New York, NY (Top40 Charts/ JOSE SEREBRIER Official Website) In commemoration of its 10th anniversary, YOA Orchestra of the Americas will tour China from 14 December 2011 to 5 January 2012, presenting 12 concerts in major cities and concert halls.
Following 10 years' history of extensive Latin American and European tours, this project marks YOA's Asian debut. Presented by Armstrong Arts Limited, the tour begins with a week-long Residence at the Chongqing Academy of Arts and Sciences. Under the leadership of conductor José Serebrier and YOA Faculty Leon Spierer (former Concertmaster, Berlin Philharmonic), Mauro Maur (Principal Trumpet, Rome Opera Orchestra), and Michael Webster (Professor of Clarinet, Shepard School of
Music - Rice University), the 80-musician YOA orchestra will prepare several programs to be performed in China's most prestigious theaters. YOA musicians will have the opportunity to take part in cultural exchanges and visits to a number of China's important historic sites, including the Great Wall and the Terracotta Warriors museum in Xi'An.
Repertoire includes works by Tchaikovsky, Beethoven, Dvorak, Verdi, Ginastera, Strauss, Bizet, Glazunov and others. Soloists include Metropolitan Opera (MET) soprano Carole Farley and YOA musicians Nicolas Giordano (violin - Uruguay), Ivan Zerpa (violin - Venezuela),
Sarah Steeves (cello - Canada), and Ignacio Gallego (cello - Spain). Participation of YOA musicians is generously underwritten by Susan E. Lehrman. YOA musicians in China represent Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, México, Panamá, Peru, United States, Uruguay, and Venezuela. In celebration of YOA's 10th Anniversary, partner institutions are sending their most talented musicians to perform with the YOA orchestra: Consejo Nacional de la Cultura (Chile), New England Conservatory - YOA Founding Institution (Massachusetts), Núcleos Estaduais de Orquestras Juvenis e Infantis - Neojibá (Bahia, Brasil), Orquesta Juvenil Municipal de Guatemala (Guatemala), Orquesta Sinfonica Universidad Guanajuato (México), New Brunswick Youth Orchestra (Canada), Escola de Musica Eleazar de Carvalho - ASSATEMEC (Itú, Brasil).
14-19 December Chongqing Residence: Chongqing Academy of Arts and Sciences
20 December Chongqing Chongqing Grand Theater
21 December Chongqing Chongqing Grand Theater
23 December Guangzhou Guangzhou Opera House
24 December Guangzhou Guangzhow Opera House
25 December Shenzhen Shenzhen Grand Theater
27 December Dalian People's Cultural Center
28 December Dalian People's Cultural Center
29 December Beijing Beijing Concert Hall
30 December Lanzhou Gansu Grand Theater
31 December Lanzhow Gansu Grand Theater
1 January Xi'An Xi'An Concet Hall
2 January Shanghai Oriental Arts Centre
The tour will be conducted by GRAMMY Award winning composer and conductor José Serebrier, who has had extensive experience with youth orchestras. During his early teens in his native Urugauy, he organized the first youth orchestra in Latin America, and toured with them for five years, until receiving a US
State Department Fellowship to study with
Aaron Copland and at the Curtis
Institute of Music. One of today's most recorded artists , with more than 300 titles to his credit, his recent CDs have been with the New York Philharmonic, London Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Bamberg Symphony, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Bournemouth Symphony, Royal Scottish
National Orchestra, Staatskapelle Weimar and many others. José Serebrier has received 39 GRAMMY nominations, and has won the Latin GRAMMY for "best recording of the year", and many other awards including the Grand Prix du Disque in France and Deutsche Schallplatten award in Germany.
At 21 Serebrier became Leopold Stokowski's Associate Conductor in New York's Carnegie Hall. Stokowski premiered several of his compositions, which have also been recorded by John Eliot Gardiner and others. At 22, Serebrier won the Ford Foundation American Conductors Award, sharing the prize with
James Levine.
George Szell, who was in the jury, invited Serebrier to be the Cleveland Orchestra's Composer in Residence for several seasons, under a grant from the
Rockefeller Foundation. As composer, Serebrier has won most awards, including two Guggenheims (as the youngest in their history), Kousevitsky Foundation Award, commissions from the Harvard Musical Association,
National Endowment for the Arts and many others. A prolific composer, his 100+ works are published by Peermusic, Kalmus, Peters Editions, Boosey & hawkes, Universal Edition Vienna, Hal Leonard Publications.
Serebrier is the regular guest conductor for the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Russian
National Orchestra and Toulouse Chamber Orchestra, a relationship that includes yearly concerts, recordings and international tours. In February 2012 Serebrier tours with the Toulouse Chamber Orchestra to several international festivals. In April 2012 Serebrier takes the Russian
National Orchestra on a tour of Latin
America following concerts and recording sessions in Moscow. French music critic Michel Faure has recently written a new book about Serebrier, published in Paris by L'Harmattan.
Under the guidance of Artistic Advisor Plácido Domingo, YOA Orchestra of the Americas is a world-class symphony orchestra of gifted young musicians, ages 18 to 30, representing more than 20 countries in the Western Hemisphere. YOA's mission is to bring together energetic, talented musicians to pursue excellence and celebrate cultural diversity as a catalyst for social change. In ten years, YOA has become an international brand performing with renowned artists from Yo-Yo Ma to Paquito D'Rivera, from Valery Gergiev to Philip Glass, from Joshua Bell to Plácido Domingo, from
Nelson Freire to Gabriela Montero, and many others.
Free and open auditions are held annually via YouTube to ensure that any deserving and eligible musician of the Americas can apply. Following adjudication by prestigious faculty, all musicians in the new orchestra participate on full-scholarship, to achieve the greatest equality and diversity possible.
The season centerpiece is an annual July-August Residence and Concert Tour held each year in different regions of the Americas and beyond. Musicians, faculty, conductors, guest artists, and staff gather for a 2-week Residence of master classes, individual instruction, sectionals and full-orchestra rehearsals to prepare diverse and challenging repertoire to take on a month-long Tour. Special invitations and educational exchange bring together YOA musicians throughout the year. Programs range from chamber recitals to full-orchestra concerts. YOA musicians also serve as teaching artists in partner programs with conservatories and orchestras around the world.
YOA has performed more than 250 concerts since its 2002 Inaugural Tour in prestigious concert halls and venues not often associated with symphonic music. YOA has reached over 8 million people through live performances, television and radio broadcasts, CD recordings, print media, and documentary films. The impact of YOA stretches far beyond its programs. Participants return to their native countries to share experiences and knowledge with their communities. YOA connects musicians to institutions of higher learning and professional job opportunities. YOA is a model for music education programs in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Panama, Peru, Saint Lucia, the United States, and Uruguay.
Additional information on José Serebrier may be found at the following websites:
www.joseserebrier.com
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