KSO partners with Classical Kids LIVE! to present Tchaikovsky Discovers America, February 11th at Chenery Auditorium
Kalamazoo, MI January 22, 2018 – The Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra presents the final Family Discovery concert of the 2017-18 season, once again in collaboration with Classical Kids LIVE!. The KSO’s Family Discover Series concerts feature symphonic performances specially tailored to young children and their families. Tickets are only $5 each and include preconcert activities for the family!
KSO Resident Conductor and Interim Music Director, Daniel Brier, states “I always love working with Classical Kids Live! The storytelling coupled with Tchaikovsky’s beautiful music make this one not to miss.”
Maestro Brier will be conducting the program entitled Tchaikovsky Discovers America. Based on the actual event, this story tells of the great composer's arrival in New York for the grand opening of Carnegie Hall in 1891 and his famous trip to Niagara Falls. A surprise encounter with a young American girl, Jennie, reveals much about Tchaikovsky; his life in Russia, his love of music and his fears of conducting. This is a poignant story of the meeting of old world influences and new world experiences; a tale of contrast, courage and classical music.
Family and student audiences will be captivated by over twenty of Tchaikovsky’s most popular compositions. Movements include marches, serenades and waltzes from Swan Lake, The Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty, and more!
The Family Discovery activities will kick off at 2pm with the KSO’s popular Instrument Petting Zoo and Meet the Conductor.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Daniel Brier, Resident Conductor/Interim Music Director
Daniel Brier is Resident Conductor and Interim Music Director of the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra, an orchestra he joined as Assistant Conductor in 2014. In recent seasons, he has guest conducted the St. Petersburg Chamber Philharmonic, Adrian Symphony, Whiting Park Festival Orchestra, Andrews Symphony Orchestra and has also cover conducted for the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. He has also collaborated with a diverse range of artists including Rachel Barton Pine, Bobby McFerrin, and more.
Highlights of Daniel's 2017-18 season include two live movies (Star Wars: A New Hope and A Jungle Book), three performances of The Nutcracker, and his Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra Symphonic Series debut featuring Tchaikovsky's “Pathetique" and collaborations with violinist Jennifer Frautschi and Pulitzer Prize winning composer George Walker.
An ardent advocate for contemporary music, Daniel collaborated with the studios of Michael Daugherty and Bright Sheng to premiere works by Peter Shin, Zac Lavender, Jon Boggs, and Nate May. In addition to his support of emerging composers, Daniel has recently conducted works written by contemporary masters including George Walker, Jennifer Higdon, John Adams, Mason Bates, Jessie Montgomery, and more. In 2016, he commissioned and conducted the world premiere of Daniel Capelletti’s The Night Before Christmas, with the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra.
Previously, Daniel was Music Director of the Spectrum Orchestra, Assistant Conductor for the Lexington Philharmonic, and conductor of the University of Michigan Orpheus Singers. In 2010, he was awarded a prize for his “exceptional conducting” during the St. Petersburg Chamber Philharmonic’s International Conducting Competition. Later, in 2012, Daniel received an invitation to study privately with John Nelson at the Orchestre de chambre de Paris. Mr. Brier has conducted in masterclasses with Giancarlo Guerrero, Hugh Wolff, Jorma Panula, Alexander Polishchuk, Victor Yampolsky, Carl Topilow, and Ragnar Bohlin.
Daniel Brier received his musical training at the University of Michigan’s renowned conducting program earning degrees in orchestral conducting with Kenneth Kiesler and choral conducting with Dr. Jerry Blackstone. While at the University of Michigan, he served as an assistant conductor for the world premiere recording of Milhaud’s L’Orestie d'Eschyle conducted by Kenneth Kiesler. Recorded live on Naxos, the album earned a GRAMMY® nomination in 2015. He is a recipient of the Julian and Vera McIntosh scholarship for promising young musicians and conductors, the Dr. Charlene Archibeque scholarship for choral conductors, and the Dorothy Greenwald scholarship.
Updated July 2017. Please disregard all previous materials.
