The Southwest Florida Symphony presents Small Stage Symphonies SM featuring Concierto de Aranjuez with Cincinnati Pops guitarist Tim Berens

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1 NEWS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Date: Friday, February 10, 2017 Contact: (239) The Southwest Florida Symphony presents Small Stage Symphonies SM featuring Concierto de Aranjuez with Cincinnati Pops guitarist Tim Berens Fort Myers, FL The Southwest Florida Symphony, Lee County s professional orchestra and one of the oldest symphony orchestras on Florida s gulf coast, presents the final concert in its Small Stage Symphonies SM series, Concierto de Aranjuez, with special guest artist, Cincinnati Pops guitarist Tim Berens. In addition to a performance of Joaquin Rodrigo s Concierto de Aranjuez, this concert features performances of Franz Joseph Haydn s Symphony 101 The Clock and Mater by contemporary Italian composer, Cristian Cararra at three Lee County venues. Concerts take place at BIG ARTS on Sanibel Island on Wednesday, March 8 th ; at Shell Point Village Church on Thursday, March 9 th ; and at the Southwest Florida Performing Arts Center on Friday, March 10 th. All concerts start at 7:30PM. Ticket prices start at $25 and vary by venue. They may be purchased online at by visiting the Southwest Florida Symphony Box Office located at 8290 College Parkway, Suite 103 in Fort Myers, by calling the Symphony Box Office at (239) Tickets may also be purchased at each venue. Small Stage Symphonies SM Concerts Small Stage Symphonies SM are chamber orchestra concerts that take place at smaller venues throughout Lee County in order to provide patrons with a more intimate concert experience and an opportunity to sample an even broader variety of classical repertoire. Like Masterworks Concerts, Small Stage Symphonies SM feature internationally renowned guest soloists and conductors, including Maestro Nir Kabaretti. Tim Berens Bio A protégé of the late internationally lauded Pops conductor, Maestro Erich Kunzel, Tim Berens's multi-faceted career gives testament to his lifelong quest to learn, perform and

2 write music. So far, his venture has led him through the worlds of classical guitar, jazz guitar, orchestral guitar, arranging, orchestration, composition, and conducting. During his years as the guitarist for the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra (CPO), Tim played guitar, banjo, mandolin and bouzouki in concerts, recordings, television programs, and tours. Beginning in the late 1990's, Tim began arranging for the CPO, eventually becoming the orchestra's principal arranger. Tim's arrangements caught the ears of others and he began receiving commissions from many leading conductors and major orchestras. His arrangements are performed hundreds of times per year by orchestras throughout the United States and abroad, in venues from Carnegie Hall to the Kennedy Center to the Hollywood Bowl. Tim's arrangements receive praise from conductors, musicians, librarians, management, and listeners. In 2010, the desire to continue learning led Tim to return to school to study conducting. Two intensive years later, he earned a Masters Degree in Orchestral Conducting. As he conducted the music of great composers like Beethoven, Brahms, Tchaikovsky, and Shostakovich, his studies of their scores enriched his skills as an orchestrator. As a young student studying classical guitar at the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, Tim took every opportunity to play jazz and other styles. This work prepared him well for the audition for the Cincinnati Pops. Over the following years, other orchestras began hiring Tim, and he performed with more than 20 orchestras, including the Philadelphia Orchestra, the National Symphony Orchestra and the Hong Kong Philharmonic. He played thousands of services for conductor Erich Kunzel. Tim was featured as a soloist on many of the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra's concerts, recordings and television broadcasts, most notably when he transcribed the piano part from "Rhapsody in Blue" for guitar. Throughout his professional career Tim has performed regularly at jazz clubs, releasing four jazz recordings on the Red Mark label under his own name along the way, and he has continued working as a classical guitarist, performing Rodrigo's "Concierto de Aranjuez" to great acclaim. Tim's most nerve wracking performance took place in Not even the duet he performed with Kristin Chenoweth at Carnegie Hall induced more gut-wrenching performance anxiety than his band's performance of Smoke on the Water in the Van Buren Junior High School Talent Show.

