Paris, New York, London, Dusseldorf, Germany, and Granville will be remembered as concert sites on the 29th season schedule of Orpheus, the internationally-recognized chamber orchestra. Orpheus will play at Denison University at 8 p.m. on Friday (Feb. 16) in Swasey Chapel as part of this season's Vail Series.

The program will include "Three Latin American Sketches" by Aaron Copland, "Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No 17 in G major, K. 453" by Mozart, "Fünf Sätze Op. 5 (Five Movements for Strings)" by Anton Webern and will conclude with the "Symphony No. 1 in C major, Op.21" by Beethoven.

Appearing as soloist in the Mozart Concerto is Imogen Cooper, a British native who appears regularly with European and American orchestras. As a youth she studied at the Paris Conservatoire, winning its Premier Prix. Also winner of the Mozart Memorial Prize in London in 1969, Cooper has performed with the New York Philharmonic, the Vienna Philharmonic, Camerata Academica Salzburg, and the Dresden Staatskapelle and Concertgebouw Orchestras. In addition to touring with the Orpheus Orchestra this season, she will tour with the Australian Chamber Orchestra and work with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra for an international Mozart-Shubert-Mahler project.

Christopher Purdy, executive producer of the WOSU Classics Network, will present a pre-concert conversation at 7:30 p.m. A limited number of tickets at $15 each may be available to the general public. For ticket availability and information call the Vail Concert Line at (740) 587-6557.

The Orpheus Chamber Orchestra won three 1999 Grammy Awards for its jazz-inspired Ravel and Gershwin collaborations with Herbie Hancock and a 1998 Grammy nomination for its recording of Mozart piano concertos with Richard Goode. They also were named "Ensemble of the Year" in 1998 by "Musical America." Seventeen string and 10 wind players comprise the basic membership of Orpheus; a larger company is expected to play at the Denison concert.

Central to each Orpheus season is its five-concert series at Carnegie Hall, New York. This season also will see The Riverside Church Concert Series in upper Manhattan, The Satellite Series at Lafayette College in Pennsylvania and Purchase College SUNY, N.Y., and additional national and international engagements. The Vail Concert at Denison will follow performances in cities such as Florence, Rome, Washington, D.C., Iowa City, Princeton, N.J., and St. Paul, Minn.

Founded in 1972 by cellist Julian Fifer and a group of fellow musicians, they aspired to perform chamber music through their own close collaborative efforts and without a conductor. Each player takes on a high level of personal and musical responsibility; seating positions rotate among the players to give each the opportunity to lead a section. Together they make the interpretive decisions that are ordinarily the work of a conductor. The "Orpheus Process" has attracted attention from a broad spectrum of organizations in the business, academic, not-for-profit and public sectors.

The concert is sponsored by Denison's Vail Series, made possible by a generous gift from the late Foster and Mary McGaw in memory of Jeanne Vail, a 1946 alumna. The Series is part of the Vail Program that provides the University with a range of support for fine arts activities, including art history, cinema, dance, music, studio art and theatre. In addition to underwriting performances by major artists through the Vail Series, the program provides for one or more Vail artists-in-residence who work with faculty and students to expand and enrich the cultural opportunities at Denison.

The Denison Vail Series Web Site is located at http://vailseries.org/.

About Denison:

Denison University, founded in 1831, is an independent, residential liberal arts institution located in Granville, Ohio. A highly selective college enrolling 2,100 full-time undergraduate students from all 50 states and dozens of foreign countries, Denison is a place where innovative faculty and motivated students collaborate in rigorous scholarship, civic engagement and the cultivation of independent thinking.

For press inquiries:

Name

Barbara Stambaugh

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Director, Media Relations

Primary Email

stambaughb@denison.edu

Business Phone

(740) 587-8575