CARNEGIE HALL PRESENTS
New York String Orchestra
Performers
New York String Orchestra
Jaime Laredo, Conductor
Anna Polonsky, Piano
Orion Weiss, Piano
Program
PROKOFIEV Symphony No. 1, "Classical"
MOZART Concerto for Two Pianos in E-flat Major, K. 365
MENDELSSOHN Symphony No. 4, "Italian"
Event Duration
The printed program will last approximately 90 minutes, including one 20-minute 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.
Anna Polonsky
Anna Polonsky is in demand as both a soloist and a chamber musician. She has appeared with
the Moscow Virtuosi, Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra,
Columbus Symphony Orchestra, Memphis Symphony Orchestra, The Chamber Orchestra of
Philadelphia, St. Luke's Chamber Ensemble, and many others. Ms. Polonsky has collaborated
with the Guarneri, Orion, Daedalus, and Shanghai string quartets, and with such individual
artists as Mitsuko Uchida, Yo-Yo Ma, David Shifrin, Richard Goode, Emanuel Ax, Arnold
Steinhardt, Peter Wiley, and Jaime Laredo. She regularly is invited to perform chamber
music at the Marlboro, Chamber Music Northwest, Seattle, Music@Menlo, Cartagena, Bard, and
Caramoor festivals, as well as at Bargemusic in New York City.
Ms. Polonsky has given concerts at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Vienna Konzerthaus, and
Alice Tully Hall, and has toured extensively throughout the US, Europe, and Asia. A
frequent guest of The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, she was a member of Chamber
Music Society Two from 2002 to 2004. In 2006, she took part in the European Broadcasting
Union's project to record and broadcast all of Mozart's keyboard sonatas, and in the spring
of 2007, she performed a solo recital at Carnegie Hall as part of the Emerson String
Quartet's Perspectives series. She is a recipient of a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship
and the Andrew Wolf Chamber Music Award.
Ms. Polonsky made her solo piano debut at the age of seven at the Special Central Music
School in Moscow, Russia. She immigrated to the United States in 1990 and attended high
school at the Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan. She received her bachelor's degree from
the Curtis Institute of Music, where she worked with renowned pianist Peter Serkin; she
continued her studies with Jerome Lowenthal, earning her master's degree from The Juilliard
School. In addition to performing, she serves on the piano faculty of Vassar College, and
the Marlboro and Kneisel Hall chamber music festivals. She is a member of the
Polonsky-Weiss Piano Duo with her husband, Orion Weiss. Ms. Polonsky is a Steinway
Artist.
Orion Weiss
One of the most sought-after soloists of his generation, Orion Weiss's deeply felt and
exceptionally crafted performances go far beyond technical mastery, winning him worldwide
acclaim. Recent appearances include performances with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, San
Francisco Symphony, Iceland Symphony Orchestra, The Cleveland Orchestra, Milwaukee Symphony
Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, New World Symphony, Vancouver Symphony Orchestra,
Los Angeles Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, The
Philadelphia Orchestra, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. Other
projects include collaborations with the Pacifica Quartet, violinist Cho-Liang Lin and the
New Orford String Quartet, and a North American tour with the world-famous Salzburg
Marionette Theatre in an enhanced piano recital of Debussy's La boîte à joujoux.
In 2015, Naxos released Mr. Weiss's recording of Christopher Rouse's Seeing, a
major commission that he debuted with the Albany Symphony Orchestra. In 2012, he released a
recital album of works by Dvořák, Prokofiev, and Bartók, and spearheaded a recording
project of the complete Gershwin works for piano and orchestra with the Buffalo
Philharmonic Orchestra and JoAnn Falletta.
An enthusiastic chamber musician, Mr. Weiss performs regularly with his wife, pianist Anna
Polonsky, violinists James Ehnes and Arnaud Sussmann, and cellist Julie Albers. As a
recitalist and chamber musician, Mr. Weiss has appeared across the US at venues and
festivals, including Lincoln Center, Ravinia Festival, Sheldon Concert Hall (St. Louis),
Seattle Chamber Music Society Festival, La Jolla Music Society's SummerFest, Chamber Music
Northwest, Bard Music Festival, Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival, The Kennedy Center,
and Spivey Hall (Clayton State University). He won The Juilliard School's 2005 William
Petschek Piano Recital Award and made his New York recital debut at Lincoln Center's Alice
Tully Hall that April.
Mr. Weiss's awards include the Gilmore Young Artist Award, an Avery Fisher Career Grant,
The Juilliard School's Gina Bachauer Scholarship, and the Mieczyslaw Munz Scholarship. An
Ohio native, Mr. Weiss attended the Cleveland Institute of Music, where he studied with
Paul Schenly, Daniel Shapiro, Sergei Babayan, Kathryn Brown, and Edith Reed. In 2004, he
graduated from The Juilliard School, where he studied with Emanuel Ax.