Sir Roger Norrington
For nearly 50 years, Sir Roger Norrington has been at the forefront of the movement for historically informed orchestral playing. With such ensembles as his own London Classical Players in the 1980s, as well as the Radio-Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart des SWR and Camerata Salzburg in recent years, he has sought to put modern players in touch with the historical style of the music they play. The work involves orchestra size and seating, tempo, phrasing, articulation, and sound.
Mr. Norrington sang and played the violin from a young age, and began to conduct at Cambridge. He 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 founding of the London Classical Players, who achieved worldwide fame with their dramatic recordings of the Beethoven symphonies. Recordings of works by Mozart, Schumann, Brahms, Bruckner, and many others followed, establishing Mr. Norrington as a key exponent of historical style.
In 1966, Mr. Norrington was appointed music director of the Kent Opera, to which he brought innovative thinking regarding orchestra size, playing style, and tempos, particularly with early repertoire. He conducted hundreds of performances at Kent, and went on to work at Covent Garden, the English National Opera, Teatro alla Scala, Teatro La Fenice, and the Vienna State Opera.
Mr. Norrington is a regular guest with many of the world’s major orchestras, including the Berliner Philharmoniker, the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the London Philharmonic, the Philharmonia Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony, The Philadelphia Orchestra, and many more.
More permanent posts with orchestras have included music director of the Orchestra of St. Luke’s (1990–1994), chief conductor of the Bournemouth Sinfonietta, chief conductor (now Emeritus) of the Camerata Salzburg, and, since 1998, Chief Conductor of the Radio-sinfonieorchester Stuttgart des SWR, a title he will hold through 2011. With Stuttgart, Mr. Norrington has made a remarkable series of recordings that span the core of orchestral repertoire, with sets of symphonies by Mozart, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Schumann, Brahms, Bruckner, and Mahler. Taken together, they offer a vivid glimpse of how a modern symphony can get in touch with its historical roots.
Orchestra of St. Luke’s
The 2009–2010 season marks the 35th year of America’s foremost chamber orchestra, the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, a unique musical organization that comprises the orchestra, the St. Luke’s Chamber Ensemble, and the Arts Education Program. St. Luke’s currently performs approximately 80 orchestral, chamber, and educational concerts each year, all showcasing the hallmark collaborative spirit that has garnered consistent critical acclaim for vibrant music making of the highest order.
Today’s performance marks a reunion for the Orchestra of St. Luke’s and Sir Roger Norrington, the orchestra’s music director from 1990 to 1994. Mr. Norrington’s first performance with the orchestra at Carnegie Hall featured Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9.
Formed at the Caramoor International Music Festival in 1979, the Orchestra of St. Luke’s evolved from the St. Luke’s Chamber Ensemble (founded in 1974), with ensemble members forming the orchestra’s artistic core as principal players. In addition to being presented by Carnegie Hall in its annual series, the orchestra continues a 20-year collaborative relationship with the Hall that includes participation in holiday and family concerts, concert presentations of musical theater, and special events. The orchestra is also engaged each year in a number of artistic collaborations, recently with the Mark Morris Dance Group and John Adams’s A Flowering Tree at Lincoln Center. The orchestra just celebrated the 30th anniversary of its annual summer residency at Caramoor.
In chamber music, St. Luke’s performs annual series in three esteemed New York art institutions: The Morgan Library & Museum’s Gilder Lehrman Hall, the Brooklyn Museum, and Dia:Beacon. The St. Luke’s Arts Education Program comprises free performances for 20,000 New York City schoolchildren and yearlong in-school residencies in several partner schools supported by professional development for teachers and curriculum materials.
The orchestra has released two critically acclaimed recordings on its own label, St. Luke’s Collection: Mozart’s Symphonies Nos. 39 and 41, “Jupiter,” and Bach’s “Brandenburg” Concertos, performed by the St. Luke’s Chamber Ensemble. These are part of a stellar discography, numbering more than 70 recordings, that includes four Grammy Award–winning discs.
In the 2010–2011 season, the Orchestra of St. Luke’s will open The DiMenna Center for Classical Music, a state-of-the-art rehearsal, recording, and education facility for St. Luke’s and many of the city’s musical groups. Co-owned and occupied by the Baryshnikov Arts Center, the newly renovated building, located at 450 West 37th Street, will form an anchor for classical music on the west side and will be the creative and administrative home for St. Luke’s. In addition to providing acoustically superior rehearsal space for all of New York’s musical groups, the center will offer education and outreach programs for the local community.
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