Miguel Harth-Bedoya and Richard Woodhams Join the Curtis Symphony Orchestra February 5 at Verizon Hall
PHILADELPHIA, PA – January 27, 2017 – Miguel Harth-Bedoya, chief conductor of the Norwegian Radio Orchestra and music director of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, conducts the Curtis Symphony Orchestra on Sunday, February 5 at 8 p.m. in Verizon Hall at the Kimmel Center with an additional performance on Saturday, February 4 at 7:30 p.m at Immaculata University. The concerts will feature Philadelphia Orchestra principal oboe and longtime Curtis faculty member Richard Woodhams.
The concert highlights Curtis’s illustrious history with pieces from two of the school’s most famous graduates: Leonard Bernstein’s exhilarating Overture to Candide is led by conducting fellow Carlos Ágreda and Samuel Barber’s Canzonetta for oboe and strings features soloist and alumnus Richard Woodhams (’68), who also performs Jean Francaix’s L’Horloge de flore. Following the intermission, Maestro Harth-Bedoya (’91) brings the concert to a rousing conclusion with Richard Strauss’s exuberant tone poem Don Juan, following the legendary, passionate rogue whose exploits have inspired generations of artists, and Ravel’s atmospheric, shimmering Daphnis et Chloé Suite No. 2.
The Philadelphia performance is dedicated to the memory of Otto-Werner Mueller, Curtis’s legendary conducting teacher from 1986 through 2013, who passed away in February 2016. As a tribute, the orchestra opens the concert with Mueller’s arrangement of The Star-Spangled Banner, long an iconic fixture in their repertoire. Additional tribute events are arranged throughout the day for Curtis alumni. Details can be found at here.
Single tickets for the Philadelphia performance start at $5 and can be purchased at the Kimmel Center Box Office, Kimmelcenter.org or (215) 893-1999. Tickets and more information for the Immaculata performance can be found at Immaculata.edu/Curtis-Orchestra. These concerts are part of the 2016–17 series of Jack Wolgin Orchestral Concerts.
A “collective marvel” (Philadelphia Inquirer), the Curtis Symphony Orchestra embodies the sheer joy of music-making. Honing their craft under celebrated conductors, 100 young musicians perform with a fresh exuberance that makes each work new. Recent visiting conductors include Vladimir Jurowski, Marin Alsop, Osmo Vänskä, Simon Rattle, Robert Spano, and Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Curtis’s mentor conductor for the Rita E. Hauser Conducting Fellowship Program. This professional training has enabled Curtis alumni to assume prominent positions in America’s leading orchestras, as well as esteemed orchestral, opera, and chamber ensembles around the world.
CURTIS SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
The Jack Wolgin Orchestral Concerts
Sunday, February 5 at 8 p.m.
Verizon Hall at the Kimmel Center, Broad and Spruce Streets, Philadelphia
Miguel Harth-Bedoya, conductor (’91)
Carlos Ágreda, conducting fellow
Richard Woodhams, oboe (’68)
TRADITIONAL “The Star-Spangled Banner” arr. Otto-Werner Mueller
BERNSTEIN Overture to Candide
BARBER Canzonetta
FRANCAIX L’Horloge de flore (The Flower Clock)
—Intermission—
STRAUSS Don Juan, Op. 20
RAVEL Daphnis et Chloé Suite No. 2
Single tickets: $5–$50 sold by the Kimmel Center Box Office, Kimmelcenter.org or (215) 893-1999.
Additional Performance:
Saturday, February 4 at 7:30 p.m.
Alumnae Hall Theater at Immaculata University, 1145 King Road, Immaculata, Penn.
Tickets and more information at Immaculata.edu/Curtis-Orchestra