Paul Pement – Creator and Director
Paul holds an exclusive international licensing agreement with the award-winning Classical Kids organization to direct and produce the highly-acclaimed symphony concert series that includes Beethoven Lives Upstairs, Tchaikovsky Discovers America, Vivaldi’s Ring of Mystery, Mozart's Magnificent Voyage and Hallelujah Handel. As executive and artistic director of Classical Kids Music Education, NFP, Mr. Pement oversees all business and artistic aspects of the Classical Kids Live! theatrical concert productions around the world. (www.classicalkidslive.com) Paul received a BFA in Acting from the University of Illinois and, as a long-time member of Actor’s Equity Association, has extensive theatrical experience performing in over 50 productions throughout Chicago and abroad. He has appeared in such long-running commercial hits as Peter Pan (Peter), Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (Benjamin) and Forever Plaid (Sparky), the latter of which he has also directed and choreographed at theatres across the country. In addition to film and television appearances, he has written tolerance-related short films and has directed/choreographed industrial shows for companies such as Target and Mobil. Paul resides in Chicago with his yellow lab, Gus.
Roger Anderson – Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Roger is a nationally acclaimed actor and musical theatre artist based in Chicago and is proud to be a part of the acclaimed Classical Kids concert series. He has been featured in films and commercials for United Airlines, Sony, Microsoft, IBM, Volvo, Ford Motor Company, Fidelity Investments, S.C. Johnson, Colgate, and the New York Stock Exchange. He has had the privilege to work on musical theatre stages across the country with Patti LuPone, Audra MacDonald, David Hyde Pierce, Michael Cerveris, and Sean Hayes as well as under the baton of Zubin Mehta and Andre Previn. His performances have included appearances at The White House, The Kennedy Center, Walt Disney World and the Ravinia Festival. Regional musical theatre credits include: Juan Peron in Evita, Jacob/Potiphar in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Harold Hill in Music Man, Barnum in Barnum, KoKo in The Mikado, Petruchio in Kiss Me Kate, Georges in La Cage Aux Folles, Sergeant of Police in Pirates of Penzance and Roger DeBris in The Producers. He currently sings with the Chicago based vocal group Table For Five and, along with his career as an actor, is a practicing Speech/Language Pathologist.
Natalie Berg – Jennie Petroff
Natalie has been seen in four productions of the Classical Kids’ Symphony Concert Series throughout the United States and Canada as well as in Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Australia. Most recent credits include The Hundred Dresses at the Royal George Theatre at the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts, Welcome Yule with the Chicago Symphony, and the hit comedy Ruthless. Ms. Berg made her professional debut in the Broadway National Tour of Les Miserables as Young Cosette. Other credits include: High School Musical, Bingo the Musical, Little Women, Meet Me in St. Louis, A Christmas Carol, Charlotte's Web, Pinocchio, Annie Get Your Gun, Little Shop of Horrors, Hair, The Man Who Came to Dinner, The Sound of Music and Annie Warbucks world premiere. You may have seen her on TV as a cheerleader in a recent Sears commercial and her latest audio recordings include Kraft Mac 'n' Cheese, The Children's Bible and the Twilight Zone. She earned her Music Degree from Illinois Wesleyan University and is a proud member of Actors' Equity, SAG and AFTRA.
CALENDAR LISTING
Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra presents Family Discovery Series Concert:
Tchaikovsky Discovers America
Sunday, February 11, 2018 – Chenery Auditorium at 3pm (Pre-concert activities begin at 2pm)
Daniel Brier, Conductor
Classical Kids LIVE!: Paul Pement, Creator & Director; Roger Anderson, Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky; Natalie Berg, Jennie Petroff
Based on the actual event, this story tells of the great composer's arrival in New York for the grand opening of Carnegie Hall in 1891 and his famous trip to Niagara Falls. A surprise encounter with a young American girl, Jennie, reveals much about Tchaikovsky - his life in Russia, his love of music and his fears of conducting. This is a poignant story of the meeting of old world influences and new world experiences; a tale of contrast, courage and classical music.
General Admission Tickets: $5
No discounts available.
For tickets, visit www.kalamazoosymphony.com, call the KSO Box Office at (269) 349-7759 or call Miller Auditorium Ticket Office at (269) 387-2300.
Visit www.kalamazoosymphony.com for up-to-date information, details and schedules. Prices, artists, dates, time and program are subject to change without notice.
The Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra receives major support from the Irving S. Gilmore Foundation, the Kalamazoo Community Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs. The Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra also receives generous support from other local, state and national foundations, as well as private and corporate support. For more information, visit www.kalamazoosymphony.com.
ABOUT THE KALAMAZOO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
Founded in 1921, the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra is Southwest Michigan’s premier musical organization, providing musical enrichment to over 80,000 adults and youth per year. The third-largest professional orchestra in the state, the KSO has won numerous awards and grants, including the Met Life Award for Arts Access in Underserved Communities, the National Endowment for the Arts for its extensive education programs, and a major Ford Foundation grant to found its innovative Artist-in-Residence program.
