Photo: Alexander Iziliaev
BalletX, Philadelphia's premier contemporary ballet company, unites world-class choreographers with an outstanding company of professional dancers to forge new works of athleticism, emotion, and grace. The daring vision of its award-winning founders and artistic directors, Christine Cox and Matthew Neenan, BalletX challenges the boundaries of classical ballet by encouraging formal experimentation while preserving rigorous technique. The Company is committed to producing new works of the highest quality and integrity that bring the combined visions of choreographers and dancers to life and cultivate in audiences a collective appetite for bold new dance.
Since the Company's founding in 2005, it has expanded its repertoire with over thirty World Premieres by internationally renowned artists including Jorma Elo, Jodie Gates, Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, Edwaard Liang, Adam Hougland, Helen Pickett, Matthew Neenan, and Darrell Grand Moultrie, among others. Firmly rooted in rigorous ballet technique, these contemporary pieces challenge BalletX's ten dancers with the innovative possibilities of ballet in the 21st century. Now recognized worldwide for its unique repertoire, the Company participates in growing numbers of national and international tours, including performances at prestigious venues and festivals including the Joyce Theater in New York City, Vail International Dance Festival in Colorado, Laguna Dance Festival in California, Festival de Ballet in Colombia, Ballet EXPO in South Korea, Spring to Dance Festival in St. Louis, and Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts in California.
They will present three distinctive works in Geneva. Still@Life asks "What would happen if the Renaissance paintings and sculptures of Michelangelo came to life?" Silt is a subtle look at how personal ideas about oneself can get lost in the sweep of life. The Last Glass draws inspiration from the wild street-parade sound of American indie-rock band, Beirut
Christine Cox began her training with the Pennsylvania Ballet School and continued at the Philadelphia High School for the Performing Arts, spending summer sessions at the Joffrey and San Francisco Ballet schools. After high school, she danced with Balletmet in Columbus, Ohio for five years before moving to New York. There, Christine danced as a guest artist with Ballet Hispanico and performed for President George H.W. Bush at the Ford Theatre. She then spent one year with American Repertory Ballet before joining Pennsylvania Ballet from 1993 to 2006.
Christine has premiered works by a number of gifted choreographers, including Ib Anderson, Rennie Harris, James Kudelka, John McFall, Trey McIntyre, Matthew Neenan, Kevin O'Day, David Parsons, Kirk Peterson, and Christopher Wheeldon. Some of her featured roles include Rum and Coca-Cola in Paul Taylor's Company B; Vortex in Alvin Ailey's The River; Choleric in George Balanchine's The Four Temperaments; Eve in Margo Sappington's Rodin; Mis En Vie the Cowgirl in Agnes DeMille's Rodeo; and principal female roles in Jerome Robbins' Fancy Free and The Concert.
In 2005 Christine co-founded BalletX with her long time collaborator Matthew Neenan. They have received critical acclaim both nationally and internationally and have been featured in Pointe and Dance magazines. In 2006, Christine retired as a full-time company member of Pennsylvania Ballet in order to focus her energy on BalletX.
Matthew Neenan began his dance training at the Boston Ballet School and with noted teachers Nan C. Keating and Jacqueline Cronsberg. He later attended the LaGuardia High School of Performing Arts and the School of American Ballet in New York. From 1994-2007, Matthew danced with the Pennsylvania Ballet where he danced numerous principal roles in works by George Balanchine, John Cranko, Paul Taylor, Peter Martins, Val Caniparoli, Jorma Elo, Lila York, Meredith Rainey, Christopher Wheeldon and Jerome Robbins. In October 2007, Matthew was named Choreographer in Residence at the Pennsylvania Ballet.
