VSO MEDIA ROOM - Photos / Bios / Info: http://www.vancouversymphony.ca/me_overview.php Media contact: Laura-Anne Scherer 604.684.9100 x266 laura-anne@vancouversymphony.ca For Immediate Release October 15, 2012 MEDIA RELEASE Conductor Alondra de la Parra to make her Vancouver debut Vancouver, BC Sensational conductor Alondra de la Parra will make her VSO debut in a concert that also features pianist Angela Cheng, one of the world s top interpreters of the music of Mozart, on Saturday and Monday, November 3 and 5, 8pm, and Sunday, November 4, 2pm, at the Orpheum Theatre. The concert features Edward Top s Symphony Golden Dragon, Mozart s Piano Concerto No. 20, and Brahms s Symphony No. 4. Alondra de la Parra is one of the brightest young conducting talents in the world today, and has gained widespread attention for her spellbinding and vibrant performances. Born in New York City in 1980, Ms. de la Parra s moved with her parents to Mexico at the age of two, studying music and eventually conducting internationally. She holds the distinction of being the first Mexican woman to conduct in New York City, and is an official Cultural Ambassador for Mexican Tourism. Named as one of six "Young Artists on the Rise" by Symphony magazine, she has led many major symphony orchestras around the world as a guest conductor. Amongst Ms. de la Parra s many accolades, Plácido Domingo referred to her as "an extraordinary conductor," and over just the past five years, she has been featured on NBC s Today Show, in Crain s New York Business as one of their "40 under 40 New York s Rising Stars," singled out in The Daily Beast as one of the "Young Rockstars of the Conducting World," graced the cover of Caras magazine, been the subject of a major feature in The New York Times, and recognized by Poder magazine as one of their "Top 20 under 40." Consistently praised for her brilliant technique, tonal beauty and superb musicianship, Canadian pianist Angela Cheng is one of our country s national treasures. In addition to regular guest appearances with virtually every orchestra in Canada, she has also performed with the Alabama Symphony, Buffalo Philharmonic, Colorado Symphony, Houston Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony, Jacksonville Symphony, Louisiana Philharmonic, Saint Louis Symphony, San Diego Symphony, Syracuse Symphony, Utah Symphony and the Israel Philharmonic. Angela Cheng with perform Mozart s Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor, one of his most important and influential works.the concerto invokes a serious, sombre, wistful atmosphere from the very beginning. When the piano finally appears, though gentle at first, it does not alleviate the mood for more than a moment. When the piano appears in a major key in the second movement s gentle Romance, it provides
an exquisite and surprising change of tone; but it is an illusion, as the minor key returns dramatically in the latter section of the movement. The concerto concludes with more complex interplay between a strident, edgy theme and a more cheerful, mercurial one, which triumphs in a satisfying conclusion. The second half of the program features Brahms s epic Symphony No. 4 in E minor. The opening of the work is all noble understatement a sense of the heroic shines through, but still reserved in character; though beneath the surface of restraint, tension is felt, as the music aspires to, and hints at, something greater. The Andante second movement is one of the most beautiful of the many slow movements that Brahms wrote. More emotion comes through to the surface, as the scope of the symphony s material continues to emerge. The third movement could not be more different, teeming with energy and zeal. The fourth movement features thirty themes and variations vying for attention in an emotional, and utterly brilliant finale. The concerts also feature the Canadian premiere of Symphony Golden Dragon by the Edward Top, VSO Composer-in-Residence. Symphony Golden Dragon was written in the year 2000, the year of the Dragon in the Chinese zodiac, while Mr. Top was living in Bangkok, and references an astrological phenomenon that happens every sixty years a Golden Dragon. This piece was Edward s first orchestral work, and it reflects the energy and life of an unscripted, spontaneous street celebration, influenced by the celebrations of Chinese New Year. CONCERT INFO Goldcorp Masterworks Gold Rogers Group Financial Symphony Sundays Alondra de la Parra conducts Mozart and Brahms Saturday and Monday, November 3 and 5, 8pm, Orpheum Sunday, November 4, 2pm, Orpheum Alondra de la Parra, conductor Angela Cheng, piano* Top Mozart Brahms Symphony Golden Dragon Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor* Symphony No. 4 in E minor alondradelaparra.com pianistangelacheng.com TICKET INFORMATION: 2
Saturday and Monday Tickets: $25 - $88 (senior, student and subscriber discounts available) Sunday Tickets: $22 - $62 (senior, student and subscriber discounts available) Tickets available online at www.vancouversymphony.ca or by calling VSO customer service at 604.876.3434 Masterworks Gold Series Sponsor: Goldcorp Inc. Symphony Sundays Series Sponsor: Rogers Group Financial BIOGRAPHIES Alondra de la Parra conductor Conductor Alondra de la Parra has gained widespread attention for her spellbinding and vibrant performances, making her one of the most compelling conductors of her generation. She holds the distinction of being the first Mexican woman to conduct in New York City, and is an official Cultural Ambassador for Mexican Tourism. She has been heralded by Plácido Domingo as "an extraordinary conductor." "De la Parra's conducting style must be seen to be believed," raved the San Antonio News Express. "Her electric, precise and energetic fluidity generated arches of breathtaking, glowing expression. The driving Beethoven rhythms pulled the audience to its feet at the end. If people still wore hats, they would have been tossed toward the theater's night-sky ceiling." Born in New