September 30, 2005
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Portland, Ore. … Laureate Music Director James DePreist returns to Oregon to lead the Oregon Symphony in Chopin’s romantic and technically demanding Piano Concerto No. 1 with pianist Horacio Gutiérrez in a classical program that also includes the world premiere of Oregon composer John Peel’s “Sinfonia romanza” and Tchaikovsky’s “Romeo and Juliet” on Oct. 22, 23 and 24 at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, with an added performance on Oct. 25 at Smith Auditorium in Salem. Media support is provided by The Oregonian. Lufthansa is the exclusive airline sponsor for the Symphony’s Classical series.
DePreist is currently the Conductor of the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra and Director of Conducting and Orchestral Studies at the Juilliard School. His only appearance with the Symphony this season features two 19 th century orchestral standards that are perennial audience favorites, as well as Peel’s “Sinfonia romanza,” a work composed specifically for DePreist. “This is a significant work by an important regional composer and the symphony’s first work by Peel,” says Artistic Administrator Charles Calmer. “Another key component of this concert is the continued collaboration between DePreist and Gutiérrez, who have performed together several times and have a special connection.”
DePreist and the orchestra are joined by Gutiérrez for Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in E minor. “There’s a poetry and endearing melodic charm to the writing for piano,” says Calmer. Gutiérrez, who has appeared with the Symphony several times, is known for his extensive and diverse repertoire of both orchestral and chamber works, as well as his many recordings. Gutiérrez’s performance on the Telarc recording of Rachmaninoff’s second and third piano concertos with Lorin Maazel and the Pittsburgh Symphony was nominated for a Grammy Award, and he received an Emmy for one of his televised appearances with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.
The concert begins with Tchaikovsky’s intensely romantic depiction of the world’s most famous lovers. Rather than illustrate the specific narrative of Shakespeare’s play, in his “Fantasy Overture to Romeo and Juliet” Tchaikovsky composed a musical dream incorporating the primary ideas of love and conflict. The music highlights the ferocity of the warring Montagues and Capulets interwoven with Romeo and Juliet’s famous love theme.
The second half ends Peel’s “Sinfonia romanza,” composed in 2002 while the composer was vacationing in the John Day Fossil Beds in eastern Oregon. “The timelessness and spaciousness of that landscape of ancient volcanic ruins has no doubt affected my sense of musical time and connectedness,” said Peel, who goes on to describe “Sinfonia romanza” as a compilation of musical emotions: brooding, heroic, quixotic, lyric and pastoral, featuring extended solo passages for various instruments of the orchestra. Peel chairs the music department at Willamette University in Salem where he is the Irene Gerlinger Swindells Professor of Music, as well as Composer-in-Residence.
Oregon Symphony Classical concerts regularly include additional opportunities for listeners to learn more about the music and the orchestra. These activities include:Pre-concert talks: There will be a discussion one hour before the concert of the works to be performed. Media support for “Pre-Concert Talks” is provided by Classical Millennium.
Saturday: Laureate Music Director James DePreist will speak briefly from the podium in “Saturday Interactive.” Media support for “Saturday Interactive” is provided by KINKfm102.
Performances are scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 22 at 7:30 p.m., Sunday, Oct. 23 at 7:30 p.m. and Monday, Oct. 24 at 8 p.m. at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, with an added performance on Tuesday, Oct. 25 at Willamette University’s Smith Auditorium in Salem. Tickets range in price from $20 to $85 and may be purchased at the Oregon Symphony Customer Service Office (923 S.W. Washington), Monday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. or charged by phone, Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at (503) 228-1353 or (800) 228-7343. Tickets also may be purchased at all Ticketmaster outlets (503-790-ARTS) or through Ticketmaster Online, via the Symphony’s Web site at www.orsymphony.org. Service fees may apply.
Horacio Gutiérrez is considered among today’s foremost pianists and is praised by critics and audiences alike for the poetic insight and technical mastery he brings to a diverse repertoire. Since his professional debut in 1970 with Zubin Mehta and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Gutiérrez has appeared regularly with the orchestra and on its major recital series.