Matthew's choreography has been featured and performed by the Pennsylvania Ballet (totaling 13 commissions), BalletX, The Washington Ballet, Colorado Ballet, Ballet Memphis, Milwaukee Ballet, Juilliard Dance, New York City Ballet's Choreographic Institute, Sacramento Ballet, Opera Company of Philadelphia, and LaGuardia High School of Performing Arts (NYC), among others. He has received numerous awards and grants for his choreography from the National Endowment of the Arts, Dance Advance funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts, the Choo San Goh Foundation, and the Independence Foundation. In 2006, Matthew received the New York City Ballet's Choreographic Institute's Fellowship Initiative Award.
BalletX Home Page
Program Notes for the Evening's Concert.
The Austrian conductor Christoph Campestrini received his musical education in the United States He studied in New York at The Juilliard School and simultaneously also majored in philosophy and languages at Columbia University. In addition to German and English he speaks Italian, French, Russian and Spanish. Following his studies at Juilliard he was the only European representative admitted to the founding class of the prestigious Yale University / Affiliate Artists Conducting Program, where he had the possibility to work with prominent conductors such a Lorin Maazel, Wolfgang Sawallisch and Kurt Sanderling.
After his return to Europe he started an active international career, conducting more than 80 Symphony Orchestras on all 5 continents. Among them are the London Symphony Orchestra, Deutsche Sinfonie Orchester Berlin, Frankfurt Radio Symphony, Stuttgart Philharmonic, Cologne Radio Symphony, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Moscow Radio Symphony, Prague Radio Symphony, Prague Philharmonia, Vienna Radio Symphony, Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg, Orchestre Lamoureux Paris, Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, Queensland Philharmonic, Israel Sinfonietta and many others.
He has worked together with soloists such as Gidon Kremer, Julian Rachlin, Rudolf Buchbinder, Sharon Kam, Julia Fischer and Emmanuel Pahud.
Christoph Campestrini has served as 1.Kapellmeister (Principal Conductor) at the prestigious Essen Aalto Musiktheater and the Essen Philharmonic Orchestra, where he conducted more than 100 performances of 15 different operas. Other opera credits include the Deutsche Oper am Rhein Düsseldorf/Duisburg, Zagreb National Opera, National Arts Centre Ottawa, Austin Lyric Opera and The Hongkong Opera Academy.
Barry Snyder is an internationally acclaimed pianist and teacher, whose entry onto the international stage came after winning three major prizes at the 1966 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition: Silver Medal, Pan American Union Award and the Chamber Music Prize.
Since then, Snyder has toured the world performing concerti, presenting solo collaborative recitals, and leading master classes. Snyder has performed with conductors such as Robert Shaw, Leopold Stokowski, David Zinman, Charles Dutoit, Sixten Ehrling and Arthur Fiedler. A well-known collaborator, Snyder has appeared with artists such as Hermann Prey, Jan DeGaetani, Zvi Zeitlin, Ani Kavafian, Sylvia Rosenberg, Bonita Boyd, Steven Doane, and the Chilingarian and Cleveland Quartets. Many of these collaborations can be heard in Snyder's substantial discography of over forty recordings.
Held in high esteem by the professional community, Snyder is a widely sought-after teacher. Since 1970, Snyder has been Professor of Piano at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, and he is listed in the publication The Most Wanted Piano Teachers and has given master classes in the United States, Europe and Asia. As a juror, Snyder has chaired the jury for the World International Piano Competition in Cincinnati and was a member of the jury for the Glasgow Young Artists Competition.
Snyder is committed to performing 20th and 21st century repertoire, and has given world premieres of works by such composers as Syndey Hodkinson, Toshio Hosakawa and Augusta Read Thomas. Many compositions, such as those by Carter Pann and Verne Reynolds, have been written specifically for him.
Program Notes for the Evening's Concert.
The Rochester Philharmonic Home Page
Fabien Gabel is among the most sought after young conductors. A guest of such orchestras as the London Symphony Orchestra, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, the Staatskappelle Dresden, the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, the Hague Residentie Orkest, the Orchestre de Paris, the Orchestre National de France, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio-France, the Orchestre National de Lyon, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, the National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra, the Brussels Philharmonic Orchestra, Fabien Gabel was recently appointed music director of the Quebec Symphony Orchestra starting from the 2012/2013 season.
