Orquestra de Sao Paulo, Kazem Abdullah, Conductor

Overview

Worcester Music Festival 150th Anniversary Season opens with Orquestra de Sao Paulo, one of Brazil's most celebrated classical music ensembles. American conductor Kazem Abdullah is an important young rising star who made his Met debut to rave reviews.  Percussion phenomenon Dame Evelyn Glennie is one of the most eclectic and innovative musicians on the scene today and will astound you.

TICKETS:  $46, $43, Students with ID $20   Call for Group Rates, Discounts

This performance is made possible in part                                                                                 by a grant from the

Related Sites

• Evelyn Glennie Web Site
• Orquestra de Sao Paulo official Web Site

Program

PROGRAM

Alberto Nepomuceno     O Garatuja

James MacMillan     Veni, Veni, Emmanuel - a Concerto for Percussion and Orchestra

Heitor Villa-Lobos     Bachianas Brasileiras No. 4

Bela Bartok     The Miraculous Mandarin Suite

About the Artists

With more than 130 concerts during its annual season, the Orquestra de São Paulo (OSESP) is considered the most outstanding orchestra in Latin America.

Maestro Kazem Abdullah is quickly becoming one of the most watched young, American conductors on the scene today. Mr. Abdullah’s January 28, 2009 Metropolitan Opera debut performance of Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice prompted The New York Times to write, "...the conductor Kazem Abdullah, in his Met debut, who took over for James Levine...conducted a confident performance, especially during the lively dances, and was impressively responsive to the singers during their long stretches of orchestra-accompanied recitative, which must flow with a combination of urgency and flexibility."  Twenty-nine year old Kazem Abdullah will continue his duties as Assistant and Cover Conductor for the Metropolitan Opera, working under Music Director James Levine, but in the 2009-2010 season, Kazem Abdullah will conduct the internationally renowned Orquestra de São Paulo, one of Brazil’s most celebrated classical musical ensembles, during its return to the United States, for the orchestra’s third coast-to-coast tour. The orchestra will begin collaboration with one of the most important young rising star conductors in the United States.

Dame Evelyn Glennie is the first person in musical history to successfully create and sustain a full-time career as a solo percussionist. As one of the most eclectic and innovative musicians on the scene today, she is constantly redefining the goals and expectations of percussion. By combining superb technique, a profound appreciation of the visual and her astonishing musicality, Evelyn creates performances of such vitality that they almost constitute a new type of performance.

Evelyn gives more than 100 performances a year worldwide, performing with the greatest conductors, orchestras, and artists. For the first ten years of her career virtually every performance she gave was in some way a first - the first time an orchestra had performed with a percussion soloist, the first solo percussion performance at a venue or festival or the world premiere of a new piece. Her diversity of collaborations have included performances with artists such as Nana Vasoncelos, Kodo, Bela Fleck, Bjork, Bobby McFerrin, Emmanuel Ax, Sting, Kings Singers, Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Fred Frith. She has commissioned one hundred and fifty new works for solo percussion from many of the world's most eminent composers and also composes and records music for film and television.