New Century Chamber Orchestra with Stephanie Chase March 22, 2007

The Grammy-nominated New Century Chamber Orchestra is pleased to announce the second program of its 15th season, March 22, 2007. The program features a 17-member string orchestra roster and renowned guest concertmaster Stephanie Chase.

Thursday, March 22, 2007, 8:00 pm
St. John's Presbyterian Church
2727 College Avenue, Berkeley

TICKETS: Individual and season tickets can be purchased at www.ncco.org or through City Box Office online at www.cityboxoffice.com and at 415.357.1111 or 415.392.4400. 3-concert orchestra subscriptions are $114/$75. Single ticket prices for the orchestra series are $42/$28.

A small service charge will apply for single tickets. Half-price tickets are available for students. For more information, call the NCCO at 415.357.1111 or visit the website at www.ncco.org.

PROGRAM:

Bruch / Serenade on Swedish Melodies
Liderman / Rolling Strings, World Premiere!
Hindemith / The Four Temperaments William Wolfram, piano

The Four Temperaments began as a ballet commissioned by George Balanchine, and was hailed by TIME magazine as "best dance of the century." A series of variations on themes, it describes the essential humors (Melancholic, Sanguine, Phlegmatic and Choleric) thought, in medieval times, to control human health.

The New Century Chamber Orchestra (www.ncco.org), founded in 1992, looks for fresh, exciting new ways to present classical music in the San Francisco Bay Area by combining performances of extraordinary quality with innovative programming. The Music Director chooses the programs and guides the artistic vision, but the seventeen members of the orchestra perform without a conductor. Musical decisions are made collaboratively, resulting in an enhanced level of commitment on the part of the musicians to concerts of remarkable precision, passion and power. The NCCO also provides musical education to over 2,000 students annually in Bay Area elementary schools through intimate in-classroom presentations, and has released three compact discs since 1996, one of which was nominated for a Grammy Award in 1997.

About the Guest Concertmaster

Stephanie Chase is a co-founder and artistic director of the Music of the Spheres Society, which presents innovative programs of chamber music concerts, lectures, and educational workshops that illuminate music's historical, philosophical and scientific foundations. Concert tours in twenty-five countries have brought Stephanie Chase international recognition and include appearances as soloist with the world's most distinguished orchestras, among which are the New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, London Philharmonic, Atlanta Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, and the Hanover Band.

Recordings by Ms. Chase have been awarded the highest possible ratings by Cambridge University Press and BBC Music Magazine, featured by Classic CD as "Record of the Month" and selected by Stereophile as a "Record to Die For."

Ms. Chase resides in New York City with her husband, Stewart Pollens, who is a conservator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and award-winning author of books on Stradivari's instrument-building techniques, a history and analysis of the early pianoforte, and the French bowmaker Francois Xavier Tourte.

About the Piano Soloist

American pianist William Wolfram was winner of the Silver Medal in both the William Kapell and the Naumberg International Piano Competitions. He also holds the distinction of Bronze medalist of the prestigious Tchaikovsky Piano Competition in Moscow. A versatile recitalist, concerto soloist, and chamber musician, Mr. Wolfram has garnered the respect of musicians and the acclaim of critics across the country.

In the recording studio, Mr. Wolfram has completed a project featuring the piano concertos of Edward Collins with Marin Alsop and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra for the Albany label. He also begins a long project with Naxos records featuring the solo piano music of Franz Liszt. In print, Mr. Wolfram has been honored to be the focus of an entire chapter in Joseph Horowitz' book "The Ivory Trade"; and on television, he was a featured pianist in the film documentary of the 1986 Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition.

A graduate of the Juilliard School, Mr. Wolfram resides in New York City with his wife and two daughters.

About the Featured Composer

Born in Buenos Aires, Jorge Liderman began his musical studies at the Rubin Academy of Music in Jerusalem, under Mark Kopitman. In 1988 he received his doctorate in composition from the University of Chicago where he worked with Ralph Shapey and Shulamit Ran. A year later, Liderman joined the composition faculty at the University of California, Berkeley.

His works have been commissioned and performed by the London Sinfonietta, the American Composers Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Tanglewood Orchestra, Radio France, the Netherlands Wind Ensemble, the Nieuw Ensemble, the Arditti String Quartet, Cuarteto Latinoamericano, Boston Musica Viva, Milan Divertimento Ensemble, Chicago Pro Musica, and the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, as well as by individual artists like Oliver Knussen, Diego Masson, David Tanenbaum and Esa Pekka Salonen. His opera "Antigona Furiosa"(1991), commissioned by Hans Werner Henze, won the 1992 Munich Biennale International Prize in Composition.

He has also received awards from the Guggenheim, Harper, Gaudeamus and Fromm Foundations, as well as from ISCM, the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and the University of California President's Fellowship program. Liderman's music has been featured at Darmstadt, Nuova Consonanza, Stuttgart's Neue Musik, Semaines Musicales Internationales d'Orleans, Mexico's International Foro, London's Viva, Osaka's Expo 90, The International Rostrum of Composers, Paris, and Holland's Proms among others.

Official Website: http://www.ncco.org