ECSO Office, Author at Eastern Connecticut Symphony Orchestra

Wednesday, February 23, 2022

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: CALEB BAILEY, 860-443-2876, [email protected]

Click here for downloadable .pdf version

Check out our full 75th Anniversary Season Brochure

Spring Strings
Saturday, March 19, 2022, 7:30pm
Garde Arts Center, 325 State St., New London, CT 06320

ECSO’s 75th anniversary season continues with Franz Joseph Haydn’s Symphony No. 75, completed in 1781. The composer of an astounding 107 symphonies, “Papa” Haydn is considered the father of the four-movement form, expanded by his sometime pupil Ludwig van Beethoven, whose nine symphonies are the heart of the repertoire. Spanish composer Joaquín Rodrigo’s 1939 work for classical guitar and orchestra, Concierto de Aranjuez, was inspired by the centuries-old gardens at a royal palace south of Madrid.

This performance, postponed from March of 2020, marks the ECSO debut of soloist Jason Vieaux, co-founder of the guitar department at Philadelphia’s prestigious Curtis Institute of Music and winner of the 2015 Grammy Award for Best Classical Instrumental Solo. George Walker, composer of Lyric for Strings, which follows, was the first African American graduate of the Curtis Institute and the first African American to appear with the Philadelphia Orchestra. Expanded from a piece composed at Curtis, Lyric for Strings is dedicated to Walker’s formerly enslaved grandmother. After intermission, a rare treat: Georges Bizet’s Symphony No. 1, written when the composer of Carmen was a 17-year-old student of Charles Gounod at the Paris Conservatory.

Covid Policy:

In order to safely celebrate our 75th anniversary season, we are implementing new concert attendance guidelines. All audience members will need to provide proof of a full course of vaccination for COVID-19 or a negative COVID-19 PCR test taken within 72 hours from the start of the concert. Items you should bring for admission to the hall includes a photo ID, photo or copy of your vaccination card, OR a photo, text, or email of a negative test result, where applicable. Masks will be required indoors at all times unless actively eating or drinking. Anyone unable or unwilling to comply with these guidelines may be asked to leave the concert, however refunds will be available in such cases.

Additionally, there will be no pre-concert chats in the hall or post-concert receptions in the upper lobby as there have been in the past until it is deemed safe to resume these once more. These guidelines are subject to change as the circumstances require and if government and venue recommendations evolve.

About Jason Vieaux:

Grammy-winner Jason Vieaux, “among the elite of today’s classical guitarists” (Gramophone), is the guitarist that goes beyond the classical. His most recent solo album, Play, won the 2015 Grammy Award for Best Classical Instrumental Solo.

Jason Vieaux has performed as soloist with over 100 orchestras in the U.S. and abroad. Additional recent and future highlights include performances at Caramoor Festival as Artist-in-Residence, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, the National Gallery of Art, San Francisco’s Herbst Theatre, Buenos Aires’ Teatro Colon, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, New York’s 92Y, Ravinia Festival, Domaine Forget International Festival, Carmel Bach Festival, and many other distinguished series. A first-rate chamber musician and programmer, he frequently collaborates with artists such as the Escher Quartet, harpist Yolanda Kondonassis, accordion/bandoneon virtuoso Julien Labro, and violinist Anne Akiko Meyers. His passion for new music has fostered premieres by Jonathan Leshnoff, Avner Dorman, Jeff Beal, Dan Visconti, David Ludwig, Vivian Fung, José Luis Merlin, Mark Mancina, and more.

Vieaux’s latest CD release, Dance (Azica) with the Escher Quartet, includes works by Boccherini, Castelnuovo-Tedesco, and Aaron Jay Kernis. Later this season, he will release a new solo Bach album on Azica. Additional recordings include Jonathan Leshnoff’s Guitar Concerto with the Nashville Symphony Orchestra (Naxos); Jeff Beal’s “Six Sixteen” Guitar Concerto with the Norrköping Symphony Orchestra (BIS); Infusion (Azica) with accordionist/bandoneonist Julien Labro; Ginastera’s Guitar Sonata, which is featured on Ginastera: One Hundred (Oberlin Music) produced by harpist Yolanda Kondonassis; and Together (Azica), a duo album with Kondonassis.

