Archives

On the road again – Highlights of some of our past adventures:

November 1-14, 2014, TOUR TO RUSSIA, Gabriela Imreh, piano

Samara
Saratov
Moscow (Tchaikovsky Hall)
Saint Petersburg (Mariinsky Theater Concert Hall)
Krasnoyarsk
Novosibirsk
Kemerovo

Bach/Stokowski – Air on the G String, Bach/Stokowski – Preludio in E, Vittorio Giannini – Concerto grosso for Strings, Piazzolla –   Adios Nonino, Leonard Bernstein – West Side Story Suite, Gershwin – Lullaby for Strings, Anton Dvořák – String Quartet in F major, Op. 96 “American”, Copland – Hoe Down from Rodeo

March 15-19, 2013 Florida Tour: Islamorada, Key West & Marathon, Florida, Gabriela Imreh, piano, Miguel del Aguila, narrator & guest composer, Bach/Stokowski – Air on the G String, Bach/Stokowski – Preludio in E,Miguel del Aguila – Life is a Dream, Piazzolla – Adios Nonino, Miguel del Aguila – Islamorada for Piano & Strings (World Premiere), Mendelssohn –  Octet

February 25th, 2012 at 7:30 pm Getty Museum Concert Series Harold M. Williams Auditorium, Getty Center Los Angles, California Daniel Spalding, conductor Stravinsky – Three Pieces for String Quartet, Busoni –  Concerto for Piano & Strings, Schoenberg – Verklarte Nacht (Transfigured Night) Revised 1943, Antheil – Serenade No. 1 for Strings

February 10, 2012

Bloomburg University of Pennsylvania – Celebrity Artist Series Daniel Spalding, conductor Haydn – Symphony No. 78”, Frank Martin – Concerto for Seven Wind Instruments, Timpani,Percussion and Strings, Rossini – La scala di seta (The Silken Ladder Overture), Stravinsky – Pulcinella Suite

One Word, Stunning Zoe Baldwin February 13, 2012 Entertainment – Bloomsburg University News

The spectacular sounds of the Philadelphia Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra filled the Mitrani Hall of Haas Center this past Friday evening. Daniel Spalding, the orchestra’s music director  and conductor, handpicked four fantastic pieces that formed the first performance of classical music to resound through Mitrani Hall since 2004. The initial selection was Symphony No. 78 in C Minor by renowned composer Joseph Haydn. The movements held surprises of sudden pianos and fortes, captivating the audience and then surprising them when the soft sounds turned into triumphant musical swells. Concerto for Seven Wind Instruments, Timpani, Percussion, and Strings, written by Swiss composer Frank Martin, was the second in the succession of marvelously played pieces. Spalding described it as “haunting.” Spalding, when introducing the piece, mentioned how he enjoyed visualizing the music. His vision of Martin’s concerto was that of a film noir. It was easy to understand this statement with the “haunting” notes of the second movement that built into a brilliantly accomplished climax. The modern piece featured seven soloist: Bruce Barrie, trumpeter, Marian Hesse, hornist, Richard Linn, trombonist, Dan Grada, percussionist, John Romeri, Flute, Kathy Halverson, oboe, and Robin Plant on bassoonist. Moving away from the noir notes of Martin’s concerto, the buoyant, lighthearted sounds of Gioacchino Rossini’s Overture to La Scala di Seta, filled the auditorium with musical sun. However brief the piece was, the musicians’ ability to recaptivate the audience post intermission was nothing short of brilliant. The fourth and final piece of the night was Igor Stravinsky’s Pulcinella Suite for small orchestra. Although this piece was the lengthiest of the four performed, the orchestra’s fortitude to give life and movement to the notes of the sheet music in front of them was beyond commendable. It is no wonder that this orchestra, now celebrating its 20th season, has been asked to play at venues such as Carnegie Hall. “I was so captivated, I forgot to move,” stated Bill Doran, a senior English major here at Bloomsburg University following the chamber orchestra’s spectacular performance. James Tomedi, a freshman Music major, summed up this powerful performance with one word, “stunning.” From BU NOW, (Bloomsburg University News)

TOUR TO MEXICO: September 29, 2010 at 7:00 pm San Jose Cathedral Toluca Estado de Mexico

