FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 2, 2024
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Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra & Chorale Announces 2024/25 Season Featuring Four Music Director Candidates
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Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra & Chorale welcomes four incredibly talented conductors as candidates to be its next Music Director: Grete Pedersen, Ruben Valenzuela, Peter Whelan, and Avi Stein.
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The season also features world-renowned mandolinist Avi Avital in a 300th anniversary performance of Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons.
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Philharmonia’s Jews & Music program returns with Avital’s innovative approach to Baroque music.
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The orchestra will tour Southern California with its Vivaldi program after its Bay Area performances.
SAN FRANCISCO—Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra & Chorale (PBO) enters its 2024/25 season on a note of renewal as the search is underway for Philharmonia’s next Music Director. Four candidates have been invited to lead concerts during this exciting launch of a new era for “America’s leading historically informed ensemble” (The New York Times).
In addition to the four Music Director candidates, the season features legendary mandolinist Avi Avital, presenting a program that celebrates the 400th anniversary of Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons alongside evocative songs from Venice sung by Grammy Award-winning soprano Estelí Gomez
In regards to the new season, President of the Philharmonia Baroque Board of Directors Douglas Tanner remarks, “Philharmonia has bright, ambitious plans for our future—we are thrilled to welcome four outstanding Music Director candidates to the Bay Area as we continue to bring Baroque at its best to our audiences.”
The 2024/25 season opens with Dreams and Passions (October 17-19), a concert of contrasts that opens with the delicate medieval music of Hildegard von Bingen and continues with the gentle ebbs and flows of Caroline Shaw’s Entr’acte. Haydn’s whirlwind Symphony No. 49 and Mozart’s sonorous Clarinet Concerto in A Major follow. The concert ends with a beginning: Mendelssohn’s delightful overture to A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Dreams and Passions is conducted by Music Director candidate Grete Pedersen and features Philharmonia principal clarinetist Thomas Carroll as basset clarinet soloist. Grete is the Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the Carmel Bach Festival. In her home country of Norway, she founded the Oslo Chamber Choir in 1984, and since 1990 has been Music Director of The Norwegian Soloists’ Choir. In addition to her choral work, she has led orchestras including the renowned Mahler Chamber Orchestra, the Slovenian Philharmonic, Yale Camerata, and Oslo Sinfonietta.
Next, Philharmonia welcomes acclaimed mandolinist Avi Avital for Vivaldi, Venice, and The Four Seasons (November 7-9). As we mark the 300th anniversary of the publication of The Four Seasons, Vivaldi’s music is set in its Venetian context with evocative traditional music from the floating city, featuring the Grammy Award-winning soprano Estelí Gomez. This program will subsequently tour Southern California November 10 through 13.
In December, A Bach Christmas (December 11-13) features two of Bach’s advent cantatas, including the famous Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben (Heart and mouth and deed and life) and two works by his contemporary, Christoph Graupner. Valérie Sainte-Agathe prepares the lush voices of the Philharmonia Chorale in her third season with the organization. This program features soprano Sherezade Panthaki, and is conducted by Music Director candidate Ruben Valenzuela, founder and Artistic Director of Bach Collegium San Diego. Ruben has been a guest conductor with some of the top period instrument orchestras across the country, including recent or forthcoming appearances with Juilliard415 at Lincoln Center, the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, and the Handel and Haydn Society.
In the spring, Philharmonia delivers the lavish and alluring masque Handel’s Alceste (March 5-8). Featuring soprano Lauren Snouffer, tenor Aaron Sheehan, and the Philharmonia Chorale, this concert is conducted by Music Director candidate Peter Whelan, Artistic Director of the Irish Baroque Orchestra and Artistic Partner of Irish National Opera. Peter’s recent appearances include the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Dunedin Consort, la festa musicale, Meininger Hofkapelle, and Kristiansand Symphony Orchestra, as well as his debut at San Francisco Opera conducting Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice.
The season concludes with a concert full of the rhythm and verve of Baroque dance in Tout de Suite (April 10-12), featuring unforgettable music from Bach, Handel, Rebel, and Rameau. Tout de Suite is conducted by Music Director candidate Avi Stein, Associate Organist and Chorus Master at Trinity Wall Street and Artistic Director of the Helicon Foundation. In addition to his activities as a conductor, organist, and harpsichordist, Avi holds faculty positions at The Juilliard School and Yale University. He appears regularly as a continuo player with the Boston Early Music Festival, Quicksilver, the Clarion Music Society, and Bach Vespers NYC. Avi has also led the young artists’ program at the Carmel Bach Festival and has guest conducted ensembles including Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra and Portland Baroque Orchestra.
Jews & Music (JAM) returns this season with a musical conversation between world-renowned Israeli mandolinist Avi Avital and JAM Scholar in Residence Francesco Spagnolo (November 17). Expect a riveting performance of solo and chamber music, punctuated by a conversation on the many musical worlds that intersect one another in Avital’s innovative approach to Baroque music.