In 2012, the Jason Vieaux School of Classical Guitar was launched with ArtistWorks Inc., an interface that provides one-on-one online study with Vieaux for guitar students around the world. In 2011, he co-founded the guitar department at the Curtis Institute of Music, and in 2015 was invited to inaugurate the guitar program at the Eastern Music Festival. Vieaux has taught at the Cleveland Institute of Music since 1997, heading the guitar department since 2001. He has received a Naumburg Foundation top prize, a Cleveland Institute of Music Distinguished Alumni Award, GFA International Guitar Competition First Prize, and a Salon di Virtuosi Career Grant. His primary teachers were Jeremy Sparks and John Holmquist. Vieaux was the first classical musician to be featured on NPR’s “Tiny Desk” series. Jason Vieaux plays a 2013 Gernot Wagner guitar with Augustine strings.

For more information, visit www.jasonvieaux.com.

ECSO general copy:

We are thrilled to announce our 75th Anniversary Season’s lineup, curated by Music Director

and Conductor Toshiyuki Shimada. This season marks the 12th year under the musical leadership of Music Director and Conductor Toshiyuki Shimada. Visit www.ectsymphony.com for more information and follow us on social media (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube) @ectsymphony. The ECSO offers a range of affordable seating options from $65 to as low as $12 for attendance to one concert. The ECSO will continue to offer those under 40 years of age and active or retired military members $12 tickets in premium sections.

Founded in 1946 by Norwegian immigrant, Victor Norman, the mission of the Eastern Connecticut Symphony Orchestra is to inspire, educate, and connect our communities through live orchestral music.

Monday, January 31

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: CALEB BAILEY, 860-443-2876, [email protected]

Click here for downloadable .pdf version

Check out our full 75th Anniversary Season Brochure

Electric Romance
Saturday, February 19, 2022, 7:30pm
Garde Arts Center, 325 State St., New London, CT 06320

The upcoming third concert of the ECSO’s 75th anniversary season features the world premiere of Scattering by composer, media artist, and performer Joseph Butch Rovan, inaugural faculty director of the Brown Arts Initiative at Brown University, where his focus is the innovative Music & Multimedia Composition program. Rovan was quoted on the piece’s unique equipment that he designed for the premiere: “…I built a custom instrument for the conductor’s left hand that tracks movement, direction, and acceleration. I call the instrument TOSHI (The Orchestra-Synthesis Human Interface), in honor of ECSO’s dynamic conductor, Toshi Shimada. At critical points in the exposition, Toshi’s gestures produce a scattering of live electronic sounds that both comment on the orchestra and foretell what is to come.”

Saxophonist and U.S. Coast Guard Band member Joshua Thomas then takes the Garde Arts Center stage as soloist for a performance of Rush, a two-movement concerto for alto saxophone and orchestra by Kenneth Fuchs, professor of music composition at the University of Connecticut. Dmitri Shostakovich’s brief Waltz No. 2, written as part of the composer’s Suite for Variety Orchestra around 1956, closes out the first half. Shostakovich’s older contemporary Sergei Prokofiev composed the colorful music for Romeo and Juliet, a ballet based on William Shakespeare’s classic tragedy. Prokofiev later repurposed his score for the ballet into several suites for orchestra, including Suite No. 2, which follows intermission.

About Joshua Thomas, saxophone soloist:

Saxophonist Joshua Thomas has built a robust, multi-faceted career based on the foundations of high musical standards, a love of performance and education, and engaging interaction with audiences.

