BSO Announces New Music Festival

From the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra: Under the leadership of Music Director Marin Alsop, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (BSO) announces its summer 2018 New Music Festival. Launched in 2017, the New Music Festival brings contemporary classical music to Baltimore for a four-day celebration from June 20-23. With concerts and events planned in venues throughout Baltimore, this year’s festival also features the world premiere of Kevin Puts’ Oboe Concerto, “Moonlight,” a BSO commission.

“Promoting new music and the work of living composers has always been a central part of my mission as a conductor and music educator,” said Alsop. “We launched the BSO New Music Festival last summer, and we can’t wait to bring it back this year with some fantastic composers and repertoire, including the world premiere of Kevin Puts’ Oboe Concerto.”

Other composers featured on the New Music Festival include Osvaldo Golijov, James MacMillan, Thierry de Mey, Dan Visconti and Du Yun. The festival kicks off on Wednesday, June 20 with a free Composer Talk at Red Emma’s Bookstore Coffeehouse featuring Visconti. On Thursday, June 21 the festival continues with a chamber music concert co-curated by Alsop and cellist Inbal Segev at the Peabody Institute’s Griswold Hall. On Friday, the Motor House’s Graffiti Alley hosts a free Chamber Jam concert with performances by Shodekeh, Ok Miss and Mind on Fire. The New Music Festival concludes on June 23 with a symphonic concert at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall. The program is conducted by Alsop and features BSO Principal Oboist Katherine Needleman performing Puts’ concerto. This performance is free or pay-what-you-wish.

Preceding the symphonic concert is a block party outside the Meyerhoff with live entertainment and local food trucks. Alsop and several of the evening’s composers participate in a roundtable Q&A discussion inside the lobby before the performance.

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FESTIVAL SCHEDULE

Composer Talk

Wed, Jun 20, 7:30 pm – Red Emma’s Bookstore Coffeehouse

Join guest composer Dan Visconti for a free talk on connecting music to communities.

Chamber Music Concert

Thu, Jun 21, 8 pm – Griswold Hall, Peabody Institute

Marin Alsop, conductor and co-curator

Inbal Segev, co-curator

THIERRY DE MEY // Table Music

DU YUN // Tattooed in Snow

DAN VISCONTI // Black Bend

OSVALDO GOLIJOV // Mariel

JAMES MACMILLAN // The Exorcism of Rio Sumpul (conducted by Marin Alsop)

Chamber Jam

Fri, Jun 22, 8 pm – Graffiti Alley, Motor House

Join Shodekeh, OK Miss and local new music group Mind on Fire for a performance at the Motor House. This concert is free and open to the public. No tickets are required.

Symphonic Concert

Sat, Jun 23, 8 pm – Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall

Marin Alsop, conductor

Katherine Needleman, oboe

DU YUN // Slow Portraits

KEVIN PUTS // Oboe Concert, “Moonlight” (World Premiere, BSO Commission)

DAN VISCONTI // Low Country Haze

JAMES MACMILLAN // Woman of the Apocalypse

Pre-concert party with live entertainment by DJ Dubble 8 and food trucks outside the Meyerhoff begins at 6 pm. Join Maestra Alsop and several of the evening’s composers at 7 pm for a roundtable Q&A discussion inside the lobby.

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VENUE INFORMATION

Red Emma’s Bookstore Coffeehouse

30 W North Avenue, Baltimore, MD 21201

The Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University – Griswold Hall

1 E Mount Vernon Place, Baltimore, MD 21202

Motor House – Graffiti Alley

120 W North Avenue, Baltimore, MD 21201

Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall

1212 Cathedral Street, Baltimore, MD 21201

TICKETS

Tickets on sale through the BSO Ticket Office at 410.783.8000 or BSOmusic.org. Tickets for the Chamber Music concert at the Peabody Institute are $15. The Symphonic Concert at Meyerhoff Symphony Hall is free or pay-what-you-wish. The Composer Talk at Red Emma’s and the Chamber Jam at Motor House are free and open to the public.

For press comps, additional artist bios or media materials, please contact the PR Department at tkopasek@BSOmusic.org.

SPONSORSHIP

The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra gratefully acknowledges the generosity of Thomas Brener and Inbal Segev, the Presenting Sponsors of the 2018 New Music Festival and the Founding Sponsors of the 2017 New Music Festival.

