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PRO MUSICA COLORADO CHAMBER ORCHESTRA'S SEASON OPENING CONCERT

Celebrating Women Among Men in the Classical Music World with violinist Yumi Hwang-Williams.

Boulder and Denver, Colorado—Pro Musica Colorado Chamber Orchestra (PMC) opens their Classical Evolution season with a concert that celebrates the ever-evolving addition of women in classical music, as artists, conductors, and composers.

Women Among Men, takes place on Saturday, September 22nd, 7:30 pm at Central Presbyterian Church (1660 Sherman St, Denver, CO), and on Sunday, September 23^rd, 2:00 pm at Mountain View United Methodist Church (355 Ponca Place, Boulder, CO). The concert features violinist Yumi Hwang-Williams, concertmaster of the Colorado Symphony Orchestra, in Haydn’s Violin Concerto in C Major.

“Yumi Hwang-Williams, concertmaster of the Colorado Symphony, is a musician of perfectly balanced intelligence and passion. This is ideal for Haydn and we look forward to our third collaboration, ” says Cynthia Katsarelis, Music Director and Conductor of PMC, and the only woman conductor of a professional orchestra in the Front Range area.

Also on the program is Bach’s Die Schätzbarkeit der weiten Erde. PMC teams up with Yumi and local favorite, soprano Amanda Balestrieri, for this gorgeous Bach aria for soprano and solo violin. The program opens with Mozart’s Serenade No. 6 for Orchestra in D major K. 239, Serenata notturna, which was written for two orchestras. A quartet of the principal strings joins the PMC smaller string orchestra, along with timpani. To round out the celebration, Polish composer and violin virtuoso Grayżna Bacewicz’s Concerto for String Orchestra (1948) provides a Neo-Classical elements and further recognition of women composers in classical music.

"She wrote this just after World War II as her work was beginning to evolve beyond neoclassicism," says Katsarelis.

Ticket prices for Classical Evolution – 2018-2019 Season: $35 General, $25 Seniors, $5 Students, $55 Supporters. Subscriptions for the three concerts save 20% off the regular prices. Groups save 15% when you purchase 10 or more Adult tickets for the performance. Tickets are available online at: www.promusicacolorado.org. For more information, or to purchase tickets by phone, call: 720-443-0565.

Concert at a Glance - Photos and Full Bios available upon request

Photos and bios of guest artists provided at: http://www.promusicacolorado.org/press-kit/

Women Among Men
Saturday, September 22, 7:30 pm – Central Presbyterian Church, 1660 Sherman St, Denver, CO 80203

Sunday, September 23, 2:00 pm – Mountain View United Methodist Church, 355 Ponca Place, Boulder, CO 80303

Yumi Hwang-Williams, violinist
Amanda Balestrieri, soprano
Cynthia Katsarelis, conductor

Program:
Wolfgang A. Mozart Serenade No. 6 for Orchestra in D major K. 239, Serenata notturna

Grażyna Bacewicz Concerto for String Orchestra

Franz Joseph Haydn Violin Concerto in C Major

Johann Sebastian Bach Die Schätzbarkeit der weiten Erde

Ticket prices to for the Classical Evolution - 2018-2019 Season: $35 General, $5 Students, $55 (supporter ticket). Subscriptions for the three concerts save 20% off the regular prices. Groups save 15% when you purchase 10 or more Adult tickets for the performance. Tickets and subscriptions are available online at: www.promusicacolorado.org. For more information, or to purchase tickets by phone, call: 720-443-0565.

About Pro Musica Colorado Chamber Orchestra and Cynthia Katsarelis, Music Director and Conductor

Now in its sixth season, Pro Musica Colorado Chamber Orchestra has many of Colorado’s finest musicians, and is committed to impassioned performances of repertoire ranging from the classic to the cutting edge.

Cynthia Katsarelis has conducted with the Cincinnati Symphony, Pops and May Festival, the Greensboro (N.C.) Symphony, and many professional, college, and youth orchestras. She has assisted James Conlon, Keith Lockhart, Erich Kunzel and Michael Christie. Most recently she conducted the Colorado Music Festival’s Young People’s Concerts. Katsarelis is a graduate of the Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University, with degrees in both violin and conducting. READ MORE

About Yumi Hwang-Williams, violin

Yumi Hwang-Williams made her debut at the age of fifteen as a soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra, six years after emigrating from South Korea. A graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music, she is known today both for her stylish performances of the classics and her commitment to the works of present-day composers. STRINGS magazine calls her ‘a modern Prometheus’ who has ‘emerged as a fiery champion of contemporary classical music.’ Her interpretations of concertos by Tomas Adès, Aaron Jay Kernis, Michael Daugherty, and Christopher Rouse have earned critical acclaim as well as enthusiastic approval from the composers. Yumi is a frequent soloist with the Colorado Symphony… READ MORE

About Amanda Balestrieri, soprano

Born in Harrogate, England, Amanda has an illustrious performance background in London, Europe and the United States, where her singing has been described in the press as “unusually versatile,” “gorgeous,” and “absolutely divine” (Washington Post, Times Union Saratoga NY, Washington Review). She began her music studies at the age of four, and enjoyed early success as a pianist, violinist, and soprano soloist. Balestrieri received her B.A./M.A. in Modern Languages from Oxford University and studied voice in London and Milan. She sang with the Academy Chorus of St. Martin in the Fields under Sir Neville Marriner and was a regular soloist in contemporary music with James Wood’s New London Chamber Choir… READ MORE

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Violinist Vadim Gluzman will be joined by Boulder piano virtuoso David Korevaar for “Italian Influences,” part of the Presenting Series on Tuesday, July 19th. Gluzman and Korevaar will team up to perform César Franck’s familiar, canonic Violin Sonata – a prayerful, passionate tribute to love. In Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco’sPiedigrotta 1924 for solo piano, Korevaar goes it alone to reveal the rhapsodic nuances of Neapolitan folk music. In turn, a sextet of Colorado Music Festival string players come together to show off the contrapuntal prowess of Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in his “Souvenir de Florence,” initially sketched by the composer while visiting Florence.

Zeitouni's thoughts, “ Let’s not forget that Vadim Gluzman is a Russian trained musician. He’s actually Ukrainian, but the music of Tchaikovsky that’s he’s going to play in this program is the music that is his bones, in his DNA. I think the program itself is very well balanced with the two of them performing the Franck, which is a short sonata but really poetic, really pure. It’s a true dialogue between two souls.”

Program: Franck Violin Sonata in A Major, Castelnuovo-Tedesco Piedigrotta 1924, Tchaikovsky Souvenir de Florence

Tickets for this concert are $12.00 - $45.00 ($9.00 - $42.00 Concert Member) for 7/19 and can be purchased online at www.comusic.org or www.chautauqua.com, in person at the Chautauqua Box Office (900 Baseline Road, Boulder, CO) or over the phone by calling 303-440-7666. Free Hop 2 Chautauqua shuttle is available for this concert.