Since winning a coveted position as a full-time musician in the United States Coast Guard Band in 2000, he has performed hundreds of concerts around the world as a featured soloist, chamber musician, and a member of large ensembles. Away from the military, Thomas is active in performance and education. He is a member of the New London Big Band and the new music ensemble, the Bassless Trio. Thomas is currently on faculties at Eastern Connecticut State University, Connecticut College and the Hartt School community division.

A proponent of new music, Thomas has commissioned and premiered over 50 new works, from concertos, to electro/acoustic and unaccompanied works, to chamber music. Currently, he leads Smart Repertoire, a commissioning consortium that cultivates new works for intermediate level saxophonists.

Thomas received his Bachelor of Music Education at Michigan State University, Master of Music in performance at Louisiana State University, Master of Arts in music theory at Connecticut College, and Doctorate of Musical Arts in performance at the University of Hartford’s Hartt School of Music.

About Joseph Butch Rovan, composer:

Joseph Butch Rovan is a composer, media artist, and performer on the faculty of the Department of Music at Brown University, where he helped develop the Music & Multimedia Composition (MMC) program. From 2013-16 he was chair of Music and from 2016-19 he was the inaugural faculty director of the Brown Arts Initiative.

Prior to his work at Brown, Rovan was a compositeur en recherche with the Real-Time Systems Team at the Institut de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique/Musique (IRCAM) in Paris, as well as a faculty member at both Florida State University and the University of North Texas, where he directed CEMI, the Center for Experimental Music and Intermedia. Rovan worked at Opcode Systems before leaving for Paris, serving as Product Manager for Max, OMS and MIDI hardware.

Rovan received his Ph.D. in Music from the University of California at Berkeley, where he studied with Richard Felciano, Olly Wilson, and Jorge Liderman. He has received prizes from the Bourges International Electroacoustic Music Competition, first prize in the Berlin Transmediale International Media Arts Festival, and his work has been performed throughout Europe and the U.S. His interactive installation Let us imagine a straight line was featured in the 14th WRO International Media Art Biennale, Poland, and his work of the survival of images, for custom GLOBE controller, video and sound, is included on the Computer Music Journal DVD Sound and Video Anthology. His music appears on the Wergo, EMF, Circumvention, and SEAMUS labels. Rovan’s research includes new sensor hardware design and wireless microcontroller systems. His research into gestural control and interactivity has been featured in IRCAM’s journal Resonance, Electronic Musician, the Computer Music Journal, the Japanese magazine SoundArts, the CDROM Trends in Gestural Control of Music (IRCAM 2000), and in the book Mapping Landscapes for Performance as Research: Scholarly Acts and Creative Cartographies (Palgrave Macmillan, 2009). In 2019 he was awarded a patent with collaborator Peter Bussigel for a new electronic musical instrument design.

COVID-19 protocols:

In order to safely celebrate our 75th anniversary season, we are implementing new concert attendance guidelines. All audience members will need to provide proof of a full course of vaccination for COVID-19 or a negative COVID-19 PCR test taken within 72 hours from the start of the concert. Items you should bring for admission to the hall includes a photo ID, photo or copy of your vaccination card, OR a photo, text, or email of a negative test result, where applicable. Masks will be required indoors at all times unless actively eating or drinking. Anyone unable or unwilling to comply with these guidelines may be asked to leave the concert, however refunds will be available in such cases.

Additionally, there will be no pre-concert chats in the hall or post-concert receptions in the upper lobby as there have been in the past until it is deemed safe to resume these once more. These guidelines are subject to change as the circumstances require and if government and venue recommendations evolve.

ECSO general copy:

We are thrilled to announce our 75^th Anniversary Season’s lineup, curated by Music Director and Conductor Toshiyuki Shimada. This season marks the 12^th year under the musical leadership of Music Director and Conductor Toshiyuki Shimada.

Visit www.ectsymphony.com for more information and follow us on social media (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube) @ectsymphony

The ECSO offers a range of affordable seating options from $65 to as low as $12 for attendance to one concert. The ECSO will continue to offer those under 40 years of age and active or retired military members $12 tickets in premium sections.