In recent seasons, Gutiérrez has given recitals at Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, Berlin’s Philharmonie, the Schleswig-Holstein Festival, Carnegie Hall and Avery Fisher Hall. He has also performed in Los Angeles, Boston, Chicago, San Francisco and Cleveland. Gutiérrez toured Japan with Mstislav Rostropovich and the National Symphony Orchestra and appeared with Lorin Maazel and the Bavarian Radio Orchestra in performances of the two Brahms piano concertos. Upcoming engagements include performances with the Atlanta Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra at Blossom, Dallas Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, Baltimore Symphony and chamber music performances with Lynn Harrell and Elmar Oliveira at the Amelia Island Festival, among many other major international engagements.
Gutiérrez has performed on numerous occasions at Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall and Carnegie Hall in recital and with orchestra. He is also a frequent soloist at the Mostly Mozart Festival and has appeared on its season-opening “Live from Lincoln Center” telecast. As a chamber musician, he has collaborated with the Guarnieri, Tokyo and Cleveland quartets as well as the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. In 1982, he was the recipient of the prestigious Avery Fisher Prize.
Gutiérrez ’s recordings for the Telarc label include a Grammy nominated performance of Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concertos No. 2 and 3 with Lorin Maazel and the Pittsburgh Symphony; two Brahms Concertos, both with Andre Previn and Royal Philharmonic Orchestra; Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 and Rachmaninoff’s “Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini” with David Zinman and the Baltimore Symphony. His recordings for the Chandos label include Prokofiev’s Concertos No. 2 and 3 with Neeme Jarvi and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra.
Gutiérrez ’s television performances in Great Britain, the United States and France have been widely acclaimed. He won an Emmy Award for his fourth appearance with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and was welcomed three times by Johnny Carson to appear on “The Tonight Show.” A great film and theater fan, he has performed in recital with Irene Worth and Mariette Hartley.
Born in Havana, Cuba, Gutiérrez appeared at the age of 11 as guest soloist with the Havana Symphony. A graduate of the Julliard School, he became an American citizen in 1967 and currently resides in New York City.
James DePreist, newly appointed Permanent Conductor of the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, is Director of Conducting and Orchestral Studies at the Juilliard School and Laureate Music Director of the Oregon Symphony. Widely esteemed as one of America’s finest conductors, DePreist has served as Music Director of L’Orchestre Symphonique de Québec, Sweden’s Malmö Symphony, L’Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte Carlo and the Oregon Symphony.
As a guest conductor he has appeared with every major North American orchestra, and internationally he has conducted in Amsterdam, Berlin, Budapest, Copenhagen, Helsinki, Manchester, Melbourne, Munich, Prague, Rome, Rotterdam, Seoul, Stockholm, Stuttgart, Sydney, Tel Aviv, Tokyo and Vienna. He made his London debut with the London Symphony at the Barbican in April 2005.
James DePreist appears regularly at the Aspen Music Festival, with the Boston Symphony at Tanglewood, the Philadelphia Orchestra at the Mann Music Center, and the Juilliard orchestras at Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall.
With more than 50 recordings to his credit, James DePreist has a substantial presence in the recording arena. His varied recorded repertoire includes a celebrated Shostakovich series with the Helsinki Philharmonic and 15 recordings with the Oregon Symphony which have helped establish that orchestra as one of America’s finest.
Born in Philadelphia in 1936, he studied composition with Vincent Persichetti at the Philadelphia Conservatory of Music and earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Pennsylvania. In 1962, while on a State Department tour in Bangkok, he contracted polio but recovered sufficiently to win a first prize in the Dimitri Mitropoulous International Conducting Competition. He was selected by Leonard Bernstein to be an assistant conductor of the New York Philharmonic for the 1965-66 season. DePreist made his highly acclaimed European debut with the Rotterdam Philharmonic in 1969. In 1971 Antal Dorati chose him to become his Associate Conductor with the National Symphony in Washington, D.C.
James DePreist has been awarded 13 honorary doctorates and is the author of two books of poetry. He is an elected fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Royal Swedish Academy of Music, and is a recipient of the Insignia of Commander of the Order of the Lion of Finland, the Medal of the City of Québec and is an Officer of the Order of Cultural Merit of Monaco. He is the nephew of the legendary contralto Marian Anderson.
For more information visit www.JamesDePreist.com.
