Saturday, May 17
The Triumph of the Common Man
 The Norwalk Symphony Orchestra, joined by the 95-voice Mendelssohn Choir and four outstanding soloists, will fill the Norwalk Concert Hall with the joyous sounds of music inspired by the common man on Saturday, May 17 at 8:00 PM. Led by Conductor Diane Wittry, the concert will open with Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man which features the brass section and an expanded percussion section. The strings will perform the Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Fantasia on a theme of Thomas Tallis in an unusual configuration for them: with a solo quartet off to the side echoing the music of the rest of the orchestra. The entire orchestra will take the audience to intermission with a performance of Verdi’s Overture to La Forza del Destino.
This will set the scene for the concert’s second half in which Maestro Wittry will lead the Orchestra, full Choir and four soloists, Soprano Kathleen Theisen, Alto Barbara Rearick, Tenor Scott Murphree and Baritone Thomas Woodman in the monumental final movement of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony .
It is amazing that Beethoven was totally deaf when he wrote his Ninth Symphony – legend has it that at the first performance, someone had to turn him around to face the audience because he could not hear the applause. The Symphony stands as the centerpiece of the bridge between the Classical and Romantic eras and, it is said, intimidated other composers like Brahms from attempting to compose symphonies for fear they would be compared to the Beethoven Ninth!
 Soprano Kathleen Ann Theisen was trained as a classical and jazz pianist before pursuing an operatic career. Her recent performances include Donna Anna in "Don Giovanni" with Taconic Opera, Vitellia in "La Clemenza di Tito" with dell’Arte Opera Ensemble, Cleopatra in "Giulio Cesare" with One World Symphony, Daphne in the New York premiere of Robert Ward’s "Claudia Legare" at Dicapo Opera - for which Opera News wrote that she was “vocally solid and impassioned” and The New York Times said she “effectively conveyed a sense of desperation,” In 2003, she made her debut with the Metropolitan Opera as an extra chorister in "Benvenuto Cellini."
Among her many vocal honors, Ms Theisen was chosen for the Finals of the 2002 National Opera Association Vocal Competition, Semi-Finals of the 2001 Washington International Vocal Competition, Semi-Finals of the 2000 and 2001 New England Region of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions
An enthusiast for classical, jazz, and contemporary music, Kathleen is currently an adjunct instructor (piano) at Western Connecticut State University.
Barbara Rearick is a mezzo-soprano whose voice has been described as “gorgeous, sensitive and warm.” Her versatility is revealed by recent performances at Carnegie Hall with the Oratorio Society of New York, with Mexico’s Xalapa Sinfonia at Christmas. She has performed in such prestigious venues as very Fisher Hall, Symphony Space, St. John’s Smith Square in London and in London’s Wigmore Hall. She teaches at Princeton University. Ms. Rearick recently made a world premiere recording of Kurt Weill’s The Eternal Road.
 Tenor Scott Murphree, hailed by the New York Times as “radiant and expressive: is a distinguished singer of the concert, recital and opera stage. His recent appearances have included a debut with the Utah Opera as Tamino in Die Zauberfloete, Bach Cantatas with the Orpheus Chamber Ensemble and Haydn’s Die Schoepfung with the Sacred Music in a Sacred Space Series. Among many other roles, he was participated in productions of Paul Bunyan with Glimmerglass Opera and in Jonathan Miller’s staged version of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. He is a member of the faculty of the Steinhardt School of Music at New York University.
 American Baritone Thomas Woodman’s versatility in opera, orchestra and recital repertoire has helped him enjoy a varied and successful 25-year career throughout North America and Europe. He has appeared on stage at the Metropolitan Opera (Valentin in Faust and Wolfram in Tannhauser); die Bayerische Staatsoper (Harlekin in Ariadne auf Naxos), New York City Opera, and the Staatstheater Darmstadt . He has performed Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the Nashville, Waterbury (CT), Cape Cod Symphonies as well as the Rochester Philharmonic. Most recently, he sang the role of Jesus in the Greenwich Choral Society’s performance of the Bach St. Matthew Passion.
Mr. Woodman was a 1979 winner of the Connecticut Grand Opera Association Competition and was a 1980 Metropolitan Opera National Council Award winner.
Woodman maintains a very active vocal studio at his home in Fairfield and at Greenwich High School. He resides in Fairfield, Connecticut.
