Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Performs East Coast Premiere of Dave and Chris Brubeck’s Ansel Adams: America

Music Director Marin Alsop leads multimedia program including Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition and Hindemith’s Symphony Mathis der Maler

Baltimore, Md. (January 6, 2010) – Music Director Marin Alsop will lead the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra in a program that explores the artistic link between visual art and classical music on Thursday, February 11 at 8 p.m. at The Music Center at Strathmore and Friday, February 12 at 8 p.m. at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall. The concert will feature the East Coast premiere of BSO co-commission Ansel Adams: America, a multi-media work created by American jazz pianist Dave Brubeck and his son, composer Chris Brubeck that celebrates Adams’ stunning photography of the early American West. The program also includes Hindemith’s Symphony Mathis der Maler, which is inspired by an altarpiece by the 16th-century painter Mathis Grünewald, and Modest Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, as orchestrated by Maurice Ravel. The casual concert on Saturday, February 13 at 11 a.m. includes Ansel Adams: America and Symphony Mathis der Maler with no intermission. On Saturday, February 13 at 7 p.m., Maestra Alsop will explore Ansel Adams: America and Pictures at an Exhibition in depth as part of the Off the Cuff series. Please see below for complete concert details.

Grammy Award-winning jazz pianist and composer Dave Brubeck and his son, composer Chris Brubeck, created Ansel Adams: America as a multi-media celebration of American nature photographer Ansel Adams. The work combines Adams’ breath-taking imagery of the American West, which will be projected on a screen above the stage, with the power of a full symphony orchestra. Ansel Adams: America was co-commissioned by the BSO, along with the Abilene Philharmonic, Fresno Philharmonic, Monterey Symphony, Stockton Symphony, Temple University Symphony Orchestra, Meet the Composer and the James Irvine Foundation. The performance on Thursday, February 11 will mark its East Coast premiere.

Paul Hindemith composed Symphony Mathis der Maler between 1933 and 1934. He wrote the work while working on the libretto for his opera of the same name. Both works were inspired by the famous painter Mathis Grünewald. In Hindemith’s opera, the main character, Mathis, struggles to understand his role as an artist and the relationship between art and politics.

Modest Mussorgsky composed his virtuosic piano suite Pictures at an Exhibition in 1874. The piece was inspired by the artwork of his close friend and fellow Russian, Viktor Hartmann. On commission by the well-known conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Serge Koussevitsky, French composer Maurice Ravel orchestrated the piano suite in 1922. Ravel is famous for his genius in creating evocative and lush orchestral colors. His orchestration of Mussorgsky’s masterpiece has become the version known to orchestral audiences all around the world.

Marin Alsop, conductor
Hailed as one of the world’s leading conductors for her artistic vision and commitment to accessibility in classical music, Marin Alsop made history with her appointment as the 12th music director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. With her inaugural concerts in September 2007, she became the first woman to head a major American orchestra. She also holds the title of Conductor Emeritus at the Bournemouth Symphony in the United Kingdom, where she served as the principal conductor from 2002-2008 and is music director of the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music in California.

In 2005, Ms. Alsop was named a MacArthur Fellow, the first conductor ever to receive this prestigious award. In 2007, she was honored with a European Women of Achievement Award, in 2008 she was inducted as a fellow into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and in 2009 Musical America named her “Conductor of the Year.”

A regular guest conductor with the New York Philharmonic, The Philadelphia Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra and Los Angeles Philharmonic, Ms. Alsop appears frequently as a guest conductor with the most distinguished orchestras around the world. In addition to her performance activities, she is also an active recording artist with award-winning cycles of Brahms and Barber orchestral works. She is currently recording the Dvorak symphonies with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.

Marin Alsop attended Yale University and received her master’s degree from The Juilliard School. In 1989, her conducting career was launched when she won the Leopold Stokowski International Conducting Competition in New York.