Founded in 1946, the mission of the Eastern Connecticut Symphony Orchestra is to inspire, educate, and connect our communities through live orchestral music.

Thursday, December 23, 2021

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: CALEB BAILEY, 860-443-2876, [email protected]

Click here for downloadable .pdf version

Check out our full 75th Anniversary Season Brochure

Symphonic Fantasy
Saturday, January 22, 2022, 7:30pm
Garde Arts Center, 325 State St., New London, CT 06320

The orchestra’s first concert of 2022 begins with the U.S. premiere of Imitation of Life by award-winning composer Ekaterina Buzovkina, a recent graduate of the State Musical Institute in Moscow. Carrying on the Russian theme is the evening’s soloist: Igor Pikayzen, grandson of legendary violinist Viktor Pikayzen. The Moscow-born graduate of the Juilliard School and the Yale School of Music joins the orchestra to play Dmitri Shostakovich’s Violin Concerto No. 1, a work that calls for incredible technical facility. Following intermission, Music Director & Conductor Toshiyuki Shimada will lead the orchestra in a performance of Finnish composer Jean Sibelius’s Symphony No. 7, completed in 1924, one of the most beautiful and evocative of 20th-century symphonies, despite or because of its unusual single-movement structure.

About Igor Pikayzen, violin soloist:

Award-winning Russian-American violinist Igor Pikayzen is confidently establishing himself as one of the most prodigious and in-demand soloists of his generation. Praised on four continents by critics and audiences alike for his “astounding technical ability” and a “majestically lush tone”, Igor Pikayzen “surely is at the forefront of a major musical career” (Moscow Times).

Since his concerto debut at the age of 8, with Mozart’s Violin Concerto #2 and the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra, Pikayzen has appeared as a soloist with major orchestras spanning Europe, Asia, North and South America. Highlights of the 2021-22 season include solo appearances with Filarmonica de Boca del Rio, Sinfonia Toronto, Orquesta Sinfonica del Estado de Mexico, Orquesta Sinfonica de Xalapa, Eastern Connecticut Symphony Orchestra, National Symphony of Georgia, debut recitals at the Dame Myra Hess series in Chicago, the Gina Bachauer series in Salt Lake City, recitals in Denver and Washington D.C. as well as a return to New York’s prestigious Bargemusic series. 2022 also sees the release of two new albums; a recording of fantasies for violin & piano with Tatyana Pikayzen and the Glazunov
Violin Concerto on Sony Classical.

Previous solo appearances include the Russian State Symphony Orchestra, Moscow Radio Symphony, Bucharest Philharmonic, Sinfonietta Veracruzana, Sinfonica Nacional de Chile, Filharmonica di Bacau, Bialystok Philharmonic, Istanbul State Symphony, Stamford Symphony, Czestochowa Philharmonic, Izmir Symphony, Ridgefield Symphony, Tbilisi Opera Orchestra, Yokohama Sinfonietta, Kielce Philharmonic and countless others under the batons of Lior Shambadal, Łukasz Borowicz, Brett Mitchell, Gürer Aykal, Toshi Shimada, Jorge Mester, Daniel Huppert, Hobart Earle, Jerzy Salwarovski, Roman Revueltas, Enrique Batiz, Thomas Rösner,
Vakhtang Matchavariani, Christopher Lyndon-Gee, Alexander Platt and Emil Tabakov. In the last three seasons alone, he has given debuts and returned to Carnegie Hall and Alice Tully Hall in New York City, Tchaikovsky Hall and Minor Hall in Moscow, Teatro Llago in Frutillar, Congreso Nacional in Santiago, Eslite Performance Hall in Taipei, President Hall in Ankara, Flagey and Le Bozar in Brussels, Gates Performing Arts Center in Denver, L’Auditori in Barcelona, Le Bourget in Montreal, Centro Nacional de las Artes in Mexico City and Cadogan Hall in London, to name just a few.

