New York String Orchestra
Performers
New York String Orchestra
Jaime Laredo, Conductor
Jennifer Koh, Violin
Program
ALL-MOZART PROGRAMIdomeneo Overture
Violin Concerto No. 3
Symphony No. 41, "Jupiter"
Event Duration
The printed program will last approximately one hour with no intermission.This concert is made possible, in part, by an endowment fund for young artists established by Stella and Robert Jones.
At a Glance
Bios
Jaime Laredo
For more than six decades, Jaime Laredo has excelled in the multiple roles of soloist,
conductor, recitalist, pedagogue, and chamber musician. Since his stunning San Francisco
Symphony debut at the age of 11, he has won the admiration and respect of audiences,
critics, and fellow musicians with his passionate and polished performances. At the age of
17, he won the prestigious Queen Elisabeth Competition in Belgium, launching his rise to
international prominence.
During the 2016-2017 season, Mr. Laredo tours the US and Europe as a conductor, soloist,
and member of the award-winning Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio, which began its 40th
anniversary celebration this fall. Earlier this season, he reprised André Previn's Double
Concerto for Violin and Cello with his wife, cellist Sharon Robinson. Performances of the
concerto-which was commissioned specifically for the duo-have received rave reviews during
the past two seasons. They have also performed the work with the Cincinnati, Kansas City,
Austin, Detroit, Pacific, and Toronto symphony orchestras, as well as the Deutsche
Kammerphilharmonie Bremen and Swedish Chamber Orchestra. The duo will collaborate next on a
double concerto by Chris Brubeck.
Mr. Laredo has recorded close to 100 discs, including a Grammy Award-winning disc of
Brahms piano quartets with Emanuel Ax, Isaac Stern, and Yo-Yo Ma. His recordings include
the complete Bach sonatas with Glenn Gould (CBS/RCA); recent premiere recordings of double
concertos with violinist Jennifer Koh (Two x Four on Cedille Records) and
cellist Sharon Robinson (Triple Doubles on Bridge Records); and many
award-winning recordings with the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio.
Mr. Laredo's stewardships of the annual New York String Orchestra Seminar at Carnegie Hall
(which he has conducted for 23 years) and the International Violin Competition of
Indianapolis have become beloved educational pillars of the musical community. This is also
the fifth year of Mr. Laredo's tenure at the Cleveland Institute of Music. He concurrently
holds director positions with the Vermont Symphony Orchestra and Linton Chamber Music
Series in Cincinnati, and is the principal conductor of the Westchester Philharmonic. He
was also artistic director of the Chamber Music at 92Y series in New York for 40 years.
Born in Bolivia, Mr. Laredo resides in Guilford, Vermont, and Cleveland, Ohio.
New York String Orchestra
One of the country's most acclaimed professional training programs, the New York String
Orchestra Seminar and its alumni have had a major impact on the music world in the United
States and abroad. The program was created in 1969 by arts manager Frank Salomon for
violinist and conductor Alexander "Sasha" Schneider, who chose Jaime Laredo to succeed him
as director. In its 47-year history, the seminar has introduced more than 2,200 exceptional
young musicians from across the nation to new musical ideas and offered them the challenge
of performing two professional-level concerts presented by Carnegie Hall. All students
receive full scholarships to participate. For more detailed information on the program and
its commitment to offering a full scholarship to each participating student, visit
newschool.edu/mannes/nysos. If you would like to know more about what the program means to
our students and what the future brings them, send an email to nsc@newschool.edu to receive
periodic updates.
Seminar alumnus Yo-Yo Ma (1977) shared, "[The seminar was] one of the defining moments for
me as a teenager," as it was for so many of today's musical leaders: soloists such as
violinists Cho-Liang Lin, Gil Shaham, Kyoko Takezawa, and Shlomo Mintz; conductors who
include Peter Oundjian, Joseph Swensen, Douglas Boyd, and Marin Alsop; concertmasters of
more than 40 orchestras (including the Chicago, Boston, Cleveland, and Philadelphia
orchestras, and the Los Angeles and Czech philharmonics); members of such ensembles as the
Emerson, Guarneri, Kronos, Orion, and Takács string quartets and Brooklyn Rider; and
faculty at leading music schools and conservatories. They call the seminar a "life-changing
musical experience" that opened new musical worlds for them. Each new generation of New
York String Orchestra Seminar alumni continues to make a vital contribution to music and
illuminate lives around the country.