Fabien Gabel had first attracted international attention in 2004 winning the Donatella Flick competition in London, which subsequently led to his appointment as the LSO's assistant conductor for the 2004-2005 and 2005-2006 seasons. Since then, the LSO has engaged him regularly as a guest conductor.
In 2013 and 2014, Fabien Gabel will debut with the Royal Flemish Orchestra, the Bremer Philharmoniker the Norwegian Opera Orchestra in Oslo, the Montreal Opera, the Würtemberg Philharmonic, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the Rochester Philharmonic, the Real Filharmonia de Galicia, the National Arts Centre Orchestra of Ottawa, and will return to the BBC Symphony at Barbican, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio-France at Salle Pleyel, the Orchestre National de France, the Brussels Philharmonic, the Oslo Philharmonic, the Orchestre National de Lyon. He will work with soloists like Jennifer Larmore, Marie-Nicole Lemieux, Emmanuel Ax, Bertrand Chamayou, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Johannes Moser, Xavier de Maistre, Gautier Capuçon.
Fabien Gabel made his professional conducting debut in 2003 with the Orchestre National de France and has since returned frequently. He now regularly conducts this orchestra in subscription concerts at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris and recently recorded a French opera aria CD with them and mezzo Marie-Nicole Lemieux (Naï ve). In 2012 he recorded Tchaikovsky’s 1st concerto and Rachmaninov’s Paganini Rhapsody with pianist Natasha Paremski and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra on the RPO label (Naxos distribution).
Born in Paris and a member of a family of accomplished musicians, Fabien Gabel began studying trumpet at the age of six, honing his skills at the Conservatoire National Supé rieur de Musique de Paris, which awarded him a First Prize in trumpet in 1996, and later at the Musik Hochschule of Karlsruhe. He went on to play in various Parisian orchestras under the direction of prominent conductors such as Pierre Boulez, Sir Colin Davis, Riccardo Muti, Seiji Ozawa, Simon Rattle and Bernard Haitink. In 2002 Fabien Gabel pursued his interest in conducting at the Aspen Summer Music Festival, where he studied with David Zinman, who invited him to appear as a guest conductor at the Festival in 2009. He has studied with Bernard Haitink, Sir Colin Davis and Paavo Jarvi.
Four-time Grammy Award nominee American violinist Philippe Quint is a multi-faceted artist whose wide range of interests has led to several Grammy nominations for his albums, performances with major orchestras throughout the world at venues ranging from the Gewandhaus in Leipzig to Carnegie Hall in New York, a leading role in a major independent film called Downtown Express, and explorations of tango with his band The Quint Quintet.
Quint's live performances and interviews have been broadcast on television by CBS, CNN, ABC, BBC World News, NBC, Reuters, Bloomberg TV, as well as by radio stations nationwide including NPR, WNYC and WQXR. His recordings have received multiple "Editor's Choice" selections in Gramophone, The Strad, Strings, and the Daily Telegraph.
Philippe Quint plays the magnificent 1708 “Ruby” Antonio Stradivari violin on loan to him through the generous efforts of The Stradivari Society. His remarkable degree of lyricism, poetry and impeccable virtuosity has gripped the eyes and ears of audiences in Asia, Australia, Latin America, Africa, Europe and the U.S. with what The Times (London) describes as his "bravura technique, and unflagging energy."
In spring 2012, Avanticlassic released Quint's new recording of concertos by Mendelssohn and Bruch, and Beethoven's Romances Nos. 1 and 2, with the Orquesta Sinfónica de Minería led by Carlos Miguel Prieto which Gramophone described as "pure sound and refined expression. An account well worth hearing." This disc was Quint's first recording as part of his new agreement with Avanticlassic, where he joins such luminaries as Martha Argerich and Roby Lakatos. His next CD of rare operatic transcriptions with pianist Lily Maisky will be out in Spring 2013.
