Orchestra of St. Luke's
Roger Norrington: All-Mozart
Performers
Orchestra of St. Luke's
Sir Roger Norrington, Conductor
Benjamin Grosvenor, Piano
Program
MOZART Symphony No. 33
MOZART Piano Concerto No. 20 in D Minor, K. 466
MOZART Symphony No. 36, "Linz"
Encores:
MOSZKOWSKI Etude in A-flat Major, Op. 72, No. 11
MOZART "Deh, per questo istante" from La clemenza di Tito
Event Duration
The printed program will last approximately two hours, including one 20-minute intermission.
Sponsored by Deloitte LLP
At a Glance
Even more remarkably, over the course of his brief life Mozart proved his skill in virtually every realm and genre of classical music composition, from piano sonatas to masses and from string quartets to oratorios and operas. Mozart’s music is for many listeners the quintessential sound of classical music—as remarkable for its clarity and economy as for the intense emotions that it can express.
Among Mozart’s many masterpieces, his symphonies and piano concertos are held in especially high esteem by performers and audiences. The three works performed tonight offer a comprehensive overview of Mozart’s mastery of orchestral form, revealing the fluidity with which he imbued conventional structures with fresh and original musical ideas.
Bios
Orchestra of St. Luke's
Orchestra of St. Luke's (OSL) is one of America's most versatile and distinguished
orchestras, collaborating with the world's greatest artists and performing approximately 80
concerts each year--including its Carnegie Hall orchestra series, Chamber Music Series at
The Morgan Library & Museum and Brooklyn Museum, and Caramoor Summer Season. In its
42-year history, OSL has commissioned more than 50 new works; has given more than 175
world, US, and New York City premieres; and has appeared on more than 100 recordings,
including four Grammy Award winners and seven releases on its own label, St. Luke's
Collection. Pablo Heras-Casado is OSL's principal conductor.
OSL grew out of a chamber ensemble that began giving concerts at the Church of St. Luke in
the Fields in Greenwich Village in 1974. Today, the 21 virtuoso artists of St. Luke's
Chamber Ensemble make up OSL's artistic core.
OSL owns and operates The DiMenna Center for Classical Music in Midtown Manhattan, where
it shares a building with the Baryshnikov Arts Center. The DiMenna Center is New York
City's premier venue for rehearsal, recording, and learning, having quickly gained a
reputation for its superb acoustics, state-of-the-art facilities, and affordability. Since
opening in 2011, The DiMenna Center has welcomed more than 100,000 visitors, including more
than 400 ensembles and artists such as Renée Fleming, Susan Graham, Itzhak Perlman, Emanuel
Ax, Joshua Bell, Valery Gergiev, James Levine, James Taylor, and Sting. OSL hosts hundreds
of neighbors, families, and schoolchildren at its home each year for free community
events.
Through its Education and Community programs, OSL has introduced audiences across New York
City to live classical music. OSL brings free chamber concerts to the five boroughs, offers
free interactive music programs at The DiMenna Center, provides chamber music coaching for
adult amateurs, and engages 10,000 public school students each year through its Free School
Concerts. In 2013, OSL launched Youth Orchestra of St. Luke's (YOSL), an intensive
afterschool instrumental instruction program that emphasizes musical excellence and social
development, in partnership with community organizations and public schools in the Hell's
Kitchen neighborhood.
Sir Roger Norrington
For more than 50 years, Sir Roger Norrington has been at the forefront of the movement for
historically informed orchestral playing, having sought to put musicians in touch with the
historical style of the music they play. Mr. Norrington studied at the Royal College of
Music under Sir Adrian Boult and at the same time founded the first of several groups for
the performance of early music, the Heinrich Schütz Choir. This was followed 10 years later
by the London Classical Players, which achieved worldwide fame with their dramatic
recordings of the nine Beethoven symphonies. Works by Haydn, Mozart, Berlioz, Brahms,
Bruckner, and many others followed, establishing Mr. Norrington as a key exponent of
historical style.
He introduced innovative thinking about orchestra size, playing style, and tempos,
particularly in earlier repertoire, beginning in 1969 as music director of the Kent Opera.
He subsequently worked at Covent Garden, the English National Opera, La Scala, La Fenice,
and the Vienna State Opera. Mr. Norrington then moved on to share his historical findings
with many more orchestras, choirs, and opera companies. He has been a frequent guest with
many of the world's major orchestras, including the Berliner Philharmoniker; the Vienna
Philharmonic, Berlin Radio Symphony, Leipzig Gewandhaus, and Royal Concertgebouw
orchestras; Orchestre de Paris; NHK Symphony Orchestra in Tokyo; and the Philharmonia
Orchestra. In the US, he has appeared for many years with the Boston, Chicago, Cincinnati,
and Detroit symphony orchestras; the San Francisco Symphony; The Philadelphia Orchestra;
and the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
His previous posts with orchestras have included chief conductor of the Bournemouth
Sinfonietta, chief conductor (subsequently conductor emeritus) of the Camerata Salzburg and
the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra, principal conductor of ZKO Zürcher Kammerorchester,
and chief guest conductor of the Orchestre de Chambre de Paris. Mr. Norrington is currently
conductor emeritus of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and a regular guest with
the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra and Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen.
From 1990 to 1994, Mr. Norrington was music director of the Orchestra of St. Luke's, the
first conductor appointed to that position in the orchestra's history.
Benjamin Grosvenor
British pianist Benjamin Grosvenor is internationally recognized for his electrifying
performances and insightful interpretations. His virtuosic command over the most strenuous
technical complexities underpins the remarkable depth and understanding of his
musicianship. Mr. Grosvenor is renowned for his distinctive sound, making him one of the
most sought-after young pianists in the world.
Mr. Grosvenor first came to prominence as the outstanding winner of the keyboard final of
the 2004 BBC Young Musician Competition at the age of 11. Since then, he has performed with
orchestras worldwide, and in venues such as Royal Festival Hall, the Barbican Centre,
Singapore's Victoria Hall, and the Frick Collection. In 2016, Mr. Grosvenor became the
inaugural recipient of the Ronnie and Lawrence Ackman Classical Piano Prize from the New
York Philharmonic.
A BBC New Generation Artist from 2010 to 2012, Mr. Grosvenor has performed at the BBC
Proms on a number of occasions, and in 2015 starred at the Last Night, performing
Shostakovich's Piano Concerto No. 2 with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Marin Alsop.
In 2011, Mr. Grosvenor signed with Decca Classics, becoming the youngest British musician
ever to sign with the label and the first British pianist to sign with the label in almost
60 years. During his sensational career to date, he has also received Gramophone's
Young Artist of the Year and Instrumental Award, a Classic Brits Critics' Award, UK
Critics' Circle Award for Exceptional Young Talent, a Diapason d'Or Jeune Talent
Award, and a fellowship from the Royal Academy of Music.