Press Release: Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra Presents Dvořák's ...

Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra Presents
Dvořák's American Style/New World Rediscovered
For Immediate Release: April 4, 2012
Contact: Jennifer L. Smith
Media & Community Relations
716-242-7819
jsmith@bpo.org
April 4, 2012: Buffalo, NY - The Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra presents Dvořák's American Style as a part of the
Albright-Knox Art Gallery FREE M&T First Friday series on Friday, April 6, 2012 at 7:30 p.m. in their auditorium
located at 1285 Elmwood Avenue, Buffalo, NY.
This special presentation, made possible by a National Endowment for the Humanities consortium project led by the
Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, Pacific Symphony, North Carolina Symphony and Louisville Orchestra, takes a
fascinating look into American influences on the classical composer Antonin Dvořák. The evening will begin with a
visual interpretation of New World Symphony by way of illuminating allusions to Longfellow's poem, The Song of
Hiawatha, by Joseph Horowitz (author and creator of the New York Philharmonic's "Inside the Music" series).
Tim Barringer from Yale University will follow with a mini-lecture exploring the notion that Dvořák furnishes the
nearest musical equivalent to the iconic American paintings of Frederic Church and Albert Bierstadt, whose imagery of
a majestic and elegiac American topography is also evident in Dvořák's musical works.
Musical selections will include Larghetto from Dvořák's Violin Sonatina, performed by BPO Associate Concertmaster
Amy Glidden and Joseph Horowitz, piano. Dvořák's American String Quartet will follow, performed by Buffalo
Philharmonic Orchestra musicians Amy Glidden, violin, Loren Silvertrust, violin, Janz Castelo, viola and Amelie
Fradette, cello and accompanied by readings presented by Joseph Horowitz.
This NEH-funded Dvořák project will culminate in a larger concert experience with the Buffalo Philharmonic
Orchestra at Kleinhans Music Hall at the April 27-28 performances of New World Rediscovered, sponsored by Ellicott
Development. At this concert, through images, music and dialogue, the audience will gain a new perspective on
Dvořák's journey.
"New World is a piece that almost everyone in our audience has heard and knows well," commented JoAnn Falletta,
BPO Music Director. "The idea of casting a completely new light on it, on how it fit in with Dvorák's life, how it was the
germ for a whole American music that followed it, is, I think going to throw this symphony into relief in a way that
people will never forget."
This special Buffalo Philharmonic presentation of the New World Symphony, hosted by Paul Todaro and joined by
guest artist Kevin Deas, originates with a Dvořák festival curated by Joseph Horowitz and previously performed by the
Pacific Symphony, the Nashville Symphony, and the New York Philharmonic.
Tickets for New World Rediscovered start at $25 and can be purchased through the BPO Box Office at 716-885-5000
or online at www.bpo.org.
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As Buffalo's cultural ambassador, the Grammy Award-winning Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra under the leadership of music director JoAnn
Falletta presents more than 120 Classics, Pops and Youth Concerts each year and reaches over 40,000 students per year (K-12) across all eight
counties of Western New York. Since 1940, the orchestra's permanent home has been Kleinhans Music Hall, a National Historic Site with an
international reputation as one of the finest concert halls in the United States. During the tenure of current music director JoAnn Falletta, the
BPO has rekindled its distinguished history of NPR broadcasts and recordings. The Philharmonic's Naxos recording of composer John
Corigliano's "Mr. Tambourine Man: Seven Poems of Bob Dylan," featuring soprano Hila Plitmann, won Grammys in two categories of the three
for which it was nominated: Classical Vocal Performance and Classical Contemporary Composition.