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Rutgers Symphony Orchestra Series Continues with Strauss and Debussy
The program includes Strauss' “Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks, Op. 28," Nicolas Flagello's “Concerto Sinfonico for Saxophone Quartet and Orchestra" (featuring the New Hudson Saxophone Quartet), Edward MacDowell's “Piano Concerto No. 1, Op. 15.," and Debussy's “La Mer." The MacDowell will feature Kyung-eun Han on piano. Han is a winner of the 2004-2005 Rutgers Symphony Orchestra Concerto Competition.
The tickets are $20 for the general public, $15 for Rutgers alumni and employees and seniors, and $10 for students. Further information can be obtained by calling 732/932-7511 or by visiting www.masongross.rutgers.edu. The Rutgers Symphony Orchestra will also perform on December 10, 2004 and April 29, 2005. They will also perform at Carnegie Hall on March 2, 2005 as part of the annual Rutgers in New York event.
About the Soloists
Formed in 1987, the New Hudson Saxophone Quartet (NHQ) is a chamber ensemble dedicated to presenting the saxophone and its music as a serious concert medium. Members of the quartet are specialists on their instrument and are active as soloists and orchestral players. The unique ensemble blend and musical rapport of the NHQ has been celebrated in concerts throughout the country, especially where tonal purity and refined playing are prized. The NHQ has appeared with the Charleston Symphony, Long Island Philharmonic and the Greenwich Conn orchestras. In 1997 the NHQ collaborated with conductor Lawrence Leighton Smith in the New York Premier of Nicolas Flagello's “Concerto Sinfonico for Saxophone Quartet and Orchestra" with the Manhattan Philharmonia. In 1998 they performed Calvin Hampton's “Concerto for Saxophone Quartet and Orchestra" with the Metamorphasis Orchestra, and in 2001 gave the World Premier of the Wind Ensemble version of Flagello's “Concerto Sinfonico." The NHQ is active in expanding the repertoire of the saxophone quartet and has commissioned, premiered, and performed new works by composers Elias Tannenbaum, David Noon, Alan Brings, Steve Cohen, and Barbara Jazwinski. The NHQ can be heard on recordings for the Sonari label: The Music of Caryl Florio; the Arizona University Recordings label: America's Millennium Tribute to Adolphe Sax Volumes V & VII; and the Allegro label: The American Muse: A Century of American Works for Saxophone Quartet.
Native Korean pianist Kyung-eun Han began her studies at the age of six. People started to pay attention to Kyung-eun after winning the Kyung-bok music competition, in Seoul, Korea at the age of twelve. She obtained a Bachelor of Music degree and Master of music degree with distinction from the Yonsei University in Korea, where she studied with Prof. Young-ho Kim. Under the direction of Joaquin Achucarro, she received a diploma from the Chigiana Academia Musicale in Siena, Italy. Ms.Han has been performing in both solo recitals and in chamber music concerts in Korea, Italy, France, and the United states. She has performed in music festival such as Italy Chigiana Musicale Academia, France Courschvelle Music Festival, New York international keyboard festival, Yeum piano festival and IBACH music festival. She has also worked in master classes with Alicia de Larrocha, Claude Frank, Boris Berman, Pascal Devayon, Sergei Dorensky, Oxana Yablonskaya, Ellen Mack, among others. As a student of Peter Frankl, Kyung-eun received her second master of music degree at Yale University School of Music where she was awarded the Stephan and Dennis Scholarship and the Yale School of Music Scholarship. Kyung-eun is currently in the Doctorate of Musical Arts Program with Graduate Assistantship, as a student of Susan Starr at Rutgers University in New Jersey.
Kynan Johns has conducted over 60 orchestras and opera companies throughout the world including performances at Israel Chamber Orchestra, Chinese National Symphony Orchestra, Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, and Opera Australia. As the new conductor of Rutgers University Orchestra, Mr. Johns is no stranger to conducting young groups. He recently won the prestigious Dimitris Mitropoulos International Conducting Competition, and was invited to attend Kurt Masur's master classes at the Verbier Festival in Switzerland. Mr. Johns made his European debut in 2000 conducting Beethoven's “Fourth Symphony" with the Netherlands Radio Symphony Orchestra in the famous Concertgebouw, Amsterdam and is now a regular guest conductor throughout Australia and New Zealand. Past opera conduction engagements include “Tales of Hoffman," “Madame Butterfly," and “Il Barbiere di Siviglia."
One of the elite orchestras in New Jersey, the Rutgers Symphony Orchestra is an ensemble of 70-75 players enrolled in the undergraduate and graduate music programs at Mason Gross School of the Arts. The orchestra performs an ambitious concert series that includes three fall and two spring concerts at the university, in addition to a major opera production in February. For the past several years it has also performed in New York City, and in fall 1999 there was a gala performance at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center. In spring 2001 the orchestra performed during a sold-out performance in Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center as a part of the Rutgers in New York series. In the past, the orchestra's concerts have included some of the most challenging works of the classical, romantic, and 20th-century repertory: symphonies by Berlioz, Schumann, Tchaikovsky, Sibelius, Vaughan Williams, and Mahler, and other orchestral showpieces by Smetana, Elgar, Rimsky-Korsakov, Stravinsky, and Bart
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