Program Announced for Carnegie Mellon Philharmonic's Momentous Carnegie Hall Performance Jan. 30

Program Announced for Carnegie Mellon Philharmonic's Momentous Carnegie Hall Performance Jan. 30

Event Features Famous Conductor Keith Lockhart and Violinist Andres Cardenes

PITTSBURGH, Jan. 15 /PRNewswire/ -- The Carnegie Mellon Philharmonic, the flagship performing ensemble of Carnegie Mellon University's prestigious School of Music, presents a program of epic proportions at its concert Jan. 30 in New York City's Carnegie Hall. Led by celebrated conductor and School of Music alumnus Keith Lockhart, the performance will feature Gabriela Lena Frank's "Three Latin-American Dances for Orchestra," Edouard Lalo's "Symphonie espagnole" with Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra Concertmaster and School of Music faculty member Andres Cardenes, and Gustav Mahler's "Symphony No. 1 in D Major." Lockhart, music director and principal conductor of the Boston Pops Orchestra and Utah Symphony, leads the philharmonic in the capstone performance of a College of Fine Arts weekend in New York.

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Noel Zahler, head of Carnegie Mellon's School of Music, welcomes Lockhart back to the helm of the ensemble he once led. "As an alumnus, Keith Lockhart has achieved a level of success that we hope all of our students can attain," Zahler said. "It is our privilege to reunite him with Carnegie Mellon and have him lead our talented philharmonic."

Frank wrote "Three Latin-American Dances for Orchestra" in 2003, and Lockhart premiered the piece with the Utah Symphony in spring 2004. This 17-minute work features highly energized percussion, brass fanfare and Latin flavor. The introductory movement is reminiscent of Leonard Bernstein's "Symphonic Dances from West Side Story," while the second movement "Highland Harawi" travels deep into the heart of Andean culture. The work closes with a brilliant and light waltz, a tribute to the cultures of the South American Pacific coast.

"Symphonie espagnole" features Cardenes, the Dorothy Richard Starling & Alexander Speyer Jr. University Professor of Violin at Carnegie Mellon, as soloist.

"Andres Cardenes is a world-renowned performer," Lockhart said. "He is also a musical friend of mine and his inclusion, performing 'Symphony espagnole,' speaks to the world-class level of instruction at Carnegie Mellon."

Premiered in 1875 in Paris, Lalo composed "Symphonie espagnole" for, and dedicated it to violinist Pablo de Sarasate. Highlights of the piece include the colorful and virtuosic Spanish intermezzo and the firework-like finale.

Closing the concert is Mahler's "Symphony No. 1 in D Major," appropriately nicknamed "The Titan." While the name initially came from the composer's mention that the work was loosely based on Jean Paul's novel "The Titan," the title remained even though the literary connection faded with Mahler's revisions of the piece. This four-movement epic work premiered in Budapest in 1889 to less than enthusiastic audiences. Mahler's nature- and bourgeois-inspired themes and thunderous finale were unlike anything 19th-century listeners had ever heard.

Lockhart, who holds a master's degree in orchestral conducting from Carnegie Mellon, describes this last piece as "a youthful work, full of vitality and passion. It is a perfect work for an excellent orchestra of young musicians."

Tickets are on sale for $15 and $25 and can be purchased online at www.carnegiehall.org or by calling CARNEGIECHARGE at 212-247-7800.

The Carnegie Mellon Philharmonic is comprised of student musicians from across the United States and 19 foreign countries. Philharmonic performances have been received enthusiastically by audiences and critics at such prestigious institutions as the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., Boston's Symphony Hall and Severance Hall in Cleveland. Its recordings appear on the Mode Records, New World Records, New Albion and Carnegie Mellon record labels. The orchestra claims alumni in the New York Philharmonic, and the Chicago and Pittsburgh symphony orchestras, among many others.

About Carnegie Mellon: Carnegie Mellon is a private research university with a distinctive mix of programs in engineering, computer science, robotics, business, public policy, science and social science, fine arts and the humanities. More than 11,000 undergraduate and graduate students receive an education characterized by its focus on creating and implementing solutions for real problems, interdisciplinary collaboration, and innovation. A small student-to-faculty ratio provides an opportunity for close interaction between students and professors. While technology is pervasive on its 145-acre Pittsburgh campus, Carnegie Mellon is also distinctive among leading research universities for the world-renowned programs in its College of Fine Arts. A global university, Carnegie Mellon has campuses in Silicon Valley, Calif., and Qatar, and programs in Asia, Australia and Europe. For more, see www.cmu.edu.

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Source: The Carnegie Mellon Philharmonic

CONTACT: Kristi Ries, +1-412-268-4921, kries@andrew.cmu.edu, or Eric
Sloss, +1-412-268-5765, ecs@andrew.cmu.edu, both for The Carnegie Mellon
Philharmonic

Web Site: http://www.cmu.edu/

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