Press Releases

Click on a link below to view Press Release.

September 6, 2007

Binghamton Philharmonic Opens 2007-2008 Season With An Exploration Of Latin American Musical Influences

Works by Milhaud, Saint-Saëns and Copland based on Latin American Themes
Award Winning Colombian-American Violinist Christina Castelli Appears as Guest Artist

On Saturday October 6, 2007, at 8:00 p.m. in the Anderson Center at Binghamton University, the Binghamton Philharmonic, José-Luis Novo music director and conductor, opens its 2007-2008 Season: South of the Border, A Latin American Festival with a concert titled Musical Tourists: Latin American Encounters.  The event kicks off a season-long exploration of classical music from Latin America which culminates in April with the world premiere of a work by Mexican-American composer Carlos SánchezSánchez-GutiérrezCarlos Sánchez-Gutiérrez, the Binghamton Philharmonic's first ever composer-in-residence.  The October 6 concert examines the influence of Latin American music on composers from Europe and the United States, with works by Darius Milhaud (Le Boeuf sur le toit), Camille Saint-Saëns (Havanaise and Introduction & Rondo capriccioso) and Aaron Copland (El Salón México).  The orchestra will also perform the Lieutenant Kijé Suite by Sergei Prokofiev, whose music is a major influence on Mr. Sánchez-Gutiérrez.  Violinist Christina Castelli, winner of the prestigious Queen Elisabeth of Brussels and Sphinx competitions, will be the soloist in the two Saint-Saëns pieces.

Tickets range from $29-$40 for adults, $26-$37 for seniors (over 60) and $10 for students and children. Call 607-723-3931 for tickets and information. Tickets may be purchased online at www.binghamtonphilharmonic.org.   The Binghamton Philharmonic has recently improved its website so patrons can now choose their seats online.

This concert is sponsored by CDPHP.  The Binghamton Philharmonic's 2007-2008 Classical Series is sponsored by M&T Bank.

The Binghamton Philharmonic will also present a pre-concert talk by composer-in-residence Carlos Sánchez-Gutiérrez at 7:00 p.m. in the Anderson Center Chamber Hall.  The pre-concert talk is free to all ticket holders and is sponsored by The Golub Foundation of Price Chopper.

Also, a pre-concert dinner will be held in the Anderson Center Reception Room at 6:00 p.m., presented by Sodexho Catering Service at Binghamton University. Call 607-777-2925 for dinner reservations and information.

This performance is made possible with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency.  General Operating Support is provided to the Binghamton Philharmonic by a grant from the United Cultural Fund, a program of the Broome County Arts Council.  The Binghamton Philharmonic's 2007-2008 Season is also made possible by a grant from The New York State Music Fund, established by the New York State Attorney General at Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors.

For more information on the Binghamton Philharmonic's 2007-2008 Season visit: www.binghamtonphilharmonic.org.

***

Christina Castelli


Christina Castelli

An Astral Artistic Services National Auditions winner in 2001, Astral has presented violinist Christina Castelli in recital and chamber performances and as orchestral soloist on its concert series. She made her Philadelphia recital and concerto debuts in 2003, also under Astral's auspices, and was featured with Astral artists at Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall.

Ms. Castelli has garnered international acclaim for her concerto and recital performances throughout the U.S., Europe, Canada, and South America. A Laureate of the prestigious 2001 Queen Elisabeth International Violin Competition in Brussels and Grand Prize winner of the 1997 William Primrose International Viola Competition, she has been a featured soloist with orchestras worldwide, including the Cleveland Orchestra and the Atlanta, National, Seattle, Colorado, Pittsburgh, New Jersey, and Alabama symphonies, and the Belgian National Orchestra, Royal Chamber Orchestra of Wallonia (Brussels), National Orchestra of Colombia, and Chilean Regional Philharmonic. As a recitalist, she has appeared on concert series in nearly every major city in the U.S. and has been presented in such venues the Ravinia Festival, the Vancouver Chamber Music Festival, the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and Carnegie Hall, where she made her critically acclaimed recital debut in 2004.

