New Century Chamber Orchestra
Encyclopedia
The New Century Chamber Orchestra was founded in 1992 by cellist, Miriam Perkoff, and violist, Wieslaw Pogorzelski. The goal of the founders was to present classical music
in a fresh and unique way in the San Francisco Bay Area. The music director
chooses the programs and guides the artistic vision, but the seventeen members of the orchestra
perform as part of a conductorless orchestra
. Musical decisions are made collaboratively, in the hope of enhancing the level of commitment on the part of the musicians and increasing the precision, passion and power of their playing.
In addition to performing classic pieces of chamber orchestra repertoire, New Century commissions new works, revives neglected works from the past, and brings pieces from other genres such as jazz
and rock
into the chamber orchestra setting. New Century's mission is to bring outstanding chamber orchestra performances to Bay Area communities. They perform in intimate venues with excellent acoustics, great sightlines and welcoming atmospheres in four cities: Berkeley
, Palo Alto, San Francisco and San Rafael
.
of the San Francisco Symphony
and the San Francisco Opera
, Canin currently serves as Concertmaster of the Los Angeles Opera
under Music Director James Conlon
and General Director Placido Domingo
. He also served as Concertmaster of the New Japan Philharmonic
in the 1990s, performing and touring under Seiji Ozawa
and Mstislav Rostropovich
. Mr. Canin was born in New York City and studied at Juilliard, where his principal teacher was Ivan Galamian
. Mr. Canin won the International Paganini Competition
in Genoa and the Handel Medal from the city of New York. He served as Concertmaster in Hollywood for studio orchestra
s, performing on such films as Schindler's List
, Titanic
and Forrest Gump
. Mr. Canin was scheduled return to the NCCO in April 2008 to lead a program of Shostakovich, Mendelssohn
, and Mozart
.
A native of Menlo Park, California, Krista Bennion Feeney served as New Century's Music Director and Concertmaster
from 1999 to 2006. She is currently Concertmaster of the Mostly Mozart Festival at Lincoln Center during the summer and Co-Concertmaster of the Orchestra of St. Luke's year-round at Carnegie Hall
and throughout the summer at the Caramoor Festival in Katonah, New York. Ms. Feeney has performed as a soloist with the Orchestra of St. Luke's, the St. Louis Symphony, the San Francisco Symphony
, the New York String Orchestra in Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, the Brandenburg Ensemble and the Elgin Symphony Orchestra
, among others. As a member of the Loma Mar quartet, she recorded new quartet compositions by Paul McCartney
for his 1999 CD entitled Working Classical (EMI Records). She was a student of Isadore Tinkelman and Stuart Canin's at the San Francisco Conservatory, and later studied with Jaime Laredo
and Felix Galimer at the Curtis Institute of Music
.
's professional career began in 1981 when she won the Walter W. Naumburg International Violin Competition. In 1983 she was recognized with an Avery Fisher Career Grant, and in 1999, she was honored with the prestigious Avery Fisher Prize
. Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg was born in Rome and immigrated to the United States at the age of eight to study at The Curtis Institute of Music. She later studied with Dorothy DeLay at The Juilliard School.
and the Berkeley Symphony Orchestra featuring the work of 20th century-Swiss composer Frank Martin
, and Written With the Heart’s Blood, a 1997 Grammy Award
finalist featuring works by Dimitri Shostakovich, both on the New Albion label. A year later, the Orchestra recorded and released Echoes of Argentina, featuring works of Argentine composers Alberto Williams
and Alberto Ginastera
on the d’Note label. In 2004, the Orchestra recorded and released Oculus, a CD of Kurt Rohde’s compositions on the Mondovibe label. In 2009, the Orchestra recorded and released Together featuring works by Astor Piazzolla
and 2008-2009 Featured Composer Clarice Assad
on the NSS Music label. All of the recordings have been distributed both internationally and in the United States.
Frederica von Stade
performed at the group's season opening with a new piece by composer Jake Heggie, entitled On the Road to Christmas, written specifically for von Stade.
