LIP Renews 3-Year Contract with David Stewart Wiley

The Long Island Philharmonic is pleased to announce that Music Director and Conductor David Stewart Wiley’s contract has been renewed through 2012 and that he will continue to lead Long Island’s only resident, professional orchestra for the next three seasons. “Maestro Wiley has brought great energy and commitment to his work on Long Island, and we are thrilled to continue his partnership with us” says Board Chairman Larry Austin. 

David Stewart Wiley’s ongoing popularity has been demonstrated not only through consistent acclaim by critics and audiences alike but through very significant multi-year growth in attendance and ticket income. “We have come a long way together in the last few years” says Wiley. “I am grateful to our dedicated professional musicians, hard working board and staff, wonderful chorus and chorus master, and the many individuals and businesses throughout Long Island who continue to sustain us and support our vital mission. Our future looks really bright, and I am privileged to serve as Music Director of the LI Philharmonic.” 

Educational outreach residencies with the Philharmonic in the schools have expanded dramatically in recent years. “I am amazed at how wonderful he is with the young musicians and school children” added Mr. Austin. “It demonstrates the Philharmonic’s commitment to the creative growth of our children as a core mission of the institution.” Under Wiley’s baton, the Long Island Philharmonic has shown remarkable artistic growth. Newsday reported, “There was never too much for conductor David Stewart Wiley, who had the program well in hand. It was a very pleasant experience for one who hadn’t heard the Long Island Philharmonic recently. It sounded fresh and revitalized.” 

David Stewart Wiley has developed new audiences for the Philharmonic through performances in established Nassau and Suffolk concert halls as well as newer venues. For the upcoming 2009- Theatre and Staller Center for the Arts, as well as at Hofstra University’s John C. Adams Playhouse and the new Adelphi University Performing Arts Center. 

The Long Island Philharmonic recently announced its 31st season for 2009-2010, with top violinist Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, world-acclaimed pianists Joseph Kalichstein and Seymour Lipkin, among other stellar solo artists. The season will include the annual New Year’s Eve Spectacular, Forbidden Broadway, and two Broadway headliners, Franc D’Ambrosio, best known as the longest-running Phantom and the legendary Chita Rivera. 

David Stewart Wiley also continues as the Music Director & Conductor of the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra in Virginia. 

For more information, contact Jane Park at (631) 293-2223 x 120. 

Voices of Hope enjoyed by many!

Voices of Hope enjoyed by many!

Rock Symphony Cirque 2009 Review

The following review appeared in the Roanoke Star Sentinel on June 5, 2009

RSO’s Rock Symphony Cirque Serves Up Extraordinary Evening

Admittedly, I was not well-rested for last weekend’s Roanoke Symphony Orchestra performance. After mowing and planting and weeding and mulching and chopping and stacking and generally wiping myself out on a certain  Franklin County plot of land for the better part of the day, I was actually beginning to rue the idea of going at all.

What I needed was a shower, a glass of wine and a long deep back massage (necessarily in that order) – not taking five children, of all things, (three of mine and two imports) to a late evening show across town at the Salem Civic Center.

But the promise had long since been made and even though the mother of the three permanents (for whom the original ticket acquisition was made) had been called away on lacrosse tournament duty in Richmond, I persevered nevertheless.

Admission of Guilt #1

I had not been to a RSO performance in years – as in about sixteen – not so coincidently the age of my oldest child. The victim of the scheduling requirements foisted upon parents of my generation, the most culture I have witnessed in Roanoke outside of attending a few nice art shows and small music offerings, has been Sesame Street Live and the brass quintet featured at the 11:00 PM Christmas Eve Service.

Thus, I was originally excited about the opportunity to go – but now worn out to the point that I feared I might nod off in mid-performance. Would the house lights be down enough to hide such an indiscretion, I wondered? Would I break into an uproarious snore in an upright seated position?

I soon discovered that I shouldn’t have wasted the worry. The combination of RSO’s symphonic precision, the Cirque du Soleil style acrobatic performances and the accompanying Motown act provided by “Jeans and Classics” was an off-the-charts great experience. The result was an electrifying evening of entertainment – one that would have been met with rave reviews in any size market. The fact that it was conceived, coordinated and executed in Roanoke, was one more reminder that the conductor and top-drawer staff of the RSO deserve every bit of the praise they continually garner within and outside the valley.

Did I say sleep? I was on the edge of my seat from the moment Wiley and the gang struck up a strong, if not obligatory, opening allegro from Rossini’s William Tell Overture. The amplification could have been a little stronger, especially in several very up tempo pieces that came later in the evening, but the RSO’s creative vibrancy and clear attention to detail – a reflection of their intrepid conductor – was on full if not “high def” display.

Admission of Guilt #2

Circus acts are just not my thing. At least not typical circus acts involving a distant view of three rings in which trained animals are 90% of the offering. But, give me world class athletes and performers that are among the most accomplished veterans from the internationally acclaimed Cirque du Soleil, and I’m as mystified as the 10 year-old next to me who stared on in slack jawed wonder saying, “How did he do that? How did he do that . . .?” (And to think, it wasn’t happening on a video screen.)