An avid chamber musician, Ms. Castelli has appeared as soloist with and leader of the International Sejong Soloists chambergensemble and as concertmaster of the Metamorphosen Chamber Orchestra in additCaracolion to giving performances on both violin and viola in numerous string and piano trios and quartets. She has been heard as a soloist and chamber musician in live and recorded performances on radio stations worldwide, including NPR's "Performance Today," WQXR in New York, Chicago's WFMT, Vermont Public Radio, Caracol Colombian Radio, RBTF Radio Brussels, and UCV Chilean Radio.

Highlights of the 2007-2008 season include Ms. Castelli's debuts with the Minnesota Orchestra and the Chicago Sinfonietta, in addition to opening the new concert seasons for the Binghamton (NY) and the Grand Junction (CO) symphonies. She also gives recitals throughout the U.S.

In 1996, Ms. Castelli earned the highest award available to young artists in the U.S. when she was named a Presidential Scholar in the Arts, receiving a gold medallion from President Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore in Washington, D.C. She has also been granted First Prize in numerous competitions, including the Juilliard Concerto Competition, the California International Young Artists Violin Competition, the Holland-America Music Society Competition, the National Federation of Music Clubs Competition, and the Sphinx Competition, where she was the only competitor ever to receive the award twice.

A passionate advocate of music outreach, Ms. Castelli frequently gives presentations to children in metropolitan public schools through her Community Music Commitment (CMC) program, and conducts masterclasses for violin and viola students. In the summer of 2007, she traveled to Tunisia as part of an outreach program by Music for the People to learn about music native to the country and to share Western music with communities in the capital city of Tunis. While in Africa, Ms. Castelli presented masterclasses, provided private music instruction, and performed bothiWestern and Tunisianmmusic with musicians from both backgrounds.

Ms. Castelli began violin studies at age three with Edward Kreitman and continued her studies with Roland and Almita Vamos. She earned a Bachelor's degree with honors in Chemistry from Harvard University and a Master's degree in Violin Performance from The Juilliard School, where she studied violin with Dorothy DeLay and chamber music with Rohan De Silva. She is the recipient of the 2001 Samuel GardnerRPrizJuilliard'se as well as the 2002 William Schuman Prize, Juilliard's only award for graduate students.

Ms. Castelli performs on a violin crafted by Giovanni Grancino of Milan in 1709.

www.christinacastelli.com


October 10, 2007

Guarneri String Quartet
to Perform All-Beethoven Chamber Music Concert

Famed Quartet to Retire Next Season

On Sunday October 28, 2007 at 3:00 p.m. in the Anderson Center at Binghamton University, the Binghamton Philharmonic presents a special chamber music concert by the Guarneri String Quartet.  This famed ensemble, which was in residence at Binghamton University in the 1960's, will be retiring at the end of the 2008-2009 season.  This will be one of their last performances in the Binghamton area. The Guarneri String Quartet, made up of Arnold Steinhardt and John Dalley, violins, Michael Tree, viola and Peter Wiley, cello, is renowned for its interpretations of the music of Beethoven, having recorded the complete Beethoven string quartets twice. In this concert the Guarneri will perform two Beethoven masterpieces: the Quartet in E-flat, Op. 74 ("Harp") and the Quartet No. 13, Op. 130. 

Tickets range from $29-$40 for adults, $26-$37 for seniors (over 60) and $10 for students and children. Call 607-723-3931 for tickets and information. Tickets may be purchased online at www.binghamtonphilharmonic.org.   The Binghamton Philharmonic has recently improved its website so patrons can now choose their seats online.

This concert is sponsored by Hinman Howard & Kattell.

This performance is made possible with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency.  General Operating Support is provided to the Binghamton Philharmonic by a grant from the United Cultural Fund, a program of the Broome County Arts Council.  The Binghamton Philharmonic's 2007-2008 Season is also made possible by a grant from The New York State Music Fund, established by the New York State Attorney General at Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors.