In 2000, New Century performed in a multimedia multi-ethnic collaboration with Chinese composer Gang Situ entitled Strings Calligraphy. The composition examines the parallels between string music and calligraphy, the control of the erhu
bow and calligraphy paintbrush and musical renderings and the flow of calligraphy on paper. The uses of shape and line—dance, string instruments and visual imagery— were interwoven as elements of the performance. Chinese characters were projected on downstage screens, as dancers on a platform imitated the shape of the characters.
Sir Simon Rattle
conducted the New Century Chamber Orchestra's 10th Anniversary Celebration concert in June 2002 in a co-presentation with Marin Academy. He led the orchestra in music by Elgar, Schoenberg
and Mozart. This was only the second time that Rattle had conducted in the Bay Area since 1980.
In January 2008, the New Century Chamber Orchestra performed REWIND at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, a sold out special event conceived of and conducted by Paul Haas. The concert traced music backwards in time from the 20th century to the Baroque and featured violinist Anne Akiko Meyers, DJ Mason Bates, and kinetic installation artist Reuben Heyday Margolin
.
Violin
Viola
Cello
Bass
Classical music
Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...
in a fresh and unique way in the San Francisco Bay Area. The music director
Music director
A music director may be the director of an orchestra, the director of music for a film, the director of music at a radio station, the head of the music department in a school, the co-ordinator of the musical ensembles in a university or college , the head bandmaster of a military band, the head...
chooses the programs and guides the artistic vision, but the seventeen members of the orchestra
Orchestra
An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...
perform as part of a conductorless orchestra
Conductorless orchestra
The conductorless orchestra, sometimes referred to as a self-conducted orchestra or unconducted orchestra, is an instrumental ensemble that functions as an orchestra but is not led or directed by a conductor. Most conductorless orchestras are smaller in size, and generally perform chamber orchestra...
. Musical decisions are made collaboratively, in the hope of enhancing the level of commitment on the part of the musicians and increasing the precision, passion and power of their playing.
In addition to performing classic pieces of chamber orchestra repertoire, New Century commissions new works, revives neglected works from the past, and brings pieces from other genres such as jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
and rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
into the chamber orchestra setting. New Century's mission is to bring outstanding chamber orchestra performances to Bay Area communities. They perform in intimate venues with excellent acoustics, great sightlines and welcoming atmospheres in four cities: Berkeley
Berkeley, California
Berkeley is a city on the east shore of the San Francisco Bay in Northern California, United States. Its neighbors to the south are the cities of Oakland and Emeryville. To the north is the city of Albany and the unincorporated community of Kensington...
, Palo Alto, San Francisco and San Rafael
San Rafael, California
San Rafael is a city and the county seat of Marin County, California, United States. The city is located in the North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area...
.
Former Music Directors
Stuart Canin served as New Century's first Music Director from 1992 to 1999. A former ConcertmasterConcertmaster
The concertmaster/mistress is the spalla or leader, of the first violin section of an orchestra. In the UK, the term commonly used is leader...
of the San Francisco Symphony
San Francisco Symphony
The San Francisco Symphony is an orchestra based in San Francisco, California. Since 1980, the orchestra has performed at the Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall. The San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra and the San Francisco Symphony Chorus are part of the organization...
and the San Francisco Opera
San Francisco Opera
San Francisco Opera is an American opera company, based in San Francisco, California.It was founded in 1923 by Gaetano Merola and is the second largest opera company in North America...
, Canin currently serves as Concertmaster of the Los Angeles Opera
Los Angeles Opera
The Los Angeles Opera is an opera company in Los Angeles, California. It is the fourth largest opera company in the United States. The company's home base is the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, part of the Los Angeles Music Center.-Current leadership:...
under Music Director James Conlon
James Conlon
James Conlon is an American conductor and the current Music Director of the Los Angeles Opera.-Early years:Conlon grew up in a family of five children on Cherry Street in Douglaston, Queens, New York. His mother, Angeline L. Conlon, was a freelance writer. His father was an assistant to the New...
and General Director Placido Domingo
Plácido Domingo
Plácido Domingo KBE , born José Plácido Domingo Embil, is a Spanish tenor and conductor known for his versatile and strong voice, possessing a ringing and dramatic tone throughout its range...