Grandson of the legendary Soviet violinist Viktor Pikayzen, Igor was born in Moscow, Russia. After receiving his Bachelor’s Degree from Juilliard, as well as a Master’s Degree and Artist Diploma from the Yale School of Music, he was the recipient of the coveted Enhanced Chancellor Fellowship while working on his DMA at the CUNY Graduate Center where he was also on the faculty of Brooklyn Conservatory. Pikayzen is the 1st prize winner of the 2015 Edition of the International Violin Competition Luis Sigall in Viña del Mar, Chile as well as the
Wronski International Violin Competition in Warsaw, in addition to being a silver medalist at the Szeryng and Kloster-Schöntal international violin competitions. A native of Moscow, Mr. Pikayzen shares his time between New York, Denver and Westport, CT, where he launched an annual summer music festival, Edelio. In 2019 he was announced as the new Professor of Violin at the Lamont School of Music at the University of Denver.

About Ekaterina Buzovkina, composer:

Ekaterina Buzovkina was born in 1994 in Moscow. She earned a bachelor’s degree in Music Theory and a Master’s degree in Composition from the Ippolitov-Ivanov State Musical Pedagogical Institute. Her works include compositions for piano, chamber ensemble, Russian folk ensemble, chorus, chamber orchestra, orchestra of Russian folk instruments, and symphony orchestra. Ekaterina is a multiaward-winning composer. Competitions have included the International Composition Competition of the Winter International Arts Festival in Sochi (2015, 2nd prize and 2016, 1st prize), Malta International Composition Competition, (3rd prize in both 2016 and 2017), Maurice Ravel International Composition Competition (Finalist, 2016 and 2018), All-Russian Composition Competition “International Rostrum of Composers” (2019, 2nd prize), The First All-Russian Composition Competition Partitura (Score) in the nomination “Symphony orchestra” (2020, Laureate). Music by Ekaterina Buzovkina has been performed in the halls of Moscow International House of Music, Moscow Tchaikovsky State Conservatory, Moscow Glinka Museum, Palazzo Castelmur in Switzerland, Gnesin Russian Academy of Music, Yaroslavl State Philharmonia, Organ Hall of Sochi Philharmonia, the Concert Hall of Moscow Cathedral Chamber, as well as Culture television channel and Orpheus Radio in Moscow.

COVID-19 protocols:

ECSO general copy:

Founded in 1946, the mission of the Eastern Connecticut Symphony Orchestra is to inspire, educate, and connect our communities through live orchestral music.

FULL-TIME EXECUTIVE COORDINATOR

The Eastern Connecticut Symphony Orchestra is seeking a creative and energetic professional to serve as Executive Coordinator. This is a wonderful opportunity to support one of Connecticut’s premier professional symphony orchestras in its next phase of growth. Under the leadership of Executive Director, Caleb Bailey, an imaginative and dynamic maestro – Toshiyuki Shimada, and the Board of Directors, the Eastern Connecticut Symphony Orchestra has come back to the concert stage in its 75th year with renewed vigor and purpose.

Reporting to the Executive Director, the Executive Coordinator will be responsible for the overall business operation of the symphony office, including the box office, front-of-house operations, education programs, and events. Front-facing people skills are essential in this position and used daily, through interfacing with patrons, donors, venue staff, Board members, and other contacts in fast-moving events and scenarios. The Executive Coordinator will also be integrally involved in coordinating the symphony’s annual giving efforts, including phone and mail solicitations, donor tracking, and event planning. Additionally, the person in this position will have the opportunity to spearhead or collaborate on marketing materials and social media efforts. The successful candidate must be passionate about music and will hold at least an Associate’s degree and/or have at least 3 years of experience in an administrative role. Excellent oral and written communication skills, organizational and systems thinking, and an ability to work collaboratively with a range of constituencies are essential. Past non-profit experience also preferred.