Dave Brubeck, composer
A Grammy Lifetime Achievement award-winner for his innovative work in jazz, Dave Brubeck is also a composer of many fully notated works including ballet suites, a string quartet, orchestral compositions and large-scale works for chorus and orchestra. He is a graduate of the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California where the Brubeck Institute was recently established to continue his legacy in music. Following his Army service in World War II, Mr. Brubeck studied composition with the French composer, Darius Milhaud, who encouraged him to compose using the languages of jazz as well as classical music. This led to the founding of the experimental Dave Brubeck Octet. In 1954, Time Magazine acknowledged his achievements in jazz with a cover story on his quartet that included saxophonist, Paul Desmond. Since that time he has received many honors internationally, including honorary degrees from universities in the U.S., Germany, Switzerland, England and Canada and a place in the American Classical Hall of Fame. In May 2006, he received the prestigious Laetare Award from Notre Dame University. He is recognized as a Jazz Master by the NEA and was honored as a “Living Legend” by the Library of Congress. President Clinton awarded him the Presidential Medal of the Arts, and he has been similarly honored by the government’s of France, Italy and Austria. In 2008, Condoleeza Rice presented him with the U.S. State Department Benjamin Franklin Award in recognition of his role as musical ambassador.

Chris Brubeck, composer
Composer and multi-instrumentalist Chris Brubeck has earned international acclaim as a performer and leader of his own groups: The Brubeck Brothers Quartet and Triple Play. He won the prestigious ASCAP Deems Taylor award for his composition Interplay for 3 Violins and Orchestra, which was broadcast nationwide on PBS with The Boston Pops and featured three distinct styles played by soloists Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, Regina Carter and Eileen Ivers. The Chicago Tribune wrote that he is “a composer with a real flair for lyrical melody—a 21st century Lenny Bernstein.”

Highlights of his recent compositional achievements include Mark Twain’s World: A Symphonic Journey for Orchestra and Genuine Thespians, commissioned and premiered by the Stockton Symphony. In 2007, he premiered four orchestral compositions: Quiet Heroes–A Symphonic Salute to the Flag Raisers of Iwo Jima (March), Music is the Power (April), Spontaneous Combustion: Concerto for Violin and (October) and From the Blues to Beyond (November). His first two trombone concertos have been recorded with the London Symphony Orchestra and the Czech National Symphony Orchestra, with himself as the featured soloist.

Mr. Brubeck graduated from the esteemed Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan and was a trombone performance major at the University of Michigan. He has received the Distinguished Achievement Award from Arizona State University; has served as composer-in-residence at many venues including the Henry Mancini Institute; has received numerous awards including several ASCAP awards; and has been honored twice by being named a “Music Alive Composer-in-Residence.”

COMPLETE CONCERT DETAILS

Classical Concert: Pictures of Music
Thursday, February 11, 2010 at 8:00 p.m.—The Music Center at Strathmore*
Friday, February 12, 2010 at 8:00 p.m.—Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall

Marin Alsop, conductor

Dave and Chris Brubeck: Ansel Adams: America
Hindemith: Symphony Mathis der Maler
Mussorgsky/orch. Ravel: Pictures at an Exhibition

Tickets range from $25 to $80 and are available through the BSO Ticket Office, 877.BSO.1444, 410.783.8000 or BSOmusic.org.

* Music Notes LIVE! is a free pre-concert lecture at the Music Center at Strathmore, hosted by WETA's David Ginder. The program begins at 7:00 p.m. and is free to ticket holders.

Casual Concert: Pictures of Music
Saturday, February 13, 2010 at 11:00 a.m.—Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall 

Marin Alsop, conductor

Dave and Chris Brubeck: Ansel Adams: America
Hindemith: Symphony Mathis der Maler

Tickets range from $26 to $60 and are available through the BSO Ticket Office, 877.BSO.1444, 410.783.8000 or BSOmusic.org.

Off the Cuff: Pictures of Music
Saturday, February 13, 2010 at 7:00 p.m.—Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall

Marin Alsop, conductor

Dave and Chris Brubeck: Ansel Adams: America
Mussorgsky/orch. Ravel: Pictures at an Exhibition

Tickets for these performances range from $25 to $80 and are available through the BSO Ticket Office, 877.BSO.1444, 410.783.8000 or BSOmusic.org.