Longwood Symphony keeps testing the healing power of music

The Longwood Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Jonathan McPhee will end its 27th season next June by making its debut at Tanglewood's Ozawa Hall. But the most interesting gig might be the season opener on Oct. 17, when the band of medical professionals breaks up into 15-20 groups and fans out to the city's hospitals and other care facilities in hopes of playing for 1,000 patients before the day is out. That's part of the LSO On Call program.  The complete release is after the jump.

LONGWOOD SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA ANNOUNCES 27^TH SEASON OF HEALING THE COMMUNITY THROUGH MUSIC 

(BOSTON) -- Longwood Symphony Orchestra (LSO)—the award-winning organization of highly trained musicians from Boston’s medical community—announces an ambitious 27th season. Under the baton of Artistic Director Jonathan McPhee, the musical season will feature a Boston premiere by Giya Kancheli, rarely heard works of Sibelius and Ginastera and will culminate with LSO’s debut concert in Seiji Ozawa Hall in Lenox, Massachusetts.   

Maestro McPhee will welcome the New World Chorale and soloists Roger Tapping, viola; Tai Murray, violin; and Philip Fisher, piano to the stage. 

Dedicated to “Healing the Community through Music”, LSO continues its tradition of helping medical charities raise funds and public awareness through its Healing Art of Music™ program.  

Longwood Symphony Orchestra received the 2007 MetLife Excellence in Community Engagement Award from the League of American Orchestras.    

This season’s 2009-10 Community Partners will be:

• Dr. Susan E. Spencer Memorial Epilepsy Research Fund
• The Food Project – an urban farming program for inner city youth
• ATASK – Asian Task Force Against Domestic Violence
• Berkshire Children and Families

 
 

October 17, 2009

LSO on Call:  Health and Harmony across the City

Longwood Symphony Orchestra will be launching its 2009-10 season with an unusual "concert" to demonstrate the healing power of music. On Saturday October 17, 2009, rather than starting the year with a formal orchestral concert LSO will send 15-20 groups to15-20 health care facilities with the goal of playing for 1000 patients across greater Boston in ONE DAY. 

LSO on Call, launched in the 2008 by a pilot grant from Merck Research Laboratories-Boston, is a monthly outreach program that brings music directly to patients who can no longer attend concerts.  
 
 
 

December 5, 2009

New England Conservatory’s Jordan Hall – 8:00pm

New England Premiere of STYX by Giya Kancheli

Roger Tapping, viola

New World Chorale, Holly MacEwen Krafka and John Zielinski, co-directors

Sibelius, Kancheli, Shore

In this evening of mystery and mythology, Maestro Jonathan McPhee and the Longwood Symphony take the audience with them on a musical journey.  Jean Sibelius’ Tapiola and Howard Shore’s Lord of the Rings depict the world of wood sprites and the dark mysteries of Middle Earth, while the highlight of the evening is Giya Kancheli’s Styx for Viola, Chorus and Large Orchestra. Hailed as “a masterwork of the 21^st century,” the solo viola represents Charon, who ferries souls down the river Styx, between the land of the living and the dead.

LSO’s Community Partner is the Dr. Susan Spencer Memorial Epilepsy Research Fund established in memory of Dr. Susan Spencer, a highly respected pioneer in the field.

                       

March 13, 2010

New England Conservatory’s Jordan Hall – 8:00pm

Tai Murray, violin  Boston Debut

Ginastera, Barber, Debussy 

Artistic Director Jonathan McPhee paints three distinct panoramas from the palettes of Barber, Ginastera and Debussy. LSO introduces Boston to rising star Tai Murray who will join Longwood Symphony Orchestra for Samuel Barber’s beloved Violin Concerto.  The concert also includes Alberto Ginastera’s rarely heard Ollantay and Claude Debussy’s epic La Mer. 

LSO’s Community Partner is The Food Project whose mission promotes social and personal change through sustainable agriculture. 

May 1, 2010

New England Conservatory’s Jordan Hall – 8:00pm

Philip Fisher, piano Boston Debut

Nielsen and Rachmaninoff 

The best known of his symphonies, Carl Nielsen wrote of his 4^th Symphony “ I have an idea for a new composition, which has no programme but will express what we understand as the spirit of life or manifestations of life…that which is Inextinguishable.” This moving work will be paired with Sergei Rachmaninoff’s towering Piano Concerto No. 3, featuring British pianist Philip Fisher. 

LSO’s Community Partner is ATASK, Asian Task Force Against Domestic Violence which is dedicated to preventing domestic violence and promoting hope among survivors. 

June 12, 2010

Seiji Ozawa Hall, Lenox, MA – 8:00pm

Scheer, Nielsen, Debussy 

Celebrating music, healing and the inextinguishable human spirit, LSO opens its Ozawa Hall debut with a performance of Albert Schweitzer Portrait by Gene Scheer (2009). This work was co-commissioned by Longwood Symphony Orchestra and the Albert Schweitzer Fellowship in 2009 to honor Dr. Albert Schweitzer, Nobel Peace Prize laureate, musician, physician and humanitarian. The concert will also include Nielsen’s Symphony No. 4 and Debussy’s La Mer. 
 

LSO’s Community Partner will be Berkshire Children and Familes, a Pittsfield-based service organization that supports some of the most vulnerable families in Western Massachusetts through service, advocacy and education. 
 

TICKETS

Season tickets for Longwood Symphony Orchestra’s concert series are $108-$120, on sale now online at longwoodsymphony.org, or by phone at 617.667.1527. 

Individual concert tickets range from $20-$40 and are available online at longwoodsymphony.org or by phone at 617.667.1527. 

INFORMATION

Additional information about Longwood Symphony Orchestra’s season is available at www.longwoodsymphony.org. 
 

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