. He also served as Concertmaster of the New Japan Philharmonic
New Japan Philharmonic
The is a symphony orchestra based in Tokyo, Japan. It was founded in 1972 with Seiji Ozawa as honorary conductor laureate. The Philharmonic's primary concert venue is the Sumida Triphony Hall. Since 2003, its music director is Christian Arming....
in the 1990s, performing and touring under Seiji Ozawa
Seiji Ozawa
is a Japanese conductor, particularly noted for his interpretations of large-scale late Romantic works. He is most known for his work as music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and principal conductor of the Vienna State Opera.-Early years:...
and Mstislav Rostropovich
Mstislav Rostropovich
Mstislav Leopoldovich Rostropovich, KBE , known to close friends as Slava, was a Soviet and Russian cellist and conductor. He was married to the soprano Galina Vishnevskaya. He is widely considered to have been the greatest cellist of the second half of the 20th century, and one of the greatest of...
. Mr. Canin was born in New York City and studied at Juilliard, where his principal teacher was Ivan Galamian
Ivan Galamian
Ivan Alexander Galamian was an influential Armenian violin teacher of the twentieth century.He was born in Tabriz, Iran, but his family soon emigrated to Moscow, Russia. Galamian studied violin at the School of the Philharmonic Society there with Konstantin Mostras until his graduation in 1919...
. Mr. Canin won the International Paganini Competition
Paganini Competition
The Paganini Competition is an international violin competition named after the famed virtuoso and founder of contemporary violin technique Niccolò Paganini. Created in 1954 it has been carried out ever since in the months of September and October. The "Paganini Competition" is one of the most...
in Genoa and the Handel Medal from the city of New York. He served as Concertmaster in Hollywood for studio orchestra
Studio orchestra
A studio orchestra is an orchestra that exists only in a recording, movie, or television studio. That is, it does not perform in public concerts or for audiences generally. They are typically run by movie and television studios to produce film and television soundtrack recordings. Nearly all...
s, performing on such films as Schindler's List
Schindler's List
Schindler's List is a 1993 American film about Oskar Schindler, a German businessman who saved the lives of more than a thousand mostly Polish-Jewish refugees during the Holocaust by employing them in his factories. The film was directed by Steven Spielberg, and based on the novel Schindler's Ark...
, Titanic
Titanic (1997 film)
Titanic is a 1997 American epic romance and disaster film directed, written, co-produced, and co-edited by James Cameron. A fictionalized account of the sinking of the RMS Titanic, it stars Leonardo DiCaprio as Jack Dawson, Kate Winslet as Rose DeWitt Bukater and Billy Zane as Rose's fiancé, Cal...
and Forrest Gump
Forrest Gump
Forrest Gump is a 1994 American epic comedy-drama romance film based on the 1986 novel of the same name by Winston Groom. The film was directed by Robert Zemeckis, starring Tom Hanks, Robin Wright and Gary Sinise...
. Mr. Canin was scheduled return to the NCCO in April 2008 to lead a program of Shostakovich, Mendelssohn
Felix Mendelssohn
Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Barthóldy , use the form 'Mendelssohn' and not 'Mendelssohn Bartholdy'. The Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians gives ' Felix Mendelssohn' as the entry, with 'Mendelssohn' used in the body text...
, and Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music...
.
A native of Menlo Park, California, Krista Bennion Feeney served as New Century's Music Director and Concertmaster
Concertmaster
The concertmaster/mistress is the spalla or leader, of the first violin section of an orchestra. In the UK, the term commonly used is leader...
from 1999 to 2006. She is currently Concertmaster of the Mostly Mozart Festival at Lincoln Center during the summer and Co-Concertmaster of the Orchestra of St. Luke's year-round at Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
and throughout the summer at the Caramoor Festival in Katonah, New York. Ms. Feeney has performed as a soloist with the Orchestra of St. Luke's, the St. Louis Symphony, the San Francisco Symphony
San Francisco Symphony
The San Francisco Symphony is an orchestra based in San Francisco, California. Since 1980, the orchestra has performed at the Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall. The San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra and the San Francisco Symphony Chorus are part of the organization...