Guarneri String Quartet
ARNOLD STEINHARDT, violin
JOHN DALLEY, violin
MICHAEL TREE, viola
PETER WILEY, cello

The renowned Guarneri String Quartet "is among the most revered and enduring ensembles of its kind in the world" (National Public Radio) and has circled the globe countless times since it was formed in 1964, playing in the most prestigious halls in North and South America, Mexico, Europe, Asia and Australia. The Guarneri String Quartet has announced its retirement at the completion of the 2008-09 season. In the coming seasons the quartet will celebrate by doing what it does best - touring extensively throughout the United States as they have for nearly 45 years. These performances also include their annual Metropolitan Museum of Art concert series, instituted in 1965, as well as a collaboration with the Johannes String Quartet. The ensemble also makes its annual tour to Europe this winter.

The Guarneri has been featured on many television and radio specials, documentaries and educational presentations both in North America and abroad. They have been interviewed by Charles Kuralt ontCBS' nationwide television program, Sunday Morning. A full-length film entitled High Fidelity - The Guarneri String Quartet was released nationally, to great critical and public acclaim, in the fall of 1989 (the film was directed and produced by Allan Miller who was also the director/producer of the Academy Award-winning documentary, From Mozart to Mao, which dealt with Isaac Stern's visit to China). The quartet is also the subject of various books including Quartet by Helen Drees Ruttencutter (Lippincott & Crowell, 1980), The Art of Quartet Playing: the Guarneri in Conversation with David Blum (Alfred A. Knopf, 1986) and Arnold Steinhardt's Indivisible by Four: A String Quartet in Pursuit of Harmony (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1998).

In addition to mastering the finest works in the existing quartet repertoire, the Guarneri String Quartet is committed to performing and popularizing works by today's foremost composers. In the spring of 2008 the quartet, in collaboration with the Johannes String Quartet, will premiere new works by acclaimed American composers William Bolcom and Derek Bermel. In the.2003-04 season, they gave the first performance of String Quartet No. 5 (In Search of La Vita Nuova) writtenafor them by the award-winning American composer, Richard Danielpour. Mr. Danielpour hadDpreviously written a Concerto for String Quartet and Orchesta, commissioned,by the National Symphony Orchestra and written expressly for the Guarneri String Quartet. It was premiered with the NSO in the Kennedy Center under the direction of Leonard Slatkin in January, 2000 followed by its New York premiere at Carnegie Hall later that same month. In the 2001-02 season, the Guarneri gave the first performances of String Quartet No. 5, written for them by Lukas Foss and this work remains in their active repertoire.

In 1982, Mayor Koch presented the Quartet with the first New York Seal of Recognition. The Quartet was awarded Honorary Doctorate degrees by the University of South Florida (1976) and the State University of New York (1983). In 1992, the Guarneri String Quartet became the only quartet to receive the prestigious Award of Merit from the Association of Performing Arts Presenters in New York City. The Quartet continues their longstanding series and residency at the University of Maryland where they are on the faculty. In 2004, the Guarneri received the Richard J. Bogomolny National Service Award from Chamber Music America. This is CMA's highest honor, given annually to an individual or ensemble for a lifetime of service and achievement in the field. In 2005, Guarneri received the Ford Honors Award from the University Musical Society of the University of Michigan where they have performed 30 times over the past 40 years.

The Guarneri String Quartet has recorded for Surrounded by Entertainment, which released a CD in Spring 2001 of Quartets by Ravel, Debussy and Fauré.éSeveral of its recordings on both RCA Red Seal and Philips have won international awards, including its recent recording of Juan Crisostomo de Arriaga's String Quartet Nos. 1-3 (Philips), which won the 1996 Deutsche Schallplattenkritik Award in Germany. Among its other award-winning recordings are collaborations with such artists as Artur Rubinstein, Pinchas Zukerman; and Boris Kroyt and MischatSchneider of the Budapest Quartet. They have also recorded on the Arabesque label Mendelssohn's String Quartet No. 3 and its first ever recording of the great Mendelssohn Octet, Op. 20, in collaboration with the Orion Quartet.

Programs and guest artists are subject to change.

 

Website design and programming by CYBERCity