The Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO) is an American orchestra based in Detroit, Michigan. Its primary performance venue is Orchestra Hall at the Max M. Fisher Music Center in Detroit's Midtown neighborhood. Jader Bignamini is the current music director of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, with Jeff Tyzik as Principal Pops Conductor, Enrico Lopez-Yañez as Principal Pops Conductor Designate, and Na'Zir McFadden as assistant conductor. Leonard Slatkin, the previous music director, is the orchestra's current music director laureate. Neeme Järvi, music director from 1990 to 2005, is the orchestra's current music director emeritus.
Leonard Edward Slatkin is an American conductor, author and composer.
Joan Tower is a Grammy-winning contemporary American composer, concert pianist and conductor. Lauded by The New Yorker as "one of the most successful woman composers of all time", her bold and energetic compositions have been performed in concert halls around the world. After gaining recognition for her first orchestral composition, Sequoia (1981), a tone poem which structurally depicts a giant tree from trunk to needles, she has gone on to compose a variety of instrumental works including Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman, which is something of a response to Aaron Copland's Fanfare for the Common Man, the Island Prelude, five string quartets, and an assortment of other tone poems. Tower was pianist and founding member of the Naumburg Award-winning Da Capo Chamber Players, which commissioned and premiered many of her early works, including her widely performed Petroushskates.
The St. Louis Symphony Orchestra (SLSO) is an American symphony orchestra based in St. Louis, Missouri. Founded in 1880 by Joseph Otten as the St. Louis Choral Society, the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra is the second-oldest professional symphony orchestra in the United States, preceded only by the New York Philharmonic. Its principal concert venue is Powell Hall, located in midtown St. Louis.
Modest Altschuler was a cellist, orchestral conductor, and composer.
The National Symphony Orchestra (NSO) is an American symphony orchestra based in Washington, D.C. Founded in 1930 by cellist Hans Kindler, its principal performing venue is the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
Jeff Beal is an American composer of music for film, television, recordings, and the concert hall. Highly regarded as a jazz instrumentalist and versatile composer, Beal creates music that often incorporates a synthesis of improvisatory and composed elements.
The USC Thornton School of Music is a private music school in Los Angeles, California. Founded in 1884 only four years after the University of Southern California, the Thornton School is the oldest continually operating arts institution in Los Angeles. The school is located on the USC University Park Campus, south of Downtown Los Angeles.
Christopher Chapman Rouse III was an American composer. Though he wrote for various ensembles, Rouse is primarily known for his orchestral compositions, including a Requiem, a dozen concertos, and six symphonies. His work received numerous accolades, including the Kennedy Center Friedheim Award, the Grammy Award for Best Classical Contemporary Composition, and the Pulitzer Prize for Music. He also served as the composer-in-residence for the New York Philharmonic from 2012 to 2015.
John Sant’Ambrogio is an American cellist. He studied music at Lebanon Valley College and at Ohio University. He studied cello with Diran Alexanian, with Paul Olefsky, and with Leonard Rose.
Stefan Sanderling is an orchestral conductor. He is the son of the conductor Kurt Sanderling and the double-bass player Barbara Sanderling. His half-brother is the conductor Thomas Sanderling. His brother Michael Sanderling is a cellist and conductor.
Felix Slatkin was an American violinist and conductor.
Eleanor Aller (Slatkin) (May 20, 1917 – October 12, 1995) was an American cellist and founding member, with her husband, Felix Slatkin, of the Hollywood String Quartet.
The Orchestre National de Lyon (ONL) is a French orchestra based in Lyon. Its primary concert venue is l'Auditorium de Lyon. The orchestra operates with the help of a subsidy from the French Ministry of Culture and from the Rhône-Alpes regional council. The current general director of the orchestra is Aline Sam-Giao.
Cindy McTee is an American composer and educator.
Trey Lee is a Hong Kong-born cellist based in Berlin, Germany. A laureate of major international competitions, he appears as a featured soloist with orchestras and festivals all over the world. He is also a member of Canada’s award-winning piano quartet Ensemble Made in Canada. Lee is the founding artistic director of Musicus Society and has spearheaded several music festivals such as the Musicus Fest and the Hong Kong International Chamber Music Festival.
Jack Liebeck is a British–German violinist. In 2010, he won a Classical Brit in the young British classical performer category. He was soloist on the score for the 2011 film Jane Eyre, directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga and also on the Oscar, Golden Globe and BAFTA nominated soundtrack for Anna Karenina (2012). Both scores were composed by Dario Marianelli. He records exclusively for Hyperion Records.
The Tulsa Youth Symphony Orchestra (TYS) is an Oklahoma nonprofit arts organization founded in 1963 to provide advanced orchestral training and performance experience for young musicians in Northeastern Oklahoma. As of 2016, more than 200 students, ages 8 to 18, participate in the program’s two orchestras. The orchestra is composed of students from northeast Oklahoma communities and schools including Tulsa, Bartlesville, Owasso, Sapulpa, Sand Springs, Broken Arrow, Bixby, Coweta, Grove, Oologah, Jenks, and Holland Hall, as well as home schooled children.
The Viola Concerto is a composition for solo viola and orchestra by the American composer Nico Muhly. Composed in 2014, the work was jointly commissioned by the Orquesta Nacionales de España, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Festival de Saint Denis, and the National Arts Centre Orchestra. It was first performed on February 6, 2015 by the violist Nadia Sirota and the Orquesta Nacionales de España under the conductor Nicholas Collon. The piece was later given its United States premiere on October 23, 2015, by Sirota and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra under Leonard Slatkin.
Jader Bignamini is an Italian conductor and clarinetist.