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ARTIST BIOS

About the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra

For over a century, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (BSO) has been recognized as one of America’s leading orchestras and one of Maryland’s most significant cultural institutions. Under the direction of Music Director Marin Alsop, the Orchestra is internationally recognized and locally admired for its innovation, performances and recordings, and educational outreach initiatives including OrchKids. Launched by Marin Alsop and the BSO in 2008, OrchKids provides children educational resources and fosters social change through the power of music in some of Baltimore’s most underserved communities.

The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra performs annually for more than 350,000 people throughout the State of Maryland. Since 1982, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra has performed at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall in Baltimore. In 2005, with the opening of The Music Center at Strathmore in North Bethesda, MD, the BSO became the nation’s first orchestra with year-round venues in two metropolitan areas. More information about the BSO can be found at BSOmusic.org.

About Marin Alsop

Marin Alsop is an inspiring and powerful voice who passionately believes that “music has the power to change lives.” She is recognized for her innovative programming and for her deep commitment to education and to the development of audiences of all ages.

Her success as Music Director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (BSO) has been recognized by the extension of her tenure until 2021. In Baltimore, Alsop launched OrchKids, for the city’s underserved youth, and the BSO Academy and Rusty Musicians programs for adult amateur musicians. She became Music Director of the São Paulo Symphony Orchestra in 2012 and becomes Conductor of Honor in 2019. Alsop becomes Chief Conductor of the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra in September 2019.

Alsop conducts the world’s major orchestras, including the Leipzig Gewandhaus, Royal Concertgebouw and the London Philharmonic orchestras. In September 2013, she made history as the first female conductor of the BBC’s Last Night of the Proms.

As a protégé of Leonard Bernstein, Alsop is central to his 100th-anniversary celebrations, conducting Bernstein’s Mass at the Ravinia Festival, where she has been appointed Musical Curator for 2018. Her extensive discography has led to multiple awards and includes a highly praised Naxos cycle of Dvořák with the BSO. Her dedication to new music is demonstrated by her 25-year tenure as Music Director of the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music and her launching the BSO’s New Music Festival in 2017.

Alsop is the only conductor to receive the MacArthur Fellowship, and she was recently appointed Director of Graduate Conducting at the Peabody Institute. She attended the Juilliard School and Yale University, which awarded her an Honorary Doctorate in 2017.

About Inbal Segev

Inbal Segev’s playing has been described as “delivered with impressive fluency and style,” by The Strad. Equally committed to new repertoire and known masterworks, Segev brings interpretations that are both unreservedly natural and insightful to the vast range of solo and chamber music that she performs.

Segev has performed as soloist with acclaimed orchestras internationally and made debuts with the Berlin Philharmonic and Israel Philharmonic, led by Zubin Mehta, at age 17. She has commissioned new works by Avner Dorman, Timo Andres, Gity Razaz, Dan Visconti and more. In 2018, Segev was the first cellist to perform Christopher Rouse’s Violoncello Concerto since Yo-Yo Ma premiered it in the 1990s. She is also a founding member of the Amerigo Trio with former New York Philharmonic concertmaster Glenn Dicterow and violist Karen Dreyfus.

Segev’s discography includes Bach’s Cello Suites (Vox 2015), works by Lucas Richman with the Pittsburgh Symphony (Albany 2015), Sonatas by Beethoven and Boccherini (Opus One), Nigun (Vox) and Max Schubel’s Concerto for Cello (Opus One). With the Amerigo Trio she has recorded serenades by Dohnányi (Navona). Her recording with pianist Juho Pohjonen of the music of Chopin, Schumann and Grieg will be released in 2018.

Segev’s many honors include the America-Israel Cultural Foundation Scholarship and top prizes at the Pablo Casals, Paulo and Washington International Competitions. She began playing the cello in Israel at age five and at 16 was invited by Isaac Stern to come to the U.S. to continue her studies. She holds degrees from The Juilliard School and Yale University.

Segev lives in New York with her husband and three children. Her cello was made by Francesco Ruggieri in 1673. Her YouTube channel, featuring music videos and her popular masterclass series Musings with Inbal Segev, has thousands of subscribers and over a half million views.

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