Westchester Philharmonic, Guest Conductor to Perform for Pelham Students

From the Westchester Philharmonic:

Incidental Not Accidental is the culminating experience for students who have been participating in the Philharmonic’s annual classroom music education program, which integrates music into the academic classroom through curriculum guides and live presentations. The program culminates in this full-orchestra performance which, for many students, is their first time in a concert hall. 

The young people's concert will be held Tuesday from 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. at the Performing Arts Center at Purchase College, 735 Anderson Hill Road, Purchase. Five hundred local third through fifth graders who are participants in the Philharmonic’s 2014 classroom music education program will attend the concert. 

The participating Schools are Midland, Milton and Osborn Elementary from Rye; Quaker Ridge Elementary from Scarsdale; Siwanoy from Pelham; and Liberty Elementary from Valley Cottage. 

Young Trinidadian-Canadian guest conductor Kwamé Ryan will lead the orchestra in works of Fauré and Schumann (which he will have played with the full orchestra as part of its main stage series on April 6th). Dissected and made digestible for younger ears and minds, the works will help students to not only learn about the instruments of the orchestra but gather important lessons that can be tied into a multitude of academic subjects. Study guides as well as optional visits from professional teaching artists will help academic teachers to weave music into everyday classroom lessons.

Information also available at: www.westchesterphil.org/outreach2014.asp  

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

About Conductor Kwamé Ryan 
Kwamé Ryan has worked with such orchestras as City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, SWR Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart and SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden Baden und Freiburg. Past engagements have also included Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Bamberger Symphoniker, Bayerisches Staatsorchester and Die Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen. 

Kwamé Ryan's recordings with the Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine for Mirare include Schubert's Symphony No. 9, praised by Le Figaro as “an individual approach to Schubert, clear, transparent, flowing”. The orchestra has also recorded Rachmaninov's Symphony No. 2, described by Classic FM Magazine as a “...modern, sophisticated reading...rich in detail and clarity”, and Beethoven's Piano Concertos No. 1 & 2 with Shani Diluka. 

As a result of his successful work in Bordeaux, in 2009 Kwamé Ryan was invited to become Musical Director of Orchestre Français des Jeunes. Last season saw Kwamé's final concerts in this role at Salle Pleyel, Paris, subsequent to which he was awarded the title of Officier dans l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres - given for significant contribution to art and literature - by Frédéric Mitterrand, the French Minister of Culture. 

Kwamé Ryan held the position of General Music Director of Theater Freiburg and the Philharmonisches Orchester Freiburg between 1999 and 2003, having previously been Assistant Conductor of the Staatsoper Stuttgart where he gave the premiere of Gérard Pesson's Pastorale and a criticically acclaimed filmed production of Hartmann's Simplicius Simplicissimus (DVD-Arthaus). His close association with his mentor Peter Eötvös has seen him conduct the first French revival of the composer’s Tri Sestri at Opéra de Lyon and the German premiere of Le Balcon. Kwamé Ryanhas also conducted Salome for English National Opera, Honneger's Jeanne d’Arc au Bucher for the Edinburgh International Festival and the world premiere of Pintscher's L’espace dernier for Opéra National de Paris (Bastille). 

About the Westchester Philharmonic

Now in its 31st season, the Westchester Philharmonic is the oldest, continuously running professional symphony orchestra and largest performing arts organization of any kind in Westchester County. The Philharmonic’s main stage concert series makes its home at the 1,300 seat Concert Hall at the Purchase Performing Arts Center, with outdoor concerts, chamber concerts, children’s programs, and special events throughout the area, attracting savvy music-lovers from Rockland, Bergen, Fairfield, and Putnam counties, New York City, and beyond.

In November 2013 the Philharmonic proudly announced the concurrent appointments of Jaime Laredo and Ted Sperling as the orchestra’s Principal Conductors, commencing with the 2014-15 season.

Founded in 1983 as the New Orchestra of Westchester under the leadership of Music Director Paul Lustig Dunkel (who became Music Director Emeritus in 2008), the orchestra was later re-named the Westchester Philharmonic. Renowned artists who have performed with the Phil include Joshua Bell, Jeremy Denk, Branford Marsalis, Midori, Garrick Ohlsson, Itzhak Perlman, Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, Gil Shaham, Isaac Stern, and André Watts.

Among the many new works commissioned and premiered by the Westchester Philharmonic is Melinda Wagner’s Concerto for Flute, Strings and Percussion, which won the Pulitzer Prize in 1999. A new commission by Christopher Theofanidis is scheduled for debut during the 2015 – 2016 season.

The orchestra’s award-winning education program reaches thousands of elementary school students each year and culminates in a full orchestra concert. The Phil also partners with local organizations to present free and low-cost chamber concerts, as well as to provide subsidized seating at main stage concerts, welcoming hundreds of area residents each year who might not otherwise have an opportunity to attend.

The orchestra is comprised of the finest professional free-lance musicians from around the greater metropolitan area, who also perform regularly with the New York City Ballet, Orchestra St. Luke’s, Orpheus, Mostly Mozart, and for many Broadway shows. Members of the Phil hold faculty positions at Juilliard, Mannes, Manhattan School of Music, Purchase Conservatory, Vassar and Bard Colleges, and at local public schools.

This season is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts, 

with support from Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.

This season is also made possible, in part, by ArtsWestchester with support from Westchester County Government.

Generous underwriting provided by Entergy Nuclear.