Orchestra of St. Luke's
Now in its 38th season, Orchestra of St. Luke's (OSL) is one of America's foremost and
most versatile ensembles. Dedicated to engaging audiences throughout New York City and
beyond, OSL performs approximately 70 orchestral, chamber, and educational concerts each
year-including an annual orchestra series at Carnegie Hall, an annual chamber
music series at The Morgan Library & Museum and the Brooklyn Museum, and summer
concerts as orchestra-in-residence at the Caramoor International Music Festival. OSL's
principal conductor is Pablo Heras-Casado.
OSL collaborates regularly with the world's great artists, such as Renée Fleming, Yo-Yo
Ma, Jessye Norman, Anna Netrebko, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Mark Morris Dance Group, Peter
Gabriel, Sting, Elton John, and many more. In March 2011, OSL opened The DiMenna Center for
Classical Music-its first permanent home, and New York City's first rehearsal
and recording facility dedicated to classical music. Committed to community building, OSL
produces free concerts in each of the five boroughs as part of its Subway Series, free
concerts and events devoted to the artistic process as part of its
OSL@DMC series at The DiMenna Center, and has engaged more than one million
children in its Arts Education programs.
OSL's discography of more than 70 recordings includes five releases on its own label, St.
Luke's Collection, and four Grammy Award-winning recordings. OSL has commissioned more than
50 new works and performed more than 150 world, US, and New York premieres.
Later this season, OSL's 2012-2013 Carnegie Hall series features Iván Fischer conducting
the orchestra in Bach's St. Matthew Passion on March 28, with the New York
City-based chorus Musica Sacra and soprano Dominique Labelle, mezzo-soprano Barbara Kozelj,
tenor John Tessier, and bass-baritone Hanno Müller-Brachmann. OSL closes its orchestra
series with conductor Nicholas McGegan and cellist Steven Isserlis performing a program of
Haydn and Mozart on June 1.
Pablo Heras-Casado
Pablo Heras-Casado enjoys a multifaceted conducting career of unusual breadth and variety,
from early music to cutting-edge contemporary scores, intimate chamber programs, and grand
opera. In December 2011, Mr. Heras-Casado was announced as principal conductor of Orchestra
of St. Luke's, beginning a four-year term that includes regular concerts at Carnegie Hall
and the Caramoor International Music Festival, as well as special projects. He is OSL's
fourth titled conductor, following Sir Roger Norrington (1990-1994), Charles Mackerras
(1998-2001), and Donald Runnicles (2001-2007).
Mr. Heras-Casado enjoyed many significant guest-conducting debuts last season, including
the Berliner Philharmoniker, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Chicago and Boston
symphony orchestras, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Mariinsky Orchestra, Mahler Chamber Orchestra,
Staatskapelle Berlin, and Salzburger Festspiele with Klangforum Wien. He also participated
in new music projects with l'Ensemble intercontemporain.
In the 2012-2013 season, Mr. Heras-Casado returns to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and
San Francisco Symphony. In Europe, he gives debut performances with the Royal Concertgebouw
Orchestra and the Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia. Opera performances
include Peter Eötvös's Angels in America with the Los Angeles Philharmonic,
Rigoletto with Deutsche Oper Berlin, Les vêpres siciliennes with
Oper Frankfurt, and Il postino with Teatro Real, starring Plácido Domingo.
In December 2011, Mr. Heras-Casado was awarded the Medalla de Honor of the Rodriguez
Acosta Foundation, and in February 2012 he was awarded with the Golden Medal of the City of
Granada, his hometown.
Last season, Mr. Heras-Casado announced a significant relationship with Harmonia Mundi;
his recording of Mendelssohn's Symphony No. 2, "Lobgesang," with the Bavarian Radio
Symphony Orchestra will be released in 2013. Another disc, recorded in Granada with the
Freiburg Baroque Orchestra, features Schubert's symphonies nos. 3 and 4 and will be
released in the same season.
A champion of contemporary music, Mr. Heras-Casado has worked with Ensemble ACJW at
Carnegie Hall, Klangforum Wien, and Collegium Novum Zürich. His performance of repertoire
that included Stockhausen's Gruppen resulted in his winning the 2007 Lucerne
Festival Conductors' Competition. The award was voted unanimously by a jury that included
Pierre Boulez and Peter Eötvös.