Daniel Spalding, conductor Gabriela Imreh, piano soloist Program: Mozart – Divertimento in F, K. 138 Rossini – Overture to the Barber of Seville Guillaume Lekeu- Adagio, Op. 3 Liszt Malediction for Piano & Strings Tchaikovsky – Serenade for Strings

October 3, 2010 Monterry, Mexico

Daniel Spalding, conductor Gabriela Imreh, piano soloist

Program: Mozart – Divertimento in F, K. 138 Rossini – Overture to the Barber of Seville Guillaume Lekeu- Adagio, Op. 3 Liszt Malediction for Piano & Strings Tchaikovsky – Serenade for Strings

PERIODICO EL NORTE MONTERREY NUEVO LEÓN. A Review by Alejandro Fernandez

This past Sunday, the Philadelphia Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra, under the direction of Daniel Spalding, gave the opening concert for the Tecnológico de Monterrey Cultural October Festival. Appearing in the Auditorio Luis Elizondo, the musicians delighted the audience with a sparkling and amazing quality of sound, which was velvety and compact. Conductor Daniel Spalding began the concert with a refined presentation of the Mozart Divertimento in F Major, K 138. The Andante was outstanding and executed with an exquisite and light feeling. In the Presto, the nuances were sharp and the instrumental control was of first order. The Overture to the Barbero de Sevilla of Rossini followed in a surprisingly effective adaption for strings—the wind instruments were not missed. The originality of the program continued with the Adagio Op. 3 of Guillaume Lekeu, a Belgian disciple of Cesar Franck. In this piece the composer outlined in his own way the musical impressionism. For this piece, and with idea of their conductor, the musicians made a special assembly in the theater halls, remaining in the stage three cellos, the string bass, the soloist violin and the Conductor.

Because this play is for String quartet and string orchestra, there was a feeling of spectacular sound involvement. This position of the instruments allowed that each person enjoyed of the diversity solos of the instruments according to the place they were sat.

There was other originality at the presentation, which is a not so known piece from Liszt called “Malediction” for piano and strings, which the composer wrote when he was 16 years old. Through this play can be noted the virtuosi style of the Hungarian musician, which the soloist Gabriela Imreh rendered with a pristine technique and passionate expressiveness.

To finish the concert, these virtuosos who fully honor the name of the group gave to the audience the Serenade for Strings in Do Mayor, Op. 48, from Tchaikovsky.

September 16, 2010 at 7:30 pm, Fine Arts Association of Southeastern Kentucky Grace on the Hill United Methodist Church 1632 Cumberland Falls Highway Corbin, KY Daniel Spalding, conductor Gabriela Imreh, piano soloist, Program: Mozart – Divertimento in F, K. 138, Rossini – Overture to the Barber of Seville, Bach – Piano Concerto in D minor, Liszt –  Malediction for Piano & Strings, Tchaikovsky – Serenade for Strings

September 14, 2010 at 8:00 pm, Stephen F. Austin State University Concert Series Nacogdoches, TX Daniel Spalding, conductor Gabriela Imreh, piano soloist, Mozart – Divertimento in F, K. 138, Rossini – Overture to the Barber of Seville, Bach – Piano Concerto in D minor, Liszt –  Malediction for Piano & Strings, Tchaikovsky – Serenade for Strings

September 8, 2010 at 7:00 pm Meadow Lakes Village Hightstown, NJ Daniel Spalding, conductor Gabriela Imreh, piano soloist, Program: Mozart – Divertimento in F, K. 138, Rossini – Overture to the Barber of Seville, Liszt –  Malediction for Piano & Strings, Tchaikovsky – Serenade for Strings

August 1, 2010 Outdoor Summer Performing Arts Center Series Steppingstone Waterside Park Great Neck, NY, Daniel Spalding, conductor Gabriela Imreh, piano soloist Mozart – Divertimento in F, K.138 Rossini – Overture to the Barber of Seville, Bach – Piano Concerto in D minor, Tchaikovsky – Serenade for Strings

