The Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra Opens 97th Season this Saturday, September 16, with a Program Entitled Sibelius & Tchaikovsky

    KALAMAZOO, MI, September 13, 2017 /24-7PressRelease/ -- The Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Resident Conductor/Interim Music Director, Daniel Brier, will open their 97th season with a program featuring Walker, Sibelius, and Tchaikovsky.

Resident Conductor/Interim Music Director Daniel Brier states "Planning a season demands a lot of hard work! I'm very excited to open this season with these great masterpieces, our wonderful musicians, and our amazing guest artist, Jennifer Frautschi. After all the planning and preparation, I'm excited to finally see our 97th season take shape."

The program begins with the Kalamazoo premiere of Pulitzer Prize winning composer, George Walker's Sinfonia No. 4 "Strands"--the beginning of the orchestra's initiative to perform twenty works by eight different black composers throughout the entire season.

Two-time GRAMMY nominee and Avery Fisher career grant recipient, Jennifer Frautschi, will join the orchestra to perform Sibelius' beloved violin concerto. After intermission, Maestro Brier conducts Tchaikovsky's "Pathetique." Premiered October 28, 1893, just nine days before death, Tchaikovsky wrote of the work, "Without exaggeration, I have put my whole soul into this work" and later remarked that it was "the best thing I ever composed or ever shall compose."

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Daniel Brier
Daniel Brier is Resident Conductor and Interim Music Director of the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra, an orchestra he joined as Assistant Conductor in 2014. In recent seasons, he has guest conducted the St. Petersburg Chamber Philharmonic, Adrian Symphony, Whiting Park Festival Orchestra, Andrews Symphony Orchestra and has also cover conducted for the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. He has also collaborated with a diverse range of artists including Rachel Barton Pine, Bobby McFerrin, and more.

Highlights of Daniel's 2017-18 season include two live movies (Star Wars: A New Hope and A Jungle Book), three performances of The Nutcracker, and his Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra Symphonic Series debut featuring Tchaikovsky's "Pathetique" and collaborations with violinist Jennifer Frautschi and Pulitzer Prize winning composer George Walker.

An ardent advocate for contemporary music, Daniel collaborated with the studios of Michael Daugherty and Bright Sheng to premiere works by Peter Shin, Zac Lavender, Jon Boggs, and Nate May. In addition to his support of emerging composers, Daniel has recently conducted works written by contemporary masters including George Walker, Jennifer Higdon, John Adams, Mason Bates, Jessie Montgomery, and more. In 2016, he commissioned and conducted the world premiere of Daniel Capelletti's The Night Before Christmas, with the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra.

Previously, Daniel was Music Director of the Spectrum Orchestra, Assistant Conductor for the Lexington Philharmonic, and conductor of the University of Michigan Orpheus Singers. In 2010, he was awarded a prize for his "exceptional conducting" during the St. Petersburg Chamber Philharmonic's International Conducting Competition. Later, in 2012, Daniel received an invitation to study privately with John Nelson at the Orchestre de chambre de Paris. Mr. Brier has conducted in masterclasses with Giancarlo Guerrero, Hugh Wolff, Jorma Panula, Alexander Polishchuk, Victor Yampolsky, Carl Topilow, and Ragnar Bohlin.

Daniel Brier received his musical training at the University of Michigan's renowned conducting program earning degrees in orchestral conducting with Kenneth Kiesler and choral conducting with Dr. Jerry Blackstone. While at the University of Michigan, he served as an assistant conductor for the world premiere recording of Milhaud's L'Orestie d'Eschyle conducted by Kenneth Kiesler. Recorded live on Naxos, the album earned a GRAMMY nomination in 2015. He is a recipient of the Julian and Vera McIntosh scholarship for promising young musicians and conductors, the Dr. Charlene Archibeque scholarship for choral conductors, and the Dorothy Greenwald scholarship.

Updated July 2017
*Please disregard all previous materials

Jennifer Frautschi
Two-time GRAMMY nominee and Avery Fisher career grant recipient Jennifer Frautschi appears this season as soloist with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, performs a 'reimagining' of Vivaldi's Four Seasons with Asheville Symphony, and gives two repeat performances of the James Stephenson's Violin Concerto, a work she premiered with Minnesota Orchestra and Osmo Vanska, at the Cabrillo Festival and Elgin Symphony. She will also perform with the Brevard, Des Moines, Elgin, Kalamazoo, Santa Barbara, and Wheeling Symphonies, as well as at the Seattle Chamber Music Society's Winter Festival, Chanel's Pygmalion Series in Tokyo, and the St. Barth's Music Festival.

Ms. Frautschi has appeared as soloist with Pierre Boulez and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Christoph Eschenbach and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at the Ravinia Festival, and at Wigmore Hall and Lincoln Center's Mostly Mozart Festival. As a chamber artist she has appeared at the Boston and Lincoln Center Chamber Music Societies; the Cape Cod, Charlottesville, Lake Champlain, La Musica (Sarasota), Moab, Newport, Ojai, Salt Bay, Santa Fe, Seattle, and Spoleto Chamber Music Festivals; Bravo! Vail, Chamber Music Northwest, La Jolla Summerfest, and Music@Menlo.

Her discography includes the Stravinsky Violin Concerto with the Philharmonia Orchestra, and two GRAMMY-nominated recordings of Schoenberg's Concerto for String Quartet and Orchestra and the Schoenberg Third String Quartet. Recent releases include a recording of Romantic Horn Trios, with hornist Eric Ruske and pianist Stephen Prutsman, and the Stravinsky Duo Concertant with pianist Jeremy Denk. In the last two years, she has released two discs on Albany: the first devoted to the Schumann sonatas; the second an exploration of recent additions to the violin and piano repertoire by American composers.

Ms. Frautschi performs on a 1722 Antonio Stradivarius violin known as the "ex-Cadiz," on generous loan from a private American foundation.

CALENDAR LISTING
Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra presents Symphonic Series Concert:

Sibelius & Tchaikovsky
Saturday, September 16, 2017 - Miller Auditorium at 8pm (Prelude begins at 7pm)
Daniel Brier, Conductor
Jennifer Frautschi, Violin

WALKER Sinfonia No. 4 "Strands" (2011)
SIBELIUS Violin Concerto in D minor, Op. 47
TCHAIKOVSKY Symphony No. 6 in B minor, Op. 74 "Pathetique"

In the opening concert of their 2017-2018 season, world renowned violinist, Jennifer Frautschi, makes her Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra debut in Sibelius' dramatic and deeply romantic violin concerto under the baton of Resident Conductor, Daniel Brier. The program also includes a work by Pulitzer Prize winning composer George Walker and one of Tchaikovsky's most-beloved masterworks, his 6th Symphony - the "Pathetique".

Tickets: $60 - $24
Student & Veteran discounts available.
$5 Student Rush tickets with valid ID, 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.

ABOUT THE KALAMAZOO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

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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