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The Orchestra Now

Música Mexicana

October 5–6

Add to Calendar2024-10-05 7:00 pm2024-10-05 9:30 pmEDTMúsica MexicanaFisher Center, Sosnoff Theater,
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Leon Botstein conductor

Manuel Ponce
Ferial

Carlos Chávez
Suite de Caballos de Vapor (Horsepower Suite)

Manuel Ponce
Chapultepec

Silvestre Revueltas
La noche de los Mayas (The Night of the Mayas)

Leon Botstein and The Orchestra Now perform works by three of the leading Mexican symphonic composers of the twentieth century. Manuel Ponce, known as the “father of Mexican Music” is represented by two pieces: the exuberant Ferial, depicting an afternoon fair in a small town, and the impressionistic Chapultepec, a colorful symphonic poem that takes audiences to the Mexico City suburb where the composer lived. Carlos Chávez’s boisterous Horsepower Suite reflects the interconnection of humans and industry, which the composer referred to as “struggle, effort, and creation.” And finally, the suite from Silvestre Revueltas’ score for the film La noche de los Mayas is a powerfully expressive work straight out of the Yucatan jungles.

Evening Program & Concert Quick Guide

Leon Botstein

Leon Botstein is founder and music director of The Orchestra Now (TŌN), music director and principal conductor of the American Symphony Orchestra (ASO), artistic codirector of Bard SummerScape and the Bard Music Festival, and conductor laureate and principal guest conductor of the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra (JSO), where he served as music director from 2003 to 2011. He has been guest conductor with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Aspen Music Festival, Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, Mariinsky Theatre, Russian National Orchestra in Moscow, Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden, Taipei Symphony, Simón Bolivar Symphony Orchestra, and Sinfónica Juvenil de Caracas in Venezuela, among others. In 2018, he assumed artistic directorship of Campus Grafenegg and Grafenegg Academy in Austria.

Recordings include acclaimed recordings of Othmar Schoeck’s Lebendig begraben with TŌN, Hindemith’s The Long Christmas Dinner with the ASO, a Grammy-nominated recording of Popov’s First Symphony with the London Symphony Orchestra, and other various recordings with TŌN, ASO, the London Philharmonic, NDR Orchestra Hamburg, and JSO, among others. He is editor of The Musical Quarterly and author of numerous articles and books, including The Compleat Brahms (Norton), Jefferson’s Children (Doubleday), Judentum und Modernität (Bölau), and Von Beethoven zu Berg (Zsolnay). Honors include Harvard University’s prestigious Centennial Award; the American Academy of Arts and Letters award; and Cross of Honor, First Class, from the government of Austria, for his contributions to music. Other distinctions include the Bruckner Society’s Julio Kilenyi Medal of Honor for his interpretations of that composer’s music, the Leonard Bernstein Award for the Elevation of Music in Society, and Carnegie Foundation’s Academic Leadership Award. In 2011, he was inducted into the American Philosophical Society.

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