How did they do that indeed – one performer played lead violin while swinging inverted upside down wrapped in long curtains of royal red cloth – others included “Jarek and Darek” who performed an “on ground” two body balancing routine that was one of the most astounding feats of strength, agility and balance I have seen live or otherwise. All this while the orchestra dished out a version of Led Zeplin’s classic “Kashmir” that would have made Jimmy Page and the boys proud to  have been in the room.

By the end of the third performance of combined music and physical artistry a real “chicken or the egg” question arose: Was the music “making” the extraordinary cirque performances? Or were the eloquent bodily expressions so informing the music that it was heard in a brighter, fresher and more inspirational way? The answer, of course, was both, and so all that was needed to round out the evening was a little . . .

Motown.

Admission of Guilt #3

I’m not much of a dancer.  But the Jeans and Classics group responsible for bringing the classic hits of Motown to life were dead on in their performances, and if you weren’t dancing on the main floor, you were at least bouncing a foot in the cheaper seats. (Me.) The lead vocalists didn’t just come close to bringing such artists as Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye and Diana Ross to life – they nailed their performances. And the band that joined the RSO in “groove support” laid down the classic beats with rifts and runs that often paralleled the originals to the point of a being nothing short of haunting.

You don’t just step up and “do” Marvin Gaye, and for that matter, any of the other classic Motown artists on display. This group had logged their hours and it showed, and when matched with Wiley’s creative, yet precisely constructed symphonic backup, the result was spectacular.

Perhaps the best testimony of the night came when I turned around in my seat to see how the children were enjoying the second set. To my surprise, they had all disappeared. Snacks? A Communal bathroom run, maybe? I scanned the floor as I turned back to direct my gaze towards the stage . . .  and there in the corner, so as not to be seen by her “way most un-cool” father, was my ever nonplussed and contrarian 15 year-old daughter, surrounded by the rest of the tribe, all dancing like there was no tomorrow – to music written well over a quarter century ago, performed by musicians my age and older.

Wiley – you just might be on to something.

RSO Announces 2009-2010 Musical “Journeys”

The Roanoke Symphony Orchestra with David Stewart Wiley, Music Director, presents a new season of concerts beginning this fall. The 2009-2010 season, entitled Journeys, includes a series of nine Masterworks concerts in Roanoke as well as three Picnic at the Pops series events in Salem. An additional performance featuring the Roanoke Symphony Chorus performing Handel’s Messiah is presented in December. Reservations are open now for series subscriptions, with single-event tickets going on sale August 24th.         

The season begins October 5, 2009 with the Opening Night concert of the Masterworks series. Included in the Masterworks series are six programs performed in nine concerts in a combination of Sunday afternoon and Monday evening performances at the Roanoke Performing Arts Theatre and Shaftman Performance Hall at Jefferson Center. The series embarks on a virtual journey around the world, with varied symphonic repertoire in programs such as “Ports of Call,” “Romantic Getaway” [on Valentine’s Day], and a tour of American classics in “An American Landscape.”  In March 2010, the Roanoke Symphony Chorus is featured in a Masterworks program that includes Mozart’s remarkable human testament, Requiem.  Masterworks soloists include violinist Natasha Korsakova in October, clarinetist Jon Manasse in January, and pianist Tavit Tashjian in February.  Masterworks ticket buyers may choose between two discounted ticket packages: the Masterworks Subscription for all programs, or the create-your-own ticket package, Pick3. 

The RSO’s Picnic at the Pops series includes three concerts during the 2009-2010 season; offering a choice of table seating or stadium seating, presented at the Salem Civic Center.  Concertgoers enjoy a unique experience with full symphony orchestra, popular artists, and a casual atmosphere that begins well before 

the music begins. [Doors open 1-1/2 hours before concert time.] This year’s Pops series begins with Natalie Cole and RSO on November 5, 2009 at 8:00 p.m., and continues with the RSO’s popular and traditional Holiday Pops Spectacular on December 11th at 7:00 p.m.  Tenor soloist and Roanoke native, George 

Dyer, along with the Roanoke Symphony Chorus and Roanoke College Children’s Choir join the RSO on stage for Holiday Pops.  Rounding out the Pops series is New Orleans star Aaron Neville & Quintet with Charles Neville and RSO on April 9, 2010 at 8:00 p.m.  The series is sponsored by A Friend of the RSO.  

To subscribe, contact the RSO box office located on the 2nd floor of Jefferson Center in Roanoke. Phone (540) 343-9127 or visit www.rso.com.  Single-event tickets go on sale August 24, 2009. For information on RSO tours to other areas of Virginia, contact the RSO at (540) 343-9127.         

The Roanoke Symphony Orchestra celebrates its mission to enrich lives, to educate, and to entertain diverse audiences in western Virginia with the highest quality instrumental and choral music.