Philippe Quint formed The Quint Quintet in 2009. The ensemble is dedicated to exploring the music of Astor Piazzolla and Argentine Tango. Quint is also Founder and Artistic Director of the Mineria Chamber Music Festival in Mexico City, and collaborates with cellist Zuill Bailey and pianist Navah Perlman as the Perlman/Quint/Bailey Trio.
In addition to his Grammy-nominated recording of William Schuman's Violin Concerto and his new Mendelssohn/Bruch/Beethoven album, Quint's formidable discography includes a large variety of rediscovered treasures along with popular works from standard repertoire. His recording of Korngold's Violin Concerto (2009), which was ranked in the top 20 on Billboard's Classical Chart in its first week of sales, was also nominated for two Grammy Awards. Other critically acclaimed recordings include the world premiere recording of John Corigliano’s Red Violin Caprices, Ned Rorem's Concerto, Miklos Rozsa's Complete Works for Violin and Piano with William Wolfram, Bernstein's Serenade and a unique compilation of works by Paganini arranged by Fritz Kreisler, which BBC Music Magazine called "truly phenomenal."
He has given solo recitals and chamber music performances at the Mostly Mozart, Caramoor, Ravinia, Aspen, Lincoln Center, and Chautauqua festivals, Lukas Foss’s Hamptons Music Festival, Kravis Center, UC Davis Presents, Rome Chamber Festival, Moritzburg, El Paso, La Jolla SummerFest and at the National Gallery in Washington.
Philippe Quint studied at Moscow’s Special Music School for the Gifted with the famed Russian violinist Andrei Korsakov, and made his orchestral debut at the age of nine, performing Wieniawski’s Concerto No. 2. After emigrating to the United States, he earned both Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from Juilliard. His distinguished pedagogues included Dorothy Delay, Cho-Liang Lin, Masao Kawasaki, and Felix Galimir. He also studied and participated in masterclasses with Isaac Stern, Itzhak Perlman, and Arnold Steinhardt.
The Chicago Tribune proclaimed, "Here is a fiddle virtuoso whose many awards are fully justified by the brilliance of his playing." Among his many honors, Quint was also the winner of the Juilliard Competition and Career Grant Recipient of Salon de Virtuosi, Bagby and Clarisse Kampel Foundations.
In 2014 Philippe Quint will star in the film Downtown Express. Set in the world of Russian immigrants living in New York City, Downtown Express uses music to explore the clash of old world values against the lure and excitement of a new country. Under the watch of his loving but overbearing father, virtuoso violinist and Juilliard student Sasha (Philippe Quint) prepares for a critical recital meant to launch his career. Yet, he is increasingly drawn to the rhythms of the streets of New York, and when he meets singer-songwriter Ramona (acclaimed recording artist Nellie McKay), he joins her band, falls in love, and begins to lead a double life, careening frantically between two worlds. As his classical debut nears, Sasha must decide whether or not to break with his father, forging his own destiny.
Quint's role in Downtown Express marks the first time that a classical musician has been featured as the lead in an American independent film. "I was instantly swept away by this story because it mirrored my life in so many ways," says the Russian-born Quint, who defected to the U.S. as a teenager, in part to avoid army service in Russia, in part to study with The Juilliard School's renowned teacher Dorothy DeLay and take instruction from such luminaries as Isaac Stern and Itzhak Perlman.
Watch the trailer for Downtown Express
Program Notes for the Evening's Concert.
The Rochester Philharmonic Home Page
Photo credit: Katherine Bourbeau www.kbourbeau.com
Genevan Michael Hashim began playing saxophone while in elementary school. He continued playing with Phil Flanigan and Chris Flory while in high school in Geneva. He worked with both into the middle 1970s, and in 1976 he toured with Muddy Waters and played with the Widespread Depression Jazz Orchestra, which he would later lead.