June 27, 2010 at 4:00 pm Presbyterian Church of Chestnut Hill 8855 Germantown Avenue Philadelphia, PA Donald Nally, Conductor In collaboration with the choral group “The Crossing”, Bo Holten – Tallis Variations (1977), Benjamin CS Boyle – Cantata: To One in Paradise (2005), Arvo Part – Pilgrim’s Song (Wallfahrtslied, 1984/2001), John Tavener – The Bridegroom (1999), David Lang – Statement to the Court (2010) Commissioned World Premiere: The Levine Project

Maestro Donald Nally

April 12-19, 2010 Serbian Tour

April 14, Novi Sad, NOMUS INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL &  April 15, Subotica

Daniel Spalding, Conductor Vittorio Giannini – Concerto Grosso for Strings, Petar Bursac – 15th Station, Astor Piazzolla – Adios Nonino for Piano & Strings, Richard Addinsell – Warsaw Concerto (from the film “Dangerous Moonlight”1941), Aleksandra Vrebalov – Spell No. 4 for Electronic Tape & Strings, Anton Dvorak – American Quartet (arranged for string orchestra)

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April 2, 2010 at 5:30 pm and 6:30 pm PNC Arts Alive presents 2 FREE performances featuring Kurt Coble’s amazing P.A.M. Band Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, Commonwealth Plaza Philadelphia PA

Daniel Spalding, Conductor, Program: Rossini – Overture to the Barber of Seville, Kurt  Coble –  “Seven Variations of Madness” for P.A.M.Band and String Orchestra

These free performances feature  this fascinating array of robotic instruments known as the P.A.M. Band  (Partially Artificial Musicians).  This performance is made possible by a generous grant from PNC Bank.

One of Kurt Coble’s infamous inventions from the P.A.M. Band

April 1, 2010 at 12:00 pm and 1:00 pm PNC Arts Alive presents 2 FREE performances featuring Kurt Coble’s amazing P.A.M. Band Rotunda at Liberty Place Philadelphia PA, Daniel Spalding, Conductor Rossini – Overture to the Barber of Seville, Kurt Coble-  “Seven Variations of Madness” for P.A.M.Band and String Orchestra

March 28, 2010 at 3:00 pm Touhill Performing Arts Center University of Missouri at St. Louis St. Louis,  Missouri Daniel Spalding, Conductor Gabriela Imreh, Piano Soloist Mozart – Divertimento in D, K. 136, Bach/Stokowski –  Air  on the G String Bach/Stokowski – Preludio in E, J.S. Bach – Piano  Concerto  No. 1 in D minor, Tchaikovsky – Souvenir de Florence

March 27, 2010 at 12:00 pm and 1:30 pm Philadelphia International Airport Food Court, Terminal C. A free concert sponsored  by PNC Arts Alive.  Daniel Spalding, conductor  Mozart – Divertimento in D, K. 136, Bach/Stokowski – Air  on the G String Bach/Stokowski – Preludio in E, Tchaikovsky – Souvenir de  Florence

November 21, 2009 at 7:30 pm Corning Civic Music  Association Glass Museum Auditorium, Corning, NY   Daniel Spalding, Conductor, Gabriela Imreh, Piano Soloist,  Mozart – Divertimento in D, K. 136, Bach/Stokowski –  Air  on the G String, Bach/Stokowski – Preludio in E, J.S. Bach – Piano Concerto  No. 1 in D minor, Tchaikovsky – Souvenir de Florence

October 23, 2009 at 5:30 pm and 6:30 pm PNC Arts Alive presents 2 FREE performances featuring Kurt Coble’s amazing P.A.M. Band Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts Commonwealth Plaza, Philadelphia PA   Daniel Spalding, Conductor,  Mozart – Divertimento in D, K. 136 Kurt Coble- “Seven Variations of Madness” for P.A.M.Band and String Orchestra Please join us for one of these free performances featuring this fascinating array of robotic  instruments known as the P.A.M. Band (Partially Artificial Musicians). This  performance is made possible by a generous grant from PNC Bank.

