FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE / February 1, 2016
Contact: Jean Shirk [email protected] / 510-332-4195 http://www.berkeleysymphony.org/about/press/
Phoenix Symphony Music Director Tito Muñoz to conduct Berkeley Symphony concert Thursday, February 4 at Zellerbach Hall
Berkeley Symphony Music Director Joana Carneiro withdraws from concert for medical reasons
l to r: Tito Muñoz, Conrad Tao. Photo credits: Muñoz: Dario Acosta. Tao: Brantley Gutierrez
BERKELEY, CA (February 1, 2016) – Music Director Joana Carneiro has withdrawn from this week’s Berkeley Symphony concert with composer and pianist Conrad Tao for medical reasons. Phoenix Symphony Music Director Tito Muñoz will lead the Orchestra and Tao in a performance of Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 5, “Emperor,” on Thursday, February 4 at 8 pm at Zellerbach Hall in Berkeley. Muñoz also conducts the Orchestra in Lutosławski’s Concerto for Orchestra, an orchestral showpiece.
Tickets are $15-$74 and are available at www.berkeleysymphony.org or by phone at (510) 841- 2800, ext. 1. Berkeley Symphony offers a $7 Student Rush ticket one hour prior to each performance for those with a valid student ID.
Tito Muñoz is Music Director of the Phoenix Symphony, a post he began with the 2014-15 season. He has also held the posts of Music Director of the Opéra National de Lorraine and the Orchestre symphonique et lyrique de Nancy, Assistant Conductor of The Cleveland Orchestra, and Assistant Conductor of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra.
An alumnus of the National Conducting Institute, Muñoz made his professional conducting debut in 2006 with the National Symphony Orchestra. That same year, he made his Cleveland Orchestra debut at the Blossom Music Festival. Muñoz continues to maintain a close relationship with The Cleveland Orchestra, where he made his debut in 2009 and has returned to conduct annually. The orchestra’s collaboration with The Joffrey Ballet, conducted by Muñoz, led to further performances and an invitation to tour with The Joffrey Ballet in the 2010-11 season. He conducted The Cleveland Orchestra’s first complete Nutcracker performances and the orchestra’s first staged Rite of Spring, both with The Joffrey Ballet. Muñoz has also led the symphony orchestras of Alabama, Atlanta, Cincinnati, Columbus, Eugene, Hartford, Houston, Grand Rapids, Indianapolis, Kitchener-Waterloo, and San Antonio, among others.
Conrad Tao, 21, has appeared worldwide as a pianist and composer, and has been dubbed a musician of “probing intellect and open-hearted vision” by The New York Times and a “thoughtful and mature composer” by NPR. He makes his debut with Berkeley Symphony in this concert. In 2011, the White House Commission on Presidential Scholars and the Department of Education named Tao a Presidential Scholar in the Arts, and the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts awarded him a YoungArts gold medal in music. Later that year, Tao was named a Gilmore Young Artist, and in 2012, he was awarded the Avery Fisher Career Grant. During the 2015-16 season, Tao performs with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Cincinnati Symphony, Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Buffalo Philharmonic, Pacific Symphony, and in recital in Europe and throughout the United States. Past notable symphonic engagements have included the San Francisco Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, Toronto Symphony, St. Louis Symphony, and Detroit Symphony. In 2013, Tao curated and produced the inaugural UNPLAY Festival in Brooklyn, encompassing electroacoustic music, performance art, and youth ensembles. UNPLAY explored the fleeting ephemera of the Internet, the possibility of a 21st-century canon, and music’s role in social activism and critique. His new album, Pictures, with works by David Lang, Toru Takemitsu, Elliott Carter, and Tao himself, alongside Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, was released in October 2015. Tao’s compositions have been recognized with eight consecutive ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Awards and the Carlos Surinach Prize from BMI.
ABOUT BERKELEY SYMPHONY Recognized nationally for its spirited programming, Berkeley Symphony has established a reputation for presenting major new works for orchestra alongside fresh interpretations of classic European and American repertoire. Berkeley Symphony continues its steadfast commitment to presenting original and unique programs, with a 2015-16 season that combines important contemporary works, U.S. and West Coast premieres, and commissioned work alongside classic masterworks. In addition to the October West Coast premiere of Kaija Saariaho’s Laterna Magica and the West Coast premiere in May 2016 of Mark Grey’s Frankenstein Symphony, a co-commission with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestra performs Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto in D major, featuring Simone Porter, in May.
Since the 1979-80 season, including the works planned for this season, Berkeley Symphony has performed 64 world premieres, 28 U.S. premieres, and 21 West Coast premieres. Berkeley Symphony has been recognized in 10 of the past 12 seasons with an Award for Adventurous Programming from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP). In addition to its concerts at Zellerbach Hall and its Berkeley Symphony & Friends Chamber Music Series, Berkeley Symphony regularly partners with Cal Performances, the performing arts presenter and producer of the University of California, Berkeley, to provide music for visiting artists. Berkeley Symphony’s award-winning Music in the Schools program benefits over 4,600 elementary and middle school students in Berkeley each year. San Francisco public radio station KALW 91.7 FM is Berkeley Symphony’s broadcast partner, airing all Berkeley Symphony subscription concerts.
ABOUT JOANA CARNEIRO As Music Director, Joana Carneiro has captivated the public with her commanding stage presence and adventurous programming, which has highlighted the works of several prominent contemporary composers, including John Adams, Kaija Saariaho, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Brett Dean, and Gabriela Lena Frank. Carneiro is regarded as one of the most exciting and outstanding young conductors working today. During the 2015-16 season, her seventh leading Berkeley Symphony, she conducts the Orchestra in two West Coast premieres, Kaija Saariaho’s Laterna Magica and Mark Grey’s Frankenstein Symphony, as well the U.S. premiere of Sofia Gubaidulina’s Fachwerk. Carneiro’s commitment to expanding the community base of Berkeley Symphony and upholding the Orchestra’s artistic excellence was recognized by the League of American Orchestras, which honored her with the Helen M. Thompson Award in 2010. She was appointed Music Director of Berkeley Symphony in 2009, succeeding Kent Nagano as only the third Music Director in the 40- year history of the Orchestra.
Named Principal Conductor of the Portuguese National Symphony at the Teatro de Sao Carlos in January 2014, Carneiro remains the Official Guest Conductor of the Gulbenkian Orchestra in her native Lisbon. She is also increasingly in demand throughout the world for guest conducting engagements, both for orchestras and opera companies. Prior to her Berkeley Symphony appointment, she served as Assistant Conductor with the Los Angeles Philharmonic from 2005 to 2008, where she worked closely with Esa-Pekka Salonen and led performances at Walt Disney Concert Hall and the Hollywood Bowl.
CALENDAR EDITORS, PLEASE NOTE:
Thursday, February 4, 2016 at 8 pm Zellerbach Hall, UC Berkeley campus, Bancroft Way at Dana Street, Berkeley
Tito Muñoz, conductor Conrad Tao, piano Berkeley Symphony
Program III: Majestic Lutosławski: Concerto for Orchestra Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-flat major, Op. 73, “Emperor”
Tickets: $15-$74. Tickets are available at www.berkeleysymphony.org and by phone at (510) 841- 2800, ext. 1. Berkeley Symphony offers a $7 Student Rush ticket one hour prior to each performance for those with a valid student ID.