Facility with or a demonstrated ability to learn a variety of office systems and software, including Microsoft Office Suite (Access, Word, Excel, Publisher) and Adobe Suite (InDesign, Photoshop, Premiere) required. Knowledge of or experience with marketing, design, online software (such as Canva or Constant Contact), and/or customer relationship management databases a considerable plus. This is a full-time position with a salary range of $40,000 – $45,000 per year depending on experience.

Office hours are 9am to 5pm, with some nights and weekends required. While this is not a remote work position, some flexibility may be arranged for remote work on occasion. This position requires the candidate to be in the New London office and at events.

For full job description, click here:Executive Coordinator Job Description

Please submit résumé, at least one professional reference, and cover letter to Caleb Bailey at [email protected], or mail in application materials to ECSO, c/o Caleb Bailey, 289 State St., New London, CT 06320.

About the ECSO:

The mission of the Eastern Connecticut Symphony Orchestra is to “inspire, educate, and connect our communities through live orchestral music.”

The Eastern Connecticut Symphony Orchestra is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization serving the eastern Connecticut and western Rhode Island region. Recent concerts in Norwich and Willimantic reflect our renewed dedication to serving a broader area. New London, where the ECSO office is located, is a community with a growing arts scene.

The ECSO typically offers a season of 6 classical concerts, an adult chorus, youth ensembles/orchestra, plus special programming and educational offerings. ECSO musicians are drawn from the excellent artist pool available locally as well as New Haven, Hartford, Providence, New York City, Boston area. A number of the musicians are current or former members of the United States Coast Guard Band, which is located in New London. The orchestra has about 65 contracted musicians, and its annual budget is $700,000.

ECSO is an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to providing an environment of mutual respect where equal employment opportunities are available to all applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, pregnancy (including childbirth, lactation and related conditions), parental status, national origin, age, physical and mental disability, marital, civil union, or domestic partnership status, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, military and veteran status, and any other characteristic protected by applicable law.

The official newsletter of the ECSO is mailed throughout the year to patrons and friends of the ECSO. Each issue includes the latest news, upcoming events, and behind-the-scenes stories on all things ECSO. If you would like to be included in the next mailing, contact us at [email protected].

This issue includes:

A Message from Toshiyuki Shimada
Information on our Pre-Concert Chats and Digital Program Book
Musicians of the Orchestra: Amy Butler
Board Member Highlight: Alice Soscia
A Message from Caleb

Download the latest issue below.

Prelude Jan. 2022 Download

As I reflect on the Thanksgiving holiday, I want to take an opportunity to share my gratitude for many things at the ECSO.

I am thankful the ECSO is back on the stage and ready to present wonderful symphonic music, both familiar and new, during its 75th Anniversary season — a milestone! Even during the pandemic, new works were composed for our orchestra, and we are performing some of them this season.

I am thankful for the orchestra musicians who have kept up their performance level and were eager to get back to making music for our audience. It is a pleasure to share the stage with all of you.

I am thankful to all of our generous donors, loyal subscribers, and patrons who are back attending our concerts. I wish you all sincere blessings during this holiday season.

I am thankful to the Board of Directors, Friends of the Symphony, volunteers, staff — all of whom have been very active, caring, and inventive during the past 20 months.

Personally, I am thankful that my family, Eva and Matias, will all be together at the Thanksgiving table, which is a real blessing at a time like this. (And yes, I am the cook this year!)

Wishing you all the happiness of good friends, the joy of a happy family, and the wonder of the holiday season. I thank you for your support and for making time in your life for live orchestral music. I hope to see you at a concert soon!

Have a memorable Thanksgiving! – Toshi

The ECSO rehearsing before the November 20, 2021 concert.

We were so excited to celebrate the start of our 75th anniversary season with a party at the Lyman Allyn Art Museum on Sunday, November, 7, 2021. We were happy to reconnect with old friends and welcome new supporters for a wonderful afternoon of hors d’oeuvres and wine. It was a thrill to hear a recital by ECSO Concertmaster, Stephan Tieszen performing three Romantic era pieces. He wowed the audience with Beethoven, Wieniawski, and Vaughan Williams. One of the best moments was when Patricia Hendel, our Honorary Event Chairperson, spoke to the audience about the ECSO and its place in her heart and in the community. We thank everyone who was there to celebrate 75 years and look forward to ECSO’s bright future and continued growth.