October 22, 2009 at 12:30 pm and 1:30 pm PNC Arts Alive  presents 2 FREE performances featuring Kurt Coble’s amazing P.A.M. Band The  Atrium at The Gallery at Market East 9th & Market Streets,  Philadelphia PA Daniel Spalding, Conductor Program: Mozart – Divertimento in D, K. 136 Kurt Coble- “Seven Variations of Madness” for P.A.M.Band and String Orchestra

May 22, 2009, Gabriela Imreh, piano, Trinity Episcopal Church, Trenton, NJ

Bernstein’s Suite from West Side Story for solo piano, percussion, harp & strings

May 16, 2009 Danbury Concert Association Ives Concert  Hall, Western Connecticut State University Danbury, CT Daniel Spalding, Conductor Leslie Johnson, Soprano soloist Program: Mahler/Schoenberg – Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen Mahler/Stein – Symphony No. 4 Strauss/Schoenberg –  Kaiserwalzer

“Philadelphia Virtuosi scale down the classics” By Gilbert Mott, CONTRIBUTING WRITER

When Arnold Schoenberg’s 12-tone innovations were still new, in the 1920s, he formed a concert society in Vienna to present his works and those of his students. The programs were filled out with older music, often orchestral pieces  that had been arranged for smaller ensembles. Gustav Mahler had been a supporter  of the young Schoenberg, who returned the favor by presenting his works. The  Philadelphia Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra, led by their music director, Daniel  Spalding, recreated one of those programs in Ives Hall in Danbury on  Saturday. The Virtuosi accompanied guest artist mezzo-soprano Leslie  Johnson in Schoenberg’s arrangement of Mahler’s “Songs of a Wayfarer.” Each  player is a soloist in this size group and there were many sensitive pairings of  instrument and voice. Johnson has a rich mezzo sound, full in its lower  registers and bright on top. Her portrayal was full of character, her use of the  German language acute. If occasional details in the playing were smudged, the  overall sweep and spirit were there. The fourth and last song had a finely  spun-out transition to the final section, which died away beautifully in the  singer’s rendition.

The second half of the program was Mahler’s Fourth  Symphony, in an arrangement by Schoenberg’s student Erwin Stein. This version  has the intimate feel of the salon, and the group’s supple rhythmic sense added  to that impression. The quintet of strings played together sensitively, and  Robert Huebner’s clarinetplaying often had a touch of klezmer in its sound. The  second movement has the first violinist play in an unorthodox tuning, imparting  a slight strangeness to the sound, and Georgy Valtchev captured the spirit  nicely. The slow movement was a highlight, starting with cellist Charles Forbes  and violist Dennis Krasnokutsky in a well-matched duet, and building in passion  and intensity. Johnson came back on stage for the finale, singing with the  spirit of childlike wonder and joy in the song setting that closes the symphony.  Big moments like the third movement’s long built-up climax sound thin without  the full orchestra in this arrangement, and the piano part often sounds like  it’s filling in missing parts rather than adding its own voice. There are many  details of individual lines to be savored, though, and the Virtuosi’s colorful  playing brought them out. As Spalding jokingly told the audience, the group  played its encore first on the program: Johann Strauss’s “Emperor Waltz,” in a  Schoenberg arrangement that must have lightened the atmosphere at those  groundbreaking concerts in old Vienna.

March 22, 2009 at 2:00 PM Kupferberg Center for the  Arts CUNY Queens College, New York Daniel Spalding, Conductor Gabriela Imreh, Piano  soloist, Program: Mozart – Divertimento in D, K. 136 Bach/Stokowski –  Air  on the G String Bach/Stokowski – Preludio in E J.S. Bach – Piano Concerto  No. 1 in D minor Tchaikovsky – Souvenir de Florence

January 31, 2009 The EMMA Concert Association & Flagler College Flagler College auditorium, St. Augustine, FL

Daniel Spalding, Conductor Gabriela Imreh, Piano soloist Program: Mozart – Divertimento in D, K. 136 Bach/Stokowski –  Air  on the G String Bach/Stokowski – Preludio in E J.S. Bach – Piano Concerto  No. 1 in D minor Tchaikovsky – Souvenir de Florence

A review by Hunter B. from Yelp.com

I was fortunate enough to catch the Philadelphia Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra in concert recently in St. Augustine, Florida, at Flagler College (thanks to one prolific Yelper with mad musical skills). They not only put on an excellent, lively show, but they made it  fun for the audience. That’s not always the case with classical concerts, so when it occurs, it’s worth noting. The music director and conductor, Daniel Spalding, has an easy way with the audience as well as his musicians. A conductor with a sense of humor, Spalding was kind enough to greet people after the show and sign a few CDs (yes, we got one).