This year, the 61 New York String Orchestra members (ages 16-23) are from conservatories,
colleges, and high schools across the US and Canada. Selected through highly competitive
national auditions, students give up their winter holidays to come to New York City for 10
days of intensive orchestra rehearsals with Mr. Laredo and chamber music sessions with
master artists, including members of the Emerson, Juilliard, Orion, and Guarneri string
quartets.
The New York String Orchestra Seminar is a program of The New School's Mannes School of
Music-New School Concerts Department. New School Concerts thanks the conductor, coaches,
soloists, audition panelists, and advisors for their invaluable contributions to the
project, and the many others whose time, effort, and resources make the seminar possible.
Our thanks to the Cleveland Institute of Music, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, The Colburn
School, Manhattan School of Music, New England Conservatory, Rice University's Shepherd
School of Music, and the Wellington Hotel. We also thank Michelle Baker, Bart Feller,
Valerie Feuer, Laura Flax, Ida Kavafian, Dean Richard Kessler, Diane Lesser, Don Liuzzi,
Mary Malin, Raymond Mase, Frank Morelli, Kurt Muroki, William Ochoa, Sharon Robinson, Susan
Sawyer, Michael Seabrook, Stephen Shipps, Linda Strommen, and Hiroko Yajima for their extra
efforts on behalf of the project. Additionally, we are grateful to Carnegie Hall's
administration and staff, and the many others whose efforts go into making the New York
String Orchestra Seminar a success.
Jennifer Koh
Musical America's 2016 Instrumentalist of the Year, violinist Jennifer Koh is
recognized for her intense and commanding performances that are delivered with dazzling
virtuosity and technical assurance. An adventurous musician, she collaborates with artists
across disciplines and curates projects that find connections between music of all eras. To
date, she has premiered more than 60 new works written especially for her.
Ms. Koh has appeared with orchestras around the world, including the Helsinki, New York,
London, and Los Angeles philharmonics; and the Cleveland, Mariinsky, Minnesota,
Philadelphia, Atlanta, Baltimore, BBC, Chicago, Cincinnati, Detroit, National, New World,
NHK, RAI National, and Singapore symphony orchestras. She has worked with conductors who
include John Adams, Marin Alsop, James Conlon, Gustavo Dudamel, Christoph Eschenbach,
Carlos Kalmar, Lorin Maazel, Sakari Oramo, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Juraj Valčuha, Osmo Vänskä,
and Edo de Waart. She also appears in recital at major music centers and festivals.
Ms. Koh's projects have featured commissions from today's foremost composers, including
Anthony Cheung, John Harbison, Vijay Iyer, Phil Kline, Missy Mazzoli, Andrew Norman, and
Kaija Saariaho. In 2014, she collaborated with former teacher Jaime Laredo on Two x
Four-a project that explores mentorship and collaboration between teacher and
student-featuring double violin concertos by Bach, Anna Clyne, Philip Glass, and David
Ludwig. Her discography includes 11 recordings for Cedille Records (including Two x
Four) and the recent release Tchaikovsky: Complete Works for Violin and
Orchestra, which she recordedwith the Odense Symphony Orchestra conducted by Alexander
Vedernikov.
Born in Chicago to Korean parents, Ms. Koh made her debut with the Chicago Symphony
Orchestra at age 11 and has won the International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, the
Concert Artists Guild Competition, and the Avery Fisher Career Grant. She holds a
bachelor's degree in English literature from Oberlin College, and has also studied at the
Curtis Institute of Music, where she worked extensively with Jaime Laredo and Felix
Galimir. She is the artistic director of arco collaborative, an artist-driven nonprofit
that aims to foster a better understanding of the world through a musical dialogue inspired
by ideas and communities. For more information, visit jenniferkoh.com.