This final concert of the NSO’s 2007-1008 Season will be held in the acoustically warm and alive Norwalk Concert Hall at 125 East Avenue in Norwalk. Tickets are available on line at www.norwalksymphony.org or at 203-847-8844. Tickets range in price from $20- $50. Diane Wittry will present her Podium Perspectives pre-concert lecture at 7:00 PM in the Norwalk Concert Hall and there will be a reception after the concert in the Hall’s Community Room. Sponsors of the concert are the Newman’s Own Foundation, Hilton Garden Inn and the Maurice Goodman Foundation.
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Sunday, May 18, 3:00 PM
ODE TO JOY
A FAMILY CONCERT
Norwalk Concert Hall
Join NSO's Music Director Diane Wittry as she explores
the last movement of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony.
Complete with soloists,
the 95-voice Mendelssohn Choir of Connecticut,
(Carole Ann Maxwell, Artistic Director)
and the
Norwalk Symphony Orchestra!
Admission: $25 for Adults
$10 for students under 18 and
Children under 12 are FREE!
Call 203-847-8844 to reserve your seats!
Sponsored by The Estate of Ruth Krauss and the CT Commission for Culture and Tourism and Newman's Own Foundations
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March 29th - GERSHWIN!
 In 'Gershwin!', the orchestra will offer Gershwin's Girl Crazy Overture, Concerto in F, a selection of songs from Porgy and Bess, and Rhapsody in Blue, featuring  pianist Jon Nakamatsu. "We will be heaping on the chocolate syrup of Gershwin," Wittry smiles. "And I am just thrilled that we could get Jon. He was a gold medal winner at the Van Cliburn competition where audiences said he was the best pianist they had ever heard." Nakamatsu has just released a recording of the Concerto in F and Rhapsody in Blue.The Gershwin tribute will be a multimedia event with a slide show of the Gershwin family which explores their musical history. Baritone Edward Pleasant of Norwalk will join Julie-Ann Whitely Green, soprano, and the orchestra for the selections from Porgy and Bess.
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Jon Nakamatsu,
Piano
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Julie-Ann Whitely Green,
Soprano
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Edward Pleasant,
Baritone
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Stravinsky, Tchaikovsky and a World Premiere!
Presented by Norwalk Symphony on September 29th
O n Saturday, September 29that 8:00 pm, the Norwalk Symphony opened the 2007-8 season with a concert called 'Stravinsky, Tchaikovsky and a World Premiere!' and showcased the talented Yuja Wang, piano soloist, playing the difficult Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No.1. Other works featured were Stravinsky’s Firebird and the world Premiere of Douglas Townsend’s Overture Concertante and dedicated to Dr. Richard Epstein and Ina Chadwick, ardent supporters of the NSO.
 The season’s second concert will be Handel’s “Messiah, an NSO Tradition” on Saturday, December 15. This performance is becoming a tradition at the NSO and will again be a collaboration with the Mendelssohn Choir of Connecticut, Carole Ann Maxwell, Artistic Director. As she did last year, Wittry will incorporate a number of less-frequently heard arias from among the many different versions of Messiah that Handel wrote throughout his lifetime. This exciting performance, which is usually sold out, is a family event – and a perfect way to mark the holiday season.
Featured soloists will include Soprano Danielle Talamantes, Alto Holly Sorenson, Tenor Michael Denham and Baritone Dennis Blackwell.
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Danielle Talamantes
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Holly Sorenson
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Michael Denham
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Dennis Blackwell
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Brilliant Young Musicians Join
Norwalk Symphony for PRODIGY Concert
The extraordinary energy and talent of five young musicians, many from surrounding towns, was spotlighted by The Norwalk Symphony Orchestra on Saturday evening, January 26 at 8 PM in the Norwalk Concert Hall, 125 East Avenue, Norwalk. Nineteen year old Violin Soloist Stephanie Jeong, who studies with Aaron Rosand of New Canaan, was the featured soloist. Cellist Danielle Merlis, 17, of Westport, CT; Violinist Tristan Zeman, 12, of Westport, CT; Cellist Allison Wen Giebisch, 12, of Woodbridge, CT; and Violinist Nicole Kilroy, 17, of Hopewell Junction, NY will also share the stage with the entire Norwalk Symphony.