Monday, November 8, 2021

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: CALEB BAILEY, 860-443-2876, [email protected]

Click here for downloadable .pdf version

Check out our full 75th Anniversary Season Brochure

Heroic Celebrations – Saturday, November 20, 2021, 7:30pm
Garde Arts Center, 325 State St., New London, CT 06320

Front-line workers join the ECSO as special guests to open the second concert of its 75th anniversary season with You Raise Me Up, popularized in this country by Josh Groban’s 2003 cover version. Next comes Danse Nègre, the final movement of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s African Suite of 1898. The son of an English woman and a surgeon from Sierra Leone—descended from enslaved Africans freed by the British during the American War of Independence—Coleridge-Taylor studied at London’s Royal College of Music, made three tours of the U.S., and was received at the White House by Teddy Roosevelt.

Closing out the first half is the world premiere of Tom Myron’s Bell Harbor, the second of the Massachusetts-based composer’s works to be performed by the ECSO, following Katahdin: Greatest Mountain in 2010. Myron states, “I am extremely pleased and happy to be working with the Eastern Connecticut Symphony Orchestra on the premieres of Bell Harbor and the 75th anniversary New London Skyline Fanfare. Toshiyuki Shimada has been both an advocate of my music and a great personal friend for more than 25 years. I think of him whenever I write for orchestra and these two works speak directly to that ongoing friendship and musical collaboration. I’ve been listening to the ECSO for 10 years now and I admire them tremendously. They are a superb, highly dedicated ensemble with a terrific venue. I know that each member of this orchestra will bring great color and artistry to the music that I have written.”

The evening’s concluding work is Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5. Composed in 1888, with Tchaikovsky on the podium for its premiere in Saint Petersburg, it was performed in that renamed city during the Nazi siege of Leningrad, even as bombs began to fall at the start of the second movement.

COVID-19 protocols:

ECSO general copy:

Founded in 1946, the mission of the Eastern Connecticut Symphony Orchestra is to inspire, educate, and connect our communities through live orchestral music.

Monday, November 1, 2021

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: CALEB BAILEY, 860-443-2876, [email protected]

Click here for downloadable .pdf version

Check out our full 75th Anniversary Season Brochure

ECSO seeking frontline workers to sing “You Raise Me Up”
Heroic Celebrations – Saturday, November 20, 2021, 7:30pm
Garde Arts Center, 325 State St., New London, CT 06320

Front-line workers who are interested in singing and joining the ECSO on stage are being sought out for the upcoming Heroic Celebrations concert on Saturday, November 20, 7:30pm. The orchestra along with volunteer singers will perform You Raise Me Up, popularized by Josh
Groban’s 2003 cover version. Music will be distributed in advance, along with an audio example that demonstrates the version that we will perform. Any front-line workers who wish to join will be invited to rehearse with the orchestra on the day of the concert, from 2:30pm – 3pm. Both rehearsal and the concert will occur at the Garde Arts Center in New London. Volunteer singers who join the ECSO will also be allowed a limited number of comp tickets to invite family or friends to experience the entire concert. Additionally, we will offer a special discount to any other front-line or essential workers who would like to attend the concert. To indicate your interest in participating, please email [email protected], or call the
ECSO office 860-443-2876. Although past performance experience is not necessary, we do ask that you have interest in learning and rehearsing along with the ECSO and taking necessary guidance from our Music Director & Conductor, Toshiyuki Shimada.