3 Southwest Florida Symphony General Information The Southwest Florida Symphony is the only professional orchestra in Lee County and one of the oldest on Florida s gulf coast. It enters its 56 th season this year, having made its debut as a community orchestra on April 15, Conducted by Arlo Deibler, the Symphony began its life as a community orchestra and its original roster consisted of 24 musicians. It performed in community centers and schools throughout Lee and Collier Counties. It has since grown to become Lee County s only professional symphony orchestra, filling Barbara B. Mann Performing Arts Hall with symphonic music enthusiasts and a roster consisting of more than 65 world-class musicians. The Southwest Florida Symphony s 56 th year promises to be a season of continued enthusiasm as internationally acclaimed Maestro Nir Kabaretti leads the symphony into another season of blockbuster performances. Maestro Kabaretti is the fifth music director in the organization s history. His presence and caliber of musicality garnered record setting attendance at many of the symphony s Masterworks Concerts. The Southwest Florida Symphony s mission is to celebrate the joy of music and to inspire audiences with a variety of quality concerts performed by professional musicians that are accessible to all. This season features the Southwest Florida Symphony s signature Masterworks Classical Concert Series, (November 12, Years at Barbara B. Mann Hall; January 21, Cellobration!; February 18, Let s Dance; March 25, A Night at the Opera; and April 22, Magnificent Mahler), a special Holiday Pops concert entitled The Holidays in Paradise on December 12 at the Village Church at Shell Point, December 13 at First Presbyterian Church in Bonita Springs, December 15 at Flagler College in St. Augustine and December 17 at Barbara B. Mann Performing Arts Hall; its Pops Series (Big Band Through the Decades on February 3 & 4; A Gershwin Experience on March 3 & 4; and Debby Boone on April 7 & 8), a chamber series called Small Stage Symphonies, performed at BIG ARTS on Sanibel Island (January 12 and March 8) at Sanibel Community Church (on February 10) Southwest Florida Performing Arts Center (August 27, 2016, January 13 and March 10), The Village Church at Shell Point (August 25, 2016, February 9 and March 9), and at the Sidney & Berne Davis Art Center (August 26, 2016 and February 8). Maestro Nir Kabaretti Bio Nir Kabaretti is in his third season with the Southwest Florida and his tenth with the Santa Barbara Symphony in California, where he serves as Music and Artistic Director.

4 He has been described as a conductor with immense musicality and warm personality by Maestro Zubin Mehta. Maestro Kabaretti has earned an impressive reputation worldwide for his command of a vast symphonic and operatic repertoire. Upon graduation from the prestigious University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna, Kabaretti began working as coach and Chorus Master at the Vienna State Opera and at the Salzburg Festival. He later served as Personal Assistant to Maestro Zubin Mehta at Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in Florence, Italy. Nir Kabaretti has worked with some of the world s most sought-after musicians, such as Lang Lang, Placido Domingo, Itzhak Perlman, and Hélène Grimaud. He has conducted many of the great orchestras of the world, including the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, the Orquesta Filarmonica de Buenos Aires, the Orchestre National du Théàtre du Capitole de Toulouse, the Lausanne Chamber Orchestra, the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, and many others. He was appointed Principal Conductor of the Raanana Symphonette Orchestra in Israel in 2002, and later its Music Director until Maestro Kabaretti s operatic experience includes productions at the Vienna State Opera, the Teatro alla Scala, the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Teatro Real in Madrid, The Israeli Opera, Opéra de Lausanne, and Opera Santa Barbara, among many others. Maestro Kabaretti received the America-Israel Cultural Foundation Grant for Young Conductors. In 1993, he won the Forum Junger Künstler Conducting Competition in Vienna. In 1994 he was among the finalists in the International Competition for Conductors in Douai, France. Our Generous Sponsors The Southwest Florida Symphony s sponsors include The City of Fort Myers, The State of Florida Division of Cultural Affairs, The Florida Council on Arts & Culture, The Southwest Florida Symphony Endowment Foundation, The Southwest Florida Symphony Society, Scanlon Lexus, The L.A.T. Foundation, Bell Tower Shops, Uhler & Vertich Financial Planners, Burgess Brant Engineers, Sheeley Architects & Lotus Architects, Advanced Pain Management & Spine Specialists, Mrs. Madeleine Taeni, Mr. & Mrs. Charles B. Munsch, The Enterprise Foundation, Tween Waters Inn, Bailey s

5 General Store, Sanibel Captiva Community Bank, Crowne Plaza, Shoeless Joe s, IberiaBank, Mr. Ernie Fogg and Ms. Margot Flinn, The Friends of the Symphony on Sanibel and Mr. & Mrs. Steve and Charlotte Qua, Mr. Don Fjellin, Mastello Ristorante, Mr. & Mrs. Rob and Ruth Diefenbach, Mr. Eric Diefenbach & JK Brown. #### Event: Small Stage Symphonies Concierto de Aranjuez featuring Cincinnati Pops guitarist, Tim Berens Dates: March 8 th, 9 th and 10 th Locations: March 8 th at BIG ARTS on Sanibel, March 9 th at Shell Point Village Church and March 10 th at the Southwest Florida Performing Arts Center Time: 7:30PM Tickets: Prices start at $25 and vary by venue