicians. Its mission is to inspire passion for symphonic music through live performances and education initiatives that engage and enrich its diverse audiences.

From October through the summer of 2021, the NWS presented eight online cultural festivals that highlighted its extraordinary region and communities in Ventura County and Conejo Valley. NWS partnered with extraordinary artists eager to share their passions and talents to produce A Tour of Japan (October 2020); A Tour of India (November 2020); Holocaust Remembrance (January 2021); A Tour of China (February 2021); A Tour of Iran (April 2021), A Tour of Mexico (May 2021); America the Melting Pot (June 2021); and the Season Finale (August 2021), highlighting all of the festivals.

All of the events are available to watch on-demand until September 30, 2021. Individual festival and season passports are available at www.newwestsymphony.org/2020-21-virtual-season.

About Michael Christie: Grammy award-winning conductor Michael Christie is a thoughtfully innovative conductor, equally at home in the symphonic and opera worlds, who is focused on making the audience experience at his performances entertaining, enlightening, and enriching. The New York Times reports, “Michael Christie is a director open to adventure and challenge,” and the Cincinnati Enquirer declares, “If Michael Christie represents the future of music in this country, the future looks promising indeed.”

Christie won a 2019 Grammy Award (Best Opera Recording) for the world premiere recording of Mason Bates’ The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs with The Santa Fe Opera (PENTATONE). In 2017, he led the world premiere performances at The Santa Fe Opera, “with suave assurance” (San Francisco Chronicle), with “precision and pizzazz” (Santa Fe New Mexican), and “preside[d] over an expertly executed performance” (The Financial Times). He was featured in Opera News in August 2012 as one of 25 people believed to “break out and become major forces in the field in the coming decade.” At Minnesota Opera, Christie led 24 productions over eight years, six seasons as its first-ever Music Director (2012-2018). Other recent highlights include leading performances with Washington National Opera, Opéra de Montréal, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Des Moines Metro Opera, and Michigan Opera Theatre. Deeply committed to bringing new works to life, Michael Christie has championed commissions by leading and emerging composers alike, including Mark Adamo, Mason Bates, Unsuk Chin, Michael Daugherty, Osvaldo Golijov, Mark Grey, Daron Hagen, Jennifer Higdon, Matthew Hindson, Huang Ruo, Marjan Mozetich, Stephen Paulus, Kevin Puts, and more.

Michael Christie has been a strong proponent of multicultural programming throughout his career. He created a World Music Festival at the Phoenix Symphony and a World Music Series at the Colorado Music Festival. As Chief Conductor of the Queensland Orchestra in Australia, he toured Japan and recorded his debut album with didgeridoo player William Barton. With the Phoenix Symphony, he premiered and recorded Mark Grey’s Enemy Slayer: A Navajo Oratorio, libretto by Navajo poet Laura Tohe. While Music Director of the Brooklyn Philharmonic, he led performances of Tan Dun’s The Gate and created the orchestra’s Nuevo Latino Festival.

Christie’s conducting career, spanning more than 20 years, has included serving as Music Director of the Phoenix Symphony (2005-2013) and Brooklyn Philharmonic (2005-2010), and as Chief Conductor of the Queensland Orchestra (2001-2004) in Australia, as well as guest appearances leading the Los Angeles Philharmonic, National Symphony Orchestra, Civic Orchestra of Chicago, Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, Rhode Island Philharmonic, and the Symphonies of Dallas, St. Louis, Atlanta, Houston, Minnesota, Oregon, Indianapolis, Cincinnati, and Santa Rosa. Christie’s many European engagements have included leading the Rotterdam Philharmonic, DSO Berlin, Orchestre National de Lille, Swedish and Netherlands Radio Symphony, City of Birmingham Symphony, NDR Hannover Orchestra and the Czech Philharmonic. In addition, Christie enjoys a strong profile in Australia, where he has conducted the Sydney Symphony, Tasmanian Symphony, Opera Queensland, and the Western Australian Symphony in Perth.

Michael Christie first came to international attention in 1995 when he was awarded a special prize for “Outstanding Potential” at the First International Sibelius Conductors’ Competition in Helsinki. Following the competition, he was invited to become an apprentice conductor with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra where he subsequently worked with Daniel Barenboim as well as at the Berlin State Opera during the 1996-1997 season. For more information, visit www.michaelchristieonline.com.