Covid Policy for performers:

We will be requiring proof of a full course of vaccination of all musicians and front-line
workers joining us IN ADDITION to a negative COVID test, either PCR or rapid (antigen). This
test should be taken no earlier than 72 hours before you rehearse with the ECSO. Negative
results required in addition to your vaccination record to get into the venue to rehearse.
Masks required for all, except woodwinds and brass ONLY when performing can remove
them. Masks used must be surgical masks, or N95 type. The ECSO will provide disposable
surgical masks at the door that can be used. Cloth masks or other materials will not be allowed.
For self-screening, we encourage musicians and performers to stay home from rehearsals or
concerts if they have two or more of the following symptoms: coughing, shortness of breath,
difficulty breathing, chills, fatigue, muscle or body aches, headache, new loss of taste or smell,
sore throat, congestion or runny nose, nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea.
We will not be taking or recording temperatures at any service location.
These guidelines are subject to change as the circumstances require and if government and
venue recommendations evolve.

About the ECSO:
Founded in 1946 by Norwegian immigrant, Victor Norman, the ECSO embarks on its 75th anniversary season beginning in October 2021. Music Director & Conductor Toshiyuki Shimada has programmed an exciting season showcasing the ECSO’s critically acclaimed virtuosity and scope of repertoire ranging from Classical and Romantic-era favorites to newly composed, cutting-edge international works.

Visit www.ectsymphony.com to stay tuned for more information about the 21-22 season and follow on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ectsymphony.

The ECSO offers a range of affordable seating options from $62 to as low as $12 for attendance to one concert. The ECSO will offer those under 40 years of age $12 tickets in premium sections. Additionally, $12 tickets will be available to any active or retired military members.

Founded in 1946, the mission of the Eastern Connecticut Symphony Orchestra is to inspire, educate, and connect our communities through live orchestral music.

Composer Polina Nazaykinskaya takes a bow after the premiere of *Fenix*. Photo credit: Bob Reed

Just as I dreamt, the opening concert of the Eastern Connecticut Symphony Orchestra on Saturday, October 23 was a great success! It seems like Thanksgiving came a month early for me. I am so thankful for the patrons who attended our first indoor concert in 600 days and showed their enthusiastic support throughout the whole evening. I am thankful our donors kept the faith and financially supported us even when we had to pivot to a different way of performing. I am thankful for the orchestra musicians who have kept up their performance level during the pandemic and were eager to get back to making music for our audience. I am thankful for our Board members, volunteers, and staff for keeping us active during the last 18 months while also preparing for our 75^th anniversary season.

However, we are not resting on our laurels. The ECSO is already preparing for the next concert at the Garde Arts Center on Saturday, November 20. Now that we feel safe and secure with our Covid protocols, a bigger orchestra and more exciting music is on the menu. The spirit of new music continues with the world premiere performance of Bell Harbor by Tom Myron. Although written during the early part of the pandemic, the work does not show any darkness, defeat, nor weakness. It is a piece that is full of hope, energy, and joy. Look for a virtual pre-concert chat with me and Tom in a future installment of Toshi Tuesday.

There are a handful of the symphonic works considered as triumphant as Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5. Well, we are not done celebrating our joyful return to indoor performances with just any work. Our next triumphal symphony is Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5, one of my favorite works to conduct. In fact, I love it so much, I took it on the road with the Yale Symphony Orchestra’s Russian Tour. The most memorable performance was on the stage of the Great Hall of the Moscow State “Tchaikovsky” Conservatory. Right after the last note of the Symphony the Moscow audience jumped up and kept applauding for what seemed like an eternity, culminating with applause in unison rhythm. I am planning to recreate this excitement with the Eastern Connecticut Symphony Orchestra concert on November 20.

Finally, another reason for coming to our November concert is that we are honoring first responders who have courageously fought the pandemic while protecting the community. We are not only honoring them, but we have asked some of the musically talented personnel to sing along with us. I can’t wait to see you at all our concerts and events this season – check out our program book and website for more information. Please join us in celebrating our 75^th season. More importantly, let’s celebrate that we are alive and can enjoy the gifts that only great music can give to us.

-Toshi

2021-2022 Season Program Book View