York City in 1980, De la Parra moved to Mexico with her parents at age two. She began playing the piano at age seven and the cello at 13, and it was that year that she decided she wanted to be a conductor. At 15, she went to boarding school in England to study music and achieved her A-levels there. After returning to Mexico, she studied composition at Centro De Investigación y Estudios Musicales (Center of Music Studies, CIEM) in Mexico City before moving to New York City at age 19, and attending the Manhattan School of Music where she studied piano with Jeffrey Cohen and conducting with Kenneth Kiesler. Alondra de la Parra founded the Philharmonic Orchestra of the Americas (POA) in 2004, when she was 23. Her mission was to create an orchestra that would serve as a platform to showcase young performers and composers from the Americas, giving music from the Americas an unquestioned place in the standard orchestral repertoire. In September 2010, De la Parra and POA performed during Mexico s national celebration of the country s Bicentennial at the Columna a la Independencia (El Ángel). The celebration was attended by hundreds of thousands and broadcast internationally to an estimated 200 million households around the world. De la Parra s debut recording, Mi Alma Mexicana ("My Mexican Soul") with POA was released by Sony Classical in August 2010. The 2-CD set celebrates the 2010 Mexican Bicentennial with 200 years of Mexican orchestral music, some of it never before commercially available. The disc was among the top 10 on the US Billboard Classical Chart when it was released, and in Mexico earned "Disco de Platino" (Platinum Record) status in less than two months a first for a classical recording in Mexico in more than a decade. 3
Over just the past five years De la Parra has been featured on NBC s Today Show, in Crain s New York Business as one of their "40 under 40 New York s Rising Stars," singled out in The Daily Beast as one of the "Young Rockstars of the Conducting World," graced the cover of Caras magazine, been the subject of a major feature in The New York Times, recognized by Poder magazine as one of their "Top 20 under 40," and named as one of six "Young Artists on the Rise" in Symphony magazine. Frequently in demand as a guest conductor, Alondra de la Parra has led the symphony orchestras of Chicago, Dallas, Houston, San Francisco, Phoenix, Columbus, San Antonio, the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Miami s New World Symphony, Canada s Edmonton Symphony, Germany s Kammerakademie Potsdam and Moritzburg Festival Orchestra, Denmark s Tivoli Symphony, the Russian National Orchestra, Brazil s Sao Paulo Symphony, the Orquesta Sinfónica del Estado de Mexico, Mexico s Orquesta Sinfónica del Estado de México and Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional, Venezuela s Simón Bolivar Youth Orchestra, the Buenos Aires Philharmonic, the Orquesta Sinfónica de Aguascalientes, Uruguay s Montevideo Philharmonic, the Singapore Sun Festival Orchestra where she collaborated with actor Geoffrey Rush, and the Washington National Opera in a gala concert with Plácido Domingo. In addition, since 2005 she has been Music Director of the Music Festival of the Americas in Stowe, Vermont. Alondra de la Parra makes her home in New York City and holds a B.A. in piano performance and an M.M. in conducting from the Manhattan School of Music. Alondra de la Parra is represented worldwide by Tanja Dorn at IMG Artists. Angela Cheng piano Consistently praised for her brilliant technique, tonal beauty and superb musicianship, Canadian pianist Angela Cheng is one of her country s national treasures. In addition to regular guest appearances with virtually every orchestra in Canada, she has also performed with the Alabama Symphony, Buffalo Philharmonic, Colorado Symphony, Houston Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony, Jacksonville Symphony, Louisiana Philharmonic, Saint Louis Symphony, San Diego Symphony, Syracuse Symphony, Utah Symphony and the Israel Philharmonic. In 2009, at the invitation of Pinchas Zukerman, Ms. Cheng toured both Europe and China with the Zukerman ChamberPlayers. She joined them again in the spring of 2010 for a U.S. tour, which included concerts at Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. and the 92nd Street Y in New York. Subsequent seasons have seen multiple tours of Europe and South America, including performances at the Musikverein in Vienna, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, and at the Schleswig-Holstein and Ravinia festivals. An avid recitalist, Angela Cheng appears regularly on recital series throughout the United States and Canada and has collaborated with numerous chamber ensembles including the Takács, Colorado and Vogler quartets. Her festival appearances include Chautauqua, Banff, Colorado, Houston, Vancouver, the Festival International de Lanaudière in Quebec and the Cartegena International Music Festival in Colombia. Ms. Cheng's debut recording of two Mozart concerti with Mario Bernardi and the CBC Vancouver Orchestra received glowing reviews. Other CDs include Clara Schumann's Concerto in A Minor with JoAnn Falletta and the Women's Philharmonic for Koch International; for CBC Records, four Spanish concerti with Hans Graf and the Calgary Philharmonic, both Shostakovich concerti with Mario Bernardi 4
and the CBC Radio Orchestra, and a solo disc of selected works of Clara and Robert Schumann; and, most recently, an all-chopin recital CD released by Universal Music Canada. Angela Cheng has been Gold Medalist of the Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Masters Competition, as well as the first Canadian to win the prestigious Montreal International Piano Competition. Other awards include the Canada Council s coveted Career Development Grant and the Medal of Excellence for outstanding interpretations of Mozart from the Mozarteum in Salzburg. In 2012, Ms. Cheng will make her debut at Carnegie Hall with the Edmonton Symphony. -VSO- 5