The Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra presents CAMERON CARPENTER and the International Touring Organ, April 1st at Miller Auditorium

    KALAMAZOO, MI, March 28, 2017 /24-7PressRelease/ -- The Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra presents Cameron Carpenter and the International Touring Organ in a dazzling program featuring the music of Leshnoff, Poulenc, and Saint-Saens. Internationally renowned guest conductor, Nir Kabaretti, opens the program with Jonathan Leshnoff's thrilling 2010 piece, Starburst. Cameron Carpenter joins the orchestra in Poulenc's sparkling Organ Concerto. Carpenter, who has built a huge international following, was recently described by the New York Times as, "extravagantly talented...everything he touches turns fantastical and memorable..." The performance closes with Maestro Kabaretti leading Cameron Carpenter and the Kalamazoo Symphony on Saint-Saens organ symphony.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Nir Kaberetti
Internationally acclaimed conductor, Nir Kabaretti, has been described as "a conductor with immense musicality and warm personality" by Maestro Zubin Mehta and has earned an impressive reputation across continents for his command of a vast symphonic and operatic repertoire. He's served as the Music & Artistic Director of the Santa Barbara Symphony in California since 2006 and recently began serving as the Southwest Florida Symphony's Music Director in 2014.

Upon graduation from the prestigious University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna, Kabaretti began working as coach and Chorus Master at the Vienna State Opera and the Salzburg Festival. He later advanced to positions as Assistant to the Music Director at the Teatro Real in Madrid and Personal Assistant to Maestro Zubin Mehta at Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in Florence, Italy.

Nir Kabaretti has worked with some of the world's most sought-after musicians, such as Lang Lang, Placido Domingo, and Itzhak Perlman. Kabaretti has appeared as guest conductor at many esteemed organizations around the world. Recent highlights include performances with the Avenches Opera Festival in Switzerland, the Vancouver Symphony in Washington, and the National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra.

In July 2010, Kabaretti debuted at the summer season of the Caracalla Roman Bath in Rome for Prokofiev's production of Romeo and Juliet. He was appointed Principal Conductor of the Raanana Symphonette Orchestra in Israel in 2002, and later Music Director until 2008.

Kabaretti's operatic experience includes productions at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino (Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail, Macbeth, Il Trovatore, Gianni Schicchi, The Journey to Rheims), Teatro Real in Madrid (Cenerentola, Die Walkure), The Israeli Opera (Fidelio, Manon Lescaut ), Opera de Lausanne (Il Cappello di Paglia di Firenze, Die Fledermaus, Falstaff), Tokyo New National Theatre (The Barber of Seville) and Opera Santa Barbara (Carmen). He conducted The Diary of Anne Frank, a guest production of the Vienna State Opera performed at both the Bregenz Festival and Expo 2000 in Hannover. In 2005, Kabaretti lead Teatro San Carlo di Napoli on its first tour to Japan, conducting Il Trovatore both in Kyoto and Tokyo.

Cameron Carpenter
Cameron Carpenter is having a ball smashing the stereotypes of organists and organ music, and all the while generating international acclaim and controversy unprecedented in his field. Cameron's repertoire - from the complete works of J. S. Bach to film scores, his original compositions and hundreds of transcriptions and arrangements - is probably the largest and most diverse of any organist. He is the first 'concert organist' in history to prefer the digital organ to the pipe organ, and to champion it as the future of the instrument.

In 2014, Cameron launched his International Touring Organ - a monumental cross-genre digital organ built by Marshall & Ogletree to his own design - in extensive tours in Europe and the USA. His Sony Music debut album If You Could Read My Mind entered Billboard's Traditional Classical chart at No. 1 on its US release.

A former child prodigy, Cameron Carpenter trained at the American Boychoir School, the North Carolina School of the Arts and has two degrees from The Juilliard School. He holds the 2012 Leonard Bernstein Award, is the first solo organist ever nominated for a GRAMMY Award for a solo album, and has appeared with many of the great orchestras around the world; he has spoken and debated at think tanks and conferences including TED, IdeaCity, The Entertainment Gathering, and many more.
For more information please visit www.cameroncarpenter.com.

CALENDAR LISTING
Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra presents

Symphonic Series
Cameron Carpenter
Nir Kaberetti, Conductor
Cameron Carpenter, Organ

The Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra presents Cameron Carpenter and the International Touring Organ in a dazzling program featuring the music of Leshnoff, Poulenc, and Saint-Saens. Internationally renowned guest conductor, Nir Kabaretti, opens the program with Jonathan Leshnoff's thrilling 2010 piece, Starburst. Cameron Carpenter joins the orchestra in Poulenc's sparkling Organ Concerto. Carpenter, who has built a huge international following, was recently described by the New York Times as, "extravagantly talented...everything he touches turns fantastical and memorable..." The performance closes with Maestro Kabaretti leading Cameron Carpenter and the Kalamazoo Symphony on Saint-Saens thrilling organ symphony.

Saturday, April 1, 2017 | 8pm
Miller Auditorium

Tickets: $60 - $24
Student & Veteran discounts available.
$5 Student Rush tickets, and $10 Harvey's Hideaway seating available at the box office the night of the concert.

For tickets, visit www.kalamazoosymphony.com, call the KSO Box Office at (269) 349-7759 or call Miller Auditorium Ticket Office at (269) 387-2300.

Visit www.kalamazoosymphony.com for up-to-date information, details and schedules. Prices, artists, dates, time and program are subject to change without notice.

The Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra receives major support from the Irving S. Gilmore Foundation, the Kalamazoo Community Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs. The Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra also receives generous support from other local, state and national foundations, as well as private and corporate support. For more information, visit www.kalamazoosymphony.com.

Founded in 1921, the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra is Southwest Michigan's premier musical organization, providing musical enrichment to over 80,000 adults and youth per year. The third-largest professional orchestra in the state, the KSO has won numerous awards and grants, including the Met Life Award for Arts Access in Underserved Communities, the National Endowment for the Arts for its extensive education programs, and a major Ford Foundation grant to found its innovative Artist-in-Residence program.

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