The IRIS Chamber Orchestra will be performing Saturday, January 13, 2007 at the Germantown Performing Arts Center with the great classical guitarist Jason Vieaux. Additionally, the orchestra will be premiering a work by composer Adam Schoenberg.

The program will consist of:

Adam Schoenberg – World Premiere of IRIS Commissioned Piece – Finding Rothko

Rodrigo – Concierto de Aranjuez

Beethoven – Symphony No. 8 in F major, Op. 93


The IRIS Chamber Orchestra commissions one new work each season, and the results have been quite varied stylistically. Finding Rothko combines slides of the paintings of Mark Rothko with music from the orchestra. I will post more information on this piece after the concert.

Jason Vieaux – Biography

Jason Vieaux is expanding the definition of “Classical Guitarist” and changing the face of guitar programming, building a solid audience and fan base along the way. His ever-growing reputation for putting his expressive gifts and virtuosity at the service of the music earns him an active schedule of solo, chamber and concerto appearances around the US and abroad. Highlights of the 2006-2007 season include debuts with Ft. Worth Symphony and Iris Chamber Orchestra, a return engagement for the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society series, and solo recitals for The Lied Center, The Ramsi P. Tick Concert Series in Buffalo, and Vancouver’s Music in the Mornings series. In addition to several appearances at international guitar festivals in the US, Mexico and Europe, Mr. Vieaux has recently performed on major series in such halls as the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia, Cleveland’s Severance Hall, Spivey Hall, and New York’s 92 St. Y and Merkin Hall.

Adam Schoenberg – Biography

A Massachusetts native, Adam Schoenberg was born in 1980 and grew up in a musical environment, improvising and playing the piano from the age of three. After graduating from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music in 2002 with a bachelor of music degree in composition, Mr. Schoenberg came to The Juilliard School, receiving his master of music degree in 2005 as a student of Robert Beaser. He currently studies with John Corigliano in Juilliard’s doctor of musical arts program as a C.V. Starr Doctoral Fellow. Other teachers have included Jeffrey Mumford, Lewis Nielson, and George Tsontakis. Mr. Schoenberg has received awards from ASCAP, the Society for New Music, and most recently from the American Academy of Arts and Letters where he was awarded the 2006 Charles Ives Scholarship. He has been commissioned by the Northern Ohio Youth Orchestra, the Juan Morel Campos IS71 in Brooklyn, NY, trumpeter Jack Sutte of the Cleveland Orchestra, and by the New Juilliard Ensemble. Recent commissions for the 2006-07 season include a work for harpist Gretchen Van Hoesen of the Pittsburgh Symphony, a work for the American Brass Quintet, and a piece for the IRIS Chamber Orchestra. His music has been performed in Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center, the Aspen Music Festival and School, the Midwest Composers’ Symposium, the Merce Cunningham Studio, and several colleges and universities in the United States, as well as broadcast on WCNY.

Finally, here’s a little Beethoven teaser for you today. This is a clip of the Yale Symphony playing a couple of minutes of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 8, which the IRIS Chamber Orchestra will be performing this weekend:

Bass News Right To Your Inbox!

Subscribe to get our weekly newsletter covering the double bass world.

Powered by ConvertKit