Download February 7 Concert Press Release

JOANA CARNEIRO AND BERKELEY SYMPHONY PRESENT
A WORLD PREMIERE BY ANDREIA PINTO-CORREIA
LYNN HARRELL FEATURED AS SOLOIST IN THE LUTOSLAWSKI CELLO CONCERTO
FEBRUARY 7 AT ZELLERBACH HALL
Berkeley, CA – January 9, 2013 – Music Director Joana Carneiro and Berkeley
Symphony continue their 2012-2013 Season on Thursday, February 7 at 8 p.m. in
Zellerbach Hall with the world premiere of Alfama by Portuguese composer Andreia
Pinto-Correia. Internationally renowned cellist Lynn Harrell joins the orchestra as
soloist for the Lutoslawski Cello Concerto. Rachmaninoff’s Symphonic Dances, Op. 45
completes the program.
Alfama was co-commisioned by Berkeley Symphony and the Gulbenkian Foundation
and will receive its European Premiere later this year led by Maestra Carneiro at the
Gulbenkian Foundation Grande Auditório in Portugal. Distinguished by influences of
Iberian folk and literary traditions, Ms. Pinto-Correia’s music has been described by
The New York Times as an “aural fabric” and by New Music Box as “mysterious,
elegant, magical.” She has received numerous prestigious commissions from such
notable institutions as the European Union Presidency, Tanglewood Music Center, Boston Symphony
Orchestra Brass Quintet, American Composers Orchestra and the Minnesota Symphony Orchestra. She is also
the recipient of multiple awards and honors including the Toru Takemitsu Award by the Japan Society;
fellowships from the Aspen Music Festival, Tanglewood Music Center and Gulbenkian Foundation; and
residencies with the MacDowell Colony, OrchestrUtopica (Portugal) and Valparaiso Foundation, (Spain).
Lynn Harrell is known throughout the world as a soloist, chamber musician,
recitalist, conductor and teacher. Labeled by The Boston Globe as “the dean of
American cellists” and praised for his “sensitive musical imagination and
commanding technique,” Mr. Harrell is a champion of the Lutoslawski Cello
Concerto. This work was commissioned in 1970 for Mstislav Rostropovich, the
force behind many significant 20th Century concertos for the instrument.
Rostropovich inspired Lutoslawski to adopt the old-fashioned, “anti-modernist”
format of the concerto in a way that gave the composer’s imagination complete
free reign. John Cage-inspired passages include chance methods to be played in an
improvisational, ad lib fashion, though within a specified time frame. In addition to
the Western avant-garde style, Lutoslawski’s music incorporates aspects of folk
music as well as unique orchestral color and sonic texture.
Symphonic Dances, Op. 45 was Rachmaninoff’s last composition and one of only
a handful that he composed during the final 25 years of his life. In the aftermath of the 1917 Bolshevik
Revolution, he became an exile from his native Russia, eventually settling in the United States. This left him
emotionally unmoored, homesick and financially burdened which contributed to a sense of creative paralysis
and a dwindling compositional output. Written in 1940, the work includes numerous self-quotations from his
earlier works, in addition to themes derived from Russian sacred chant, forming a nostalgic reflection of preRevolutionary Russia.
CALENDAR EDITORS, PLEASE NOTE:
Berkeley Symphony
Concert III: The Illuminators
Thursday, February 7, 2013, 8pm, Zellerbach Hall, Berkeley
Joana Carneiro, conductor
Lynn Harrell, cello
Andreia Pinto-Correia: Alfama (World Premiere Commission)
Lutoslawski: Concerto for Cello and Orchestra
Rachmaninoff: Symphonic Dances, Op. 45
Single tickets for the concert are $15-$68. For more information or to purchase tickets, call (510) 841-2800 or
visit www.berkeleysymphony.org
MORE ABOUT ANDREIA PINTO-CORREIA
Born in Lisbon, Portugal, Andreia Pinto-Correia began her studies in her native country at the Academia de
Amadores de Musica and at the Escola Luis Villas Boas, and received her Masters of Music degree in jazz
composition at the New England Conservatory, where she studied with legendary jazz composer Michael
Gandolfi. Ms. Pinto-Correia has worked privately with such luminaries as John Harbison, William Bolcom,
Colin Matthews and Steven Stucky and is currently a teaching fellow at the New England Conservatory.