The Concert, titled PRODIGY, continues the Orchestra's tradition of providing special opportunities for exceptionally talented young musicians. The Orchestra and soloist Stephanie Jeong will perform Mozart's Violin Concerto No. 4 in D Major, Grieg's Suite from Holberg's Time, and Schubert's Symphony No. 5. Mozart may be the most famous prodigy of all time, performing all over Europe when he was very young on both violin and the piano. He wrote his fourth violin concerto when he was only 19. Schubert was also 19 when he wrote his Symphony No. 5! Unlike Schubert's later works, the Symphony is written in the classical tradition and shows Schubert's tender side. Edvard Grieg's Suite will surprise the audience with its familiarity. It has often been used in commercials and television shows.
 Soloist Stephanie Jeong was one of the youngest students accepted to the famed Curtis Institute in Philadelphia. She was nine. Stephanie was a featured at the White House at the when she was seven, and performs annually in Chicago's Orchestra Hall. In 1999, Stephanie won both the Philadelphia Orchestra's Albert M. Greenfield and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra's Feinburg competitions, which led to performances with both orchestras in their 1999-2000 season. She won the Greenfield Student Competition again in 2002, in the junior division, and was invited to be the guest soloist for their New Year's Eve Gala concert. Among many other awards, she won the National YAMAHA Young Performing Artists competition in the string division, and, in 2006, won the Philadelphia Orchestra's Albert M. Greenfield competition for the third time, this time in the senior division. This lead to two solo performances with the orchestra in its 2006-2007 season.
 Seventeen-year-old prodigy Danielle Merlis of Westport, an honors student in her junior year at Staples High School, has studied cello for seven years. She is Principal Cellist of the Norwalk Youth Symphony, and also plays with the Staples Symphonic Orchestra and Chamber Orchestras. Danielle spent last summer at NYU studying chamber music and cello performance with Marion Feldman. A student of Lois Errante, Danielle also teaches cello to beginning cellists in Westport. In addition to the cello, Danielle also plays the piano and composes music.
 Twelve-year-old Tristan Zeman, also from Westport, began his formal violin training before his 3rd birthday and has been studying with Patinka Kopec, a professor at Manhattan School of Music, since 2004. In 2005, he began attending the Manhattan School of Music Pre-College Division. In the spring of 2007, Tristan was invited to play a solo at the Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall as a winner of the American Fine Arts Festival 2007 Competition. In addition to being a classically trained violinist, Tristan enjoys fiddling and has studied with Mark O'Connor at his Tennessee Fiddle Camp. Last year, Tristan was the youngest member of Pinchas Zuckerman's "Young Artists' Programme" at the National Arts Centre of Canada in Ottawa.
 Twelve-year-old Allison Giebisch is a 7th-grade honors student at Amity Middle School in Bethany, CT. She has studied cello for seven years with Miriam Eckelhoefer at the Neighborhood Music School in New Haven and she has received additional coaching from renowned cellists Colin Carr and Irene Sharp. In 2006, Allison won the first prize in the Junior Division Performance Prize Competition at NMS. When not practicing cello, Allison studies German and Chinese, enjoys running and biking.
 Seventeen-year-old Nicole Kilroy is a senior at Poughkeepsie Day School and began studying violin at the age of 5. She attended the Manhattan School of Music Pre-college division for six years. This past summer she was concertmaster in the Guilford Festival Orchestra at the Eastern Music Festival in Greensboro, North Carolina. She recently won the student concerto competition with the Danbury Symphony Orchestra and will be performing with them in February. Nicole studies with Anna Ostrofsky, plans on pursuing a double major in music performance and biology, and eventually wants to become a veterinarian.
As always, the season’s offerings will be augmented by a series of educational events including “(Not) Just for Kids” and school programs, designed to turn each concert into a community happening. Additionally each concert will be preceded by Maestro Wittry’s Podium Perspectives. Subscription buyers can also choose to add some extra events including: the Season Kick-off party on September 9, a Gala Champagne Brunch at the Birchwood Country Club on October 21, a benefit concert on Saturday, March 8 featuring Chris Brubeck and his trio Triple Play; and the “Ode to Joy” Family Concert on May 18.
Subscriptions for the 2007-08 season are now available by calling the Symphony office at 203-847-8844.
The Norwalk Symphony performs at the Norwalk Concert Hall which has some of the best acoustics in New England. It also boasts the advantages of being both easy to reach from I-95 and having ample free parking.
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