He tours extensively throughout the United States and Europe and he also played in China on a US Information Service-backed tour in 1992, and was one of the first jazz musicians ever to do so. He continues to attract attention and admiration for his warm-toned, dynamic, and always inventive playing on alto and soprano saxophones.
Michael Hashim's New York All-Stars, an elegant, inspired quintet, features Michael Howell on guitar, Steve Einerson on piano, Kelly Friesen on bass, and Willard Dyson on drums. The quintet will focus on the music of Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn. Their performances highlight the exotic colors and novel twists of compositions spanning the period from 1923 to 1974. The program features ties to jazz history embodied in Ellington's and Strayhorn's music, from early New Orleans through Swing and Bop, pointing toward rock and future types of jazz as well as to blues, dance, and pop music. In other words, Michael Hashim's New York All-Stars present a panoramic spectrum of 20th Century American music as heard through the Ellington/Strayhorn universe.
Hashim is also a member of the Heritage Ensemble, a contemporary world music quintet that records and performs Eugene Marlow's original compositions and arrangements of Hebraic melodies in various jazz, Afro-Caribbean, Brazilian, and neo-classical styles. In so doing, the Heritage Ensemble looks to build bridges in community among disparate cultures by presenting cultural connections through music.
Hashim has released seven albums, including the most recent Green Up Time: The Music of Kurt Weill. He has also appeared on three Heritage Ensemble albums, including the 2011 release, A Fresh Take.
Program Notes for the Evening's Concert.
In 1981, something special happened–a musical renaissance took place in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Under the baton of conductor Robert Bernat, the River City Brass took to the Carnegie Music Hall stage for its inaugural concert on November 21. It was an evening of musical excellence and determination, determination to bring about the revival of the grass-roots tradition of the American brass band.
That determination has paid off. Today, the River City Brass performs a 56-concert series in eight different venues in Western Pennsylvania. In addition, the 28-piece ensemble tours extensively throughout the United States with more than 20 performances each year as part of community concert series, major symphony pops series, and arts festivals.
Building upon the long-standing tradition of brass bands popularized in Great Britain and the United States, RCB features 17 brass players and 3 percussionists. This configuration allows the Band to present a sweeping repertoire: American tunes, Big Band swing and jazz, music from Broadway and Hollywood, classical and contemporary masterworks, and traditional marches.
In addition to its unique performance style, RCB is renowned for its recordings and original compositions. To date, RCB has released 17 recordings and been responsible for nearly 200 compositions and arrangements by American and British composers which have premiered at RCBB concerts. Many of these works have since been published and are performed by brass bands throughout the world.
River City Brass receives praise from audiences and critics alike: "It's not a reach to say that this may be the most fun with music you're going to have all year," touts the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. "RCBB delivers the rare kind of show that truly manages to combine lighthearted fun with serious musicianship," notes an audience member in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Fun is instrumental for the River City Brass Band!
River City Brass Home Page
Program Notes for the Evening's Concert
Hilda Collins, President
Ford Weiskittel, President Emeritus
Ann Warner, Vice-President for Membership
Tom McClure, Vice-President for Outreach
Susan Belding, Vice-President for Performance
Gena Rangel, Vice-President for Programming
Angelique Szymanek / Sally Webster, Vice President for Publicity
Ford Weiskittel, Secretary
Joanna Whelan, Treasurer
Sheila Bennett
Walter Bowyer
Larry Campbell
Neil Gold
Dana Huyge
Kelly Johnson
Scott McKinney
Kevin Mitchell
Dan Mulvey
Alaina Olivieri
Joanna Whelan
Karen Zona
This series is made possible, in part,
by a grant from the Williams Family Foundation,
by a continuing subscription from
Hobart and William Smith Colleges,
by a grant from the Wyckoff Family Foundation, by a grant from
Pennsylvania Performing Arts on Tour,
and by the friends of
Geneva Concerts.
