San Francisco Conservatory of Music, 50 Oak St at Van Ness, SF 94102 (Map)(Tickets)
Cyrus Ginwala, guest conductor
Jennifer Higdon - Blue Cathedral
Ravel - Piano Concerto in G
Marc Peloquin, piano
Brahms – Symphony No. 2
About Dr. Cyrus Ginwala, guest conductor
Conductor Cyrus Ginwala has appeared with the Minnesota Orchestra, the Boca Pops, the National Symphony Orchestra of Costa Rica, the Aspen Concert Orchestra and the Sewanee Summer Festival Orchestra. He has served as visiting faculty at the Peabody Conservatory and the St. Petersburg Conservatory in Russia. Since relocating to the Bay Area in 2005, he has conducted concerts throughout the region, including during the inaugural season of the Bay Area Rainbow Symphony.
Born and raised in Boston, his early training was as singer and pianist. While in high school, he studied at the Tanglewood Young Artist Program, after which he was appointed to the faculty for an additional three years. After completing a B. Mus. in piano at Boston University, he earned Master and Doctor of Music degrees in Orchestral Conducting at the Peabody Conservatory, where he conducted opera productions annually and was the only student in the conservatory’s modern history entrusted with a major production of the Peabody Opera Theater.
From 1989-1996, Dr. Ginwala was Music Director of the Orchestra and the Opera Workshop at Towson University in Baltimore and, from 1994-96, Music Director of the Young Victorian Opera Company.
Music Director of the Symphony of the Mountains from 1996-2005, he conducted more than 100 works in subscription and pops series, while expanding the orchestra’s concert and education programs. During the same period, Dr. Ginwala was Resident Conductor of the Sewanee Summer Music Center, one of the oldest summer orchestral training programs in America.
An outspoken advocate for social and community causes, he was founding member of Equality Tennessee, created following the 2000 March on Washington, and the Kingsport Community Foundation. He lives in Oakland with his husband Dennis and two unreasonably demanding cats..
About Marc Peloquin, piano
A New York Times critic recently declared pianist Marc Peloquin's "energetic approach yielded a performance that was refreshing and alive. Individual lines rang out with remarkable definition and clarity..." Appearances have taken him from the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City, the American Academy in Rome, Germany's Darmstadt Festival and the Cultural Center of Roubaix, France, to New York City spaces including Merkin Concert Hall, the Guggenheim Museum, the Museum of Modern Art and Bargemusic. A refined and sensitive chamber musician, he and fellow pianist Roberto Hidalgo are the dynamic ensemble, Split Second.
Marc Peloquin's debut CD, works for solo piano of Otto Leuning, is available on the CRI label. Currently, a 3-disc set of the solo piano works of David Del Tredici is in process with Naxos Records. A native of Rhode Island, Marc received his Doctor of Musical Arts from the Manhattan School of Music with additional studies at Boston University, the New England Conservatory and Tangelwood. He is visiting lecturer at the New School University, a Resident Teaching Artist at the Bloomingdale School of Music and resides in New York City.
About Jennifer Higdon, composer
Pulitzer Prize-winner Jennifer Higdon (b. Brooklyn, NY, December 31, 1962) is one of America?s most performed living composers. Higdon received the 2010 Pulitzer Prize in Music for her Violin Concerto, with the committee citing Higdon?s work as “a deeply engaging piece that combines flowing lyricism with dazzling virtuosity.” She is the recipient of many other awards, including a Pew Fellowship, a Guggenheim Fellowship and two awards from the American Academy of Arts & Letters. Her list of commissioners range from the Philadelphia Orchestra to the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra; from Eighth Blackbird to the Tokyo String Quartet; and from The President?s Own Marine Band to such artists as Hilary Hahn.
Pulitzer Prize-winner Jennifer Higdon (b. Brooklyn, NY, December 31, 1962) is one of America?s most performed living composers. Higdon received the 2010 Pulitzer Prize in Music for her Violin Concerto, with the committee citing Higdon?s work as “a deeply engaging piece that combines flowing lyricism with dazzling virtuosity.” She is the recipient of many other awards, including a Pew Fellowship, a Guggenheim Fellowship and two awards from the American Academy of Arts & Letters. Her list of commissioners range from the Philadelphia Orchestra to the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra; from Eighth Blackbird to the Tokyo String Quartet; and from The President?s Own Marine Band to such artists as Hilary Hahn.
Her works have been recorded on over three dozen CDs, and most recently her Percussion Concerto won the 2010 Grammy for Best Contemporary Classica Composition. Higdon holds the Rock Chair in Composition at The Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. Her music is published exclusively by Lawdon Press.
For more info, see www.jenniferhigdon.com
Part of BARS' LGBTQ Composer and Performing Artist Series, which strives to redefine perceptions of LGBTQ music and increase awareness of the beauty, talents, and accomplishments of fellow LGBTQ individuals and groups.