AMERICAN RUSSIAN YOUNG ARTISTS ORCHESTRA OPENS AMERICAN TOUR WITH SPECIAL CONCERT AT BARD COLLEGE ON MONDAY, JUNE 14, AT 7 P.M.

ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y.-The American Russian Young Artists Orchestra (ARYO) Chamber Ensemble begins its world tour Monday, June 14, at 7:00 p.m. with a special performance at Bard College. The concert, presented by The Bard Center, is free and open to the public and will be held in the air-conditioned Olin Hall.

The Chamber Players will perform selections including Kerry Turner's Fanfare for Barcs; Ernst von Dohnanyi's Sextet for Piano, Violin, Viola, Cello, Clarinet, Horn; Ingolf Dahl's Music for Brass Instruments; Jan Snimchikov's "Chase for 2 Snare Drums and Bass Drum"; Igor Stravinsky's The Soldier's Tale; Jacques Ibert's Deux Interludes; Francis Poulenc's Sonata for Brass; Benjamin Britten's Phantasy Quartet for Oboe and Strings Op. 2; Morton Gould's "Benny's Gig for Clarinet and Double Bass"; and Thurman Barker's "Tenor Tantrums for Saxophone Quintet,"

The American Russian Young Artists Orchestra was founded in 1987. From its inception, the First Ladies of Russia and the United States have served as its honorary chairwomen, and in 1993 Hillary Rodham Clinton and Naina Yeltsin assumed that role. ARYO operates under the leadership of Music Director Leon Botstein, president of Bard College, and a prestigious Board of Directors chaired by Henry Luce III, chairman and CEO of The Henry Luce Foundation. Over the years its conductors have included Valery Gergiev, Dmitri Kitayenko, Zubin Mehta, Leonard Slatkin, and Hugh Wolff.

Since 1988 ARYO has evolved from producing one summer tour a year to a full-fledged year-round operation that includes chamber tours, residencies, and extensive community outreach programs in leading venues around the globe. A highlight of ARYO's recent past was the 1998 Moscow Youth Olympics. The ARYO Chamber Orchestra participated in the World Youth Music Forum '98 at the invitation of the Russian Ministry of Culture and Moscow Mayor Yuri M. Luzhkov. There ARYO joined nine other youth orchestras representing every continent to form a one thousand-member Orchestra of the World, which presented a concert in Red Square under the baton of Valery Gergiev.

ARYO alumni are taking their places in the great orchestras of the United States and Russia, including the New World, Boston and Chicago Symphonies, Washington Opera, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, the Hong Kong, Saint Petersburg and Ural Philharmonics, Novosibirsk Symphony, Bolshoi Orchestra, Kirov Orchestra, and the White House Marine Corps Band. ARYO's alumni roster includes the recently named concertmaster of the Israel Philharmonic, Ilya Konovalov, and principal oboist of the Washington Opera, Igor Leschishin.

World Tour 1999: Millennium Muzika will take ARYO to twelve cities across the United States, Russia, and Central Europe from June 14 through July 8, under the batons of maestros Botstein and Dmitri Liss and guest conductor Valery Gergiev. Concert highlights will include twentieth-century works by Szymanowski, Duke Ellington, Stravinsky, Barber, and Rachmaninoff. In St. Petersburg, Russia, ARYO will perform a joint concert with the Kirov Orchestra under the direction of Maestro Gergiev. The tour will also feature the world premiere performance of a composition by Nico Muhly, a seventeen-year-old from Rhode Island; and performances by thirteen-year-old violin prodigy Mikhail Simonyan of Siberia. Baseball Hall of Fame member Tom Seaver will emcee ARYO's gala benefit on June 22 at Alice Tully Hall in New York City.

For further information about the concert at Bard College, call 914-758-7413.

This event was last updated on 03-02-2001

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