March 18, 2007
World Premiere of Symphony 1 by Meira Warshauer in South Carolina
World Premiere Performance of Meira Warshauer Symphony No. 1 Living, Breathing Earth by South Carolina Philharmonic on March 24The World Premiere performance of Meira Warshauer’s Symphony No. 1 – “Living, Breathing Earth” will be given by the South Carolina Philharmonic, Nicholas Smith, Music Director, at 7 PM on Saturday, March 24, 2007 as part of their Master Series 7 concert at the Koger Center for the Arts, 1051 Greene Street in Columbia, South Carolina.
Tickets for the March 24 concert are $40, $32, $23, $16 and $13. For tickets and more concert information, please call the South Carolina Philharmonic box office at 803-254-7445 or visit them online at http://www.scphilharmonic.com/buynow.html.
This new work, commissioned by the South Carolina Philharmonic, Western Piedmont Symphony of North Carolina, and the Dayton Philharmonic of Ohio (their Premiere performances will be given on April 26 and 28), has been described by the composer: “the title, Living, Breathing Earth, came to me in contemplating the image of the rainforests as lungs of the earth. I felt our planet, alive with all variety of creatures and plants living in symbiosis with each other, breathing in and out, and the planet as a whole, pulsing with breath.” You can read Carson Cooman’s Music & Vision Daily interview with the composer about the new work at http://www.mvdaily.com/articles/2007/01/meira-warshauer.htm.
Other works on the program include William Walton’s Façade, Sally Smith, Narrator and Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1, Marina Lomazov, pianist.
Founded 42 years ago, the South Carolina Philharmonic has become one of the leading orchestras in the southeast. The South Carolina Philharmonic's mission is to continue providing quality symphonic music for their audiences, broaden public awareness and enjoyment of symphonic music, expand educational music programs for elementary, middle and high school students, support their Youth Orchestra program that serves more than 200 young instrumentalists and collaborate with other local arts groups to reach a more diverse audience. Maestro Nicholas Smith has been in charge of orchestras and opera companies for more than thirty years on both sides of the Atlantic. He has conducted orchestras in a dozen countries, making him adept at communicating with few words. Many concerts have been broadcast on radio and television and he has recorded CDs with Finnish, British and Czech orchestras. Much more about him and the orchestra at http://www.scphilharmonic.com/. For a list of season sponsors, visit http://www.scphilharmonic.com/sponsors.html.
Meira Warshauer’s compositions have been performed and recorded to critical acclaim throughout the United States and in Israel, Europe, and Asia. A graduate of Harvard, New England Conservatory of Music, and the University of South Carolina, Dr. Warshauer studied composition with Mario Davidovsky, Jacob Druckman, William Thomas McKinley, and Gordon Goodwin. She has received numerous awards from ASCAP as well as the America Music Center, Meet the Composer, and the South Carolina Arts Commission. In 2000, she received the first Art and Cultural Achievement Award from the Jewish Historical Society of S. Carolina.
Dr. Warshauer is a Visiting Lecturer at Columbia College, Columbia, South Carolina . Her CDs include the soundtrack to the documentary Land of Promise: The Jews of South Carolina and Spirals of Light, chamber music and poetry (by Ani Tuzman) on themes of enlightenment, on the Kol Meira label and "Revelation" for orchestra, included on the MMC CD Robert Black Conducts. Her music is published by Oxford University Press, MMB Music, World Music Press and Kol Meira Publications. Her latest Bracha Newsletter, containing full program notes for Symphony No. 1, is online at http://www.jamesarts.com/releases/jan07/MW_nws_010907.htm. You can find much more about her at http://home.sc.rr.com/meirawarshauer/. Posted by jmwc at March 18, 2007 12:56 PM