Principal soloist Gabriela  Imreh is also worth noting for her work on the piano and her own sense of humor  … even if she ran a little long introducing one Bach piece.  Actually, she  clocked in at nearly 15 minutes, but her playing, and that of the group,  eclipsed the breathy and funny intro. In fact, she and Spalding both framed the pieces in a very effective way that added to the performance. I’m almost  embarrassed to admit that, having been to a fair number of Philadelphia Chamber  Music Society concerts, I hadn’t really heard about the Philadelphia Virtuosi  Chamber Orchestra. Since it looks like I’m the first to review this outstanding  group on Yelp, maybe I’m not alone. So here’s hoping many others will find out  about them and catch a performance, wherever you may be located. Highly  recommended.

January 29, 2009 Big Arts Great Performers, Sanibel,  FL Daniel Spalding, Conductor Gabriela Imreh, Piano soloist Program: Mozart – Divertimento in D, K. 136 Bach/Stokowski –  Air  on the G String Bach/Stokowski – Preludio in E J.S. Bach – Piano Concerto  No. 1 in D minor Tchaikovsky – Souvenir de Florence

November 7, 2008 – 8pm Haas Stage at the Arden Theater Company Philadelphia, PA   Daniel Spalding, Conductor   “ON THE EDGE” Works by Bach, Mozart, Lekeu, Shostakovich, Reich and the world premiere of “Variations of Madness” by Kurt Coble and his P.A.M. Band (Partially Artificial Musicians). .

June 8, 2008 Gabriela Imreh, piano
First Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Vittorio Giannini           Concerto Grosso
Bach                            Piano Concerto No. 1 in D minor
Tchaikovsky                Souvenir de Florence

Virtuosi at its best in steamy venue
By David Patrick Stearns
Inquirer Classical Music Critic
Mad dogs and music lovers ventured out in the noonday sun (to paraphrase Noel Coward) for the Philadelphia Virtuosi on Sunday, but with sensible rewards. Though snowstorms bring out the best in the Philadelphia Orchestra, the heat wave did the same for this chamber orchestra, which performed in the un-air-conditioned sanctuary of First Presbyterian Church and later migrated into the church’s pleasant, cooler back room.
The orchestra had just ended a tour of smaller communities in Illinois and Texas, and was in particularly good shape in a program of string-orchestra music that included Tchaikovsky’s Souvenir de Florence. Principal players were not only hugely capable but hugely inspired.
Music director Daniel Spalding has a laudable commitment to neglected repertoire, even though I haven’t summoned much excitement for his Naxos-label discs of music by Howard Hanson and George Antheil. Not so with Spalding’s latest discovery, Philadelphia-born Vittorio Giannini (1903-1966), who was forgotten quickly and completely despite successful opera versions of The Scarlet Letter and The Taming of the Shrew.
Giannini’s 1946 Concerto Grosso, heard Sunday, drew on the neoclassical manner of Stravinsky, and more significantly, Ernest Bloch, with clean, chic surfaces, syncopated hiccups, harmonic resolutions that were ingenious. The piece’s mastery of its genre eclipsed even its antecedents. The first movement’s development section was a bit puny, but the composer delivered ample compensation in the searching slow movement.
The Tchaikovsky Souvenir was given a performance that honored the music’s tunes but didn’t depend on them. Harmonic dissonances made intrusions more pointed than usual, almost like a depressive episode, establishing a darker undertone that never quite left and giving the music a dimension that suggested this piece is, in its way, the equal of his symphonies.
Pianist Gabriela Imreh is usually the Philadelphia Virtuosi soloist, and though she has power-in-reserve fingers and romantic temperament best matched with Brahms, she played Bach’s Piano Concerto No. 1 on Sunday in a way that few dare in these days of historically responsible performance. Treble lines bristled with concentration; bass entrances, alone, felt like events. You could imagine the great Tatiana Nikolayeva (1924-1993) in our midst – a pianist whose approach came out of a grand 19th-century tradition and for whom Glenn Gould was a mere cul-de-sac (as he should be).