, the New York String Orchestra in Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, the Brandenburg Ensemble and the Elgin Symphony Orchestra
Elgin Symphony Orchestra
With the annual operating budget of over $3 million, the Elgin Symphony Orchestra is Illinois' premier regional orchestra. Under the leadership of Music Director Robert Hanson, the Orchestra's season includes over 50 concerts annually at the 1,200-seat Hemmens Theatre in Elgin and the 440-seat...
, among others. As a member of the Loma Mar quartet, she recorded new quartet compositions by Paul McCartney
Paul McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE, Hon RAM, FRCM is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings , McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100...
for his 1999 CD entitled Working Classical (EMI Records). She was a student of Isadore Tinkelman and Stuart Canin's at the San Francisco Conservatory, and later studied with Jaime Laredo
Jaime Laredo
Jaime Laredo is a violinist and conductor. Currently the conductor and Music Director of the Vermont Symphony Orchestra, he began his musical career when he was five years old. In 1948 he came to North America and took lessons from Antonio DeGrass...
and Felix Galimer at the Curtis Institute of Music
Curtis Institute of Music
The Curtis Institute of Music is a conservatory in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, that offers courses of study leading to a performance Diploma, Bachelor of Music, Master of Music in Opera, and Professional Studies Certificate in Opera. According to statistics compiled by U.S...
.
Current Music Director
Nadja Salerno-SonnenbergNadja Salerno-Sonnenberg
Nadja Rose Catherine Salerno-Sonnenberg is an Italian-born classical violinist, author, and teacher. She is a United States citizen.-Career:...
's professional career began in 1981 when she won the Walter W. Naumburg International Violin Competition. In 1983 she was recognized with an Avery Fisher Career Grant, and in 1999, she was honored with the prestigious Avery Fisher Prize
Avery Fisher Prize
The Avery Fisher Prize is an award given to American musicians for outstanding achievement in classical music. Founded by philanthropist Avery Fisher in 1974, it is regarded as one of the most significant awards for American instrumentalists. The award is decided by members of the Avery Fisher...
. Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg was born in Rome and immigrated to the United States at the age of eight to study at The Curtis Institute of Music. She later studied with Dorothy DeLay at The Juilliard School.
Recordings
The Orchestra has released six compact discs, including LIVE: Barber, Strauss, Mahler, Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg’s second recording with the Orchestra as Music Director. The new disc was released November 2010 on NSS Music, and features live recordings from the Orchestra’s 2008-2009 and 2009-2010 seasons. Other recordings include a 1996 collaborative project with Kent NaganoKent Nagano
__FORCETOC__Kent George Nagano is an American conductor and opera administrator. He is currently the music director of the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal and the Bavarian State Opera.-Biography:...
and the Berkeley Symphony Orchestra featuring the work of 20th century-Swiss composer Frank Martin
Frank Martin (composer)
Frank Martin was a Swiss composer, who lived a large part of his life in the Netherlands.-Childhood and youth:...
, and Written With the Heart’s Blood, a 1997 Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
finalist featuring works by Dimitri Shostakovich, both on the New Albion label. A year later, the Orchestra recorded and released Echoes of Argentina, featuring works of Argentine composers Alberto Williams
Alberto Williams
Alberto Williams was an Argentine symphonic composer and conductor.-Life and work:Alberto Williams was born to in Buenos Aires, in 1862. A maternal grandfather, Amancio Jacinto Alcorta, had been a respected government and banking policy-maker, as well as a well-known composer of sacred music...
and Alberto Ginastera
Alberto Ginastera
Alberto Evaristo Ginastera was an Argentine composer of classical music. He is considered one of the most important Latin American classical composers.- Biography :...
on the d’Note label. In 2004, the Orchestra recorded and released Oculus, a CD of Kurt Rohde’s compositions on the Mondovibe label. In 2009, the Orchestra recorded and released Together featuring works by Astor Piazzolla
Ástor Piazzolla
Ástor Pantaleón Piazzolla was an Argentine tango composer and bandoneón player. His oeuvre revolutionized the traditional tango into a new style termed nuevo tango, incorporating elements from jazz and classical music...
and 2008-2009 Featured Composer Clarice Assad
Clarice Assad
Clarice Assad is a classical and jazz composer, arranger, pianist, and vocalist.A native of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Clarice Assad has performed professionally since the age of seven. She holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the Chicago College of the Performing Arts, in Chicago, IL, and a Masters...
on the NSS Music label. All of the recordings have been distributed both internationally and in the United States.