Upcoming world premieres include an opera co-commission by the Companhia Opera do Castelo and
Drumming GP slated for 2014. Other past premieres include commissions by the Borromeo String Quartet at
the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, Grammy-Award nominee Derek Bermel, Spanish virtuoso
percussionist Miquel Bernat and the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble.
MORE ABOUT LYNN HARRELL
A frequent guest of many leading orchestras throughout America, Europe and Asia, he has appeared with the
New York Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, Royal Philharmonic and Hong Kong Philharmonic,
regularly performing under such esteemed conductors as James Levine, Sir Neville Marriner, Sir Simon Rattle
and Michael Tilson Thomas. His recent chamber work includes collaborations with Anne-Sophie Mutter and
André Previn with whom he performed the Beethoven Triple Concerto with the New York Philharmonic led
by Kurt Masur. In 1994, Mr. Harrell appeared at the Vatican with the Royal Philharmonic in a prestigious
concert dedicated to the memory of victims of the Holocaust.
In addition to his performing career, Mr. Harrell has an extensive discography of more than 30 recordings with
London/Decca, EMI and New World, and has won two Grammy Awards. He regularly appears at summer
festivals such as the Verbier Festival and Aspen, and has held teaching positions at the Royal Academy of
Music, L.A. Philharmonic Institute and Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music.
ABOUT JOANA CARNEIRO
As Music Director, Joana Carneiro has captivated the public with her commanding stage presence and
adventurous programming, which has highlighted the works of several prominent contemporary composers,
including John Adams, Esa-Pekka Salonen, and Gabriela Lena Frank. Maestra Carneiro’s commitment to
expanding the community base of Berkeley Symphony and upholding the orchestra’s artistic excellence was
recognized by the League of American Orchestras, which honored her with the Helen M. Thompson Award in
2010. She was appointed Music Director of Berkeley Symphony in January 2009, succeeding Kent Nagano as
only the third Music Director in the 40-year history of the orchestra.
Noted for her vibrant performances in a wide diversity of musical styles, Joana Carneiro is considered one of
the most exciting and outstanding young conductors today. Prior to her Berkeley Symphony appointment, she
served as Assistant Conductor with the Los Angeles Philharmonic from 2005 to 2008, where she worked
closely with Esa-Pekka Salonen and led performances at Walt Disney Concert Hall and the Hollywood Bowl.
Together with her leadership in Berkeley, she is the official guest conductor of the Gulbenkian Orchestra in her
native Lisbon and an active guest conductor worldwide.
Increasingly in demand as an opera conductor, Carneiro made her Cincinnati Opera debut in June 2011,
conducting John Adams’s A Flowering Tree, which she also recently debuted with Chicago Opera Theater and
Cité de la Musique in Paris. In January 2010, Carneiro led performances of Peter Sellars’ stagings of
Stravinsky’s Oedipus Rex and Symphony of Psalms at the Sydney Festival. In 2008-2009, she worked again
with Esa-Pekka Salonen at the Paris Opera’s premiere of Adriana Mater by Kaija Saariaho, where she served
as Assistant Conductor, and led critically acclaimed performances of Philippe Boesmans’ Julie in Bolzano,
Italy.
ABOUT BERKELEY SYMPHONY
Recognized nationally for its adventurous programming, Berkeley Symphony has established a reputation for
presenting major new works for orchestra alongside fresh interpretations of the classic European repertoire.
Berkeley Symphony has been recognized in eight of the past ten seasons with an Award for Adventurous
Programming from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP). In addition to its
subscription concerts and Under Construction New Music Series, Berkeley Symphony partners with the
Berkeley Unified School District to produce the award-winning Music in th Schools program, providing
comprehensive, age-appropriate music curriculum for more than 4,000 local elementary students each year. In
addition, the Orchestra regularly partners with Cal Performances, the performing arts presenter and producer of
the University of California, Berkeley, to provide music for visiting artists.
PRESS CONTACT
Karen Ames and Brenden Guy, Karen Ames Communications
(415) 641-7474 • [email protected]; [email protected]
Noel Hayashi, Director of Marketing, Berkeley Symphony
(415) 926-5956 • [email protected]