Touring
In February 2011, New Century travelled to Santa Rosa, Cleveland, Granville, Ann Arbor, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Diego, and Davis. Earlier tours took the Orchestra to Tucson, San Bernardino, Phoenix, Orange County, Redding, Portland, New Orleans, Arcata and Santa Barbara.Highlights
In December 1996, mezzo-sopranoMezzo-soprano
A mezzo-soprano is a type of classical female singing voice whose range lies between the soprano and the contralto singing voices, usually extending from the A below middle C to the A two octaves above...
Frederica von Stade
Frederica von Stade
Frederica von Stade is an American mezzo-soprano. Born in Somerville, New Jersey, she acquired the nickname "Flicka" in her childhood. Von Stade attended the Mannes College of Music in New York City. She made her debut with the Metropolitan Opera in 1970 and in 1971 appeared as Cherubino in The...
performed at the group's season opening with a new piece by composer Jake Heggie, entitled On the Road to Christmas, written specifically for von Stade.
In 2000, New Century performed in a multimedia multi-ethnic collaboration with Chinese composer Gang Situ entitled Strings Calligraphy. The composition examines the parallels between string music and calligraphy, the control of the erhu
Erhu
The erhu is a two-stringed bowed musical instrument, more specifically a spike fiddle, which may also be called a "southern fiddle", and sometimes known in the Western world as the "Chinese violin" or a "Chinese two-stringed fiddle". It is used as a solo instrument as well as in small ensembles...
bow and calligraphy paintbrush and musical renderings and the flow of calligraphy on paper. The uses of shape and line—dance, string instruments and visual imagery— were interwoven as elements of the performance. Chinese characters were projected on downstage screens, as dancers on a platform imitated the shape of the characters.
Sir Simon Rattle
Simon Rattle
Sir Simon Denis Rattle, CBE is an English conductor. He rose to international prominence as conductor of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and since 2002 has been principal conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic ....
conducted the New Century Chamber Orchestra's 10th Anniversary Celebration concert in June 2002 in a co-presentation with Marin Academy. He led the orchestra in music by Elgar, Schoenberg
Schoenberg
Schoenberg is the surname of several persons:* Arnold Schoenberg , Austrian-American composer* Claude-Michel Schoenberg , French record producer, actor, singer, popular songwriter, and musical theatre composer...
and Mozart. This was only the second time that Rattle had conducted in the Bay Area since 1980.
In January 2008, the New Century Chamber Orchestra performed REWIND at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, a sold out special event conceived of and conducted by Paul Haas. The concert traced music backwards in time from the 20th century to the Baroque and featured violinist Anne Akiko Meyers, DJ Mason Bates, and kinetic installation artist Reuben Heyday Margolin
Reuben Heyday Margolin
Reuben Heyday Margolin is an American-born artist and sculptor known for his mechanically-driven kinetic sculptures of wave-forms. Some of the sculptures are hand-cranked and small scale, while others are large, installed in large high-ceiling spaces, suspended from the ceiling...
.
Educational programs
New Century is committed to being a vital part of the community and to educational outreach in the communities where it performs. The orchestra provides musical education to 3rd, 4th and 5th grade students in an intensive program at schools in Marin City and San Rafael’s Canal District. In addition to several annual classroom visits by a string quartet, selected students are offered free instrumental music instruction with a goal of having the students on as close of an educational equivalency as possible with their suburban peers.Orchestra members
Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, Music DirectorViolin
- Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, concert master
- Dawn Harms, associate concert master
- Candace Guirao, principal second
- Robin Mayforth
- Anna Presler
- Karen Shinozaki Sor
- Iris Stone
- Deborah Tien Price
- Michael Yokas
- Liza Zurlinden
Viola
- Anna Kruger, principal
- Cassandra Lynne Richburg
- Kurt Rohde
- Jenny Douglass
Cello
- Susan Babini, principal
- Joanne Lin
- Robin Bonnell
- Michelle Djokic
Bass
- Anthony Manzo, principal