| Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO) | |
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| Orchestra | |
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| Founded | 1922 |
| Location | Rochester, New York, U.S. |
| Concert hall | Eastman Theatre |
| Music director | Andreas Delfs |
| Website | www |
The Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO [1] ) is an American orchestra based in the city of Rochester, New York. Its primary concert venue is the Eastman Theatre at the Eastman School of Music.
George Eastman, founder of Eastman Kodak Company, founded the orchestra in 1922, with Eugene Goossens and Albert Coates as the first principal conductors of the orchestra, in a joint appointment. [2] Other past music directors of the orchestra included Erich Leinsdorf, who made several recordings with the orchestra that increased its profile. [3] From 1939 through 1964, the Rochester Philharmonic, usually supplemented by faculty members of the Eastman School, often recorded under the names Eastman-Rochester Orchestra under the direction of Howard Hanson and Eastman-Rochester Pops under Frederick Fennell.
From 1990 through 2008, the RPO had its summer residency at the Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival, in Vail, Colorado.
In September 2010, the RPO named Arild Remmereit as its 11th music director, effective September 2011. In November 2012, the RPO board voted to terminate Remmereit's contract two years early, [4] Remmereit stood down as music director after the 2012–2013 season. September 1, 2014 Ward Stare became the music director. He stepped down from the position at the close of the 2020–2021 season. [5]
In 1994, Andreas Delfs first guest-conducted the orchestra. In January 2021, the orchestra named Delfs its next music director. [6] [7]
The RPO sponsors the Rochester Philharmonic Youth Orchestra (RPYO), founded in 1970 and composed of Rochester-area student musicians in the eighth through twelfth grades. Under the direction of James Mick, the RPYO performs three concerts annually, including one side by side with the RPO. Members of the RPO serve as mentors for the Youth Orchestra. In 2000, the orchestra named Michael Butterman its principal conductor for education and outreach, the first position of its kind in the country. Jherrard Hardeman was appointed in 2023 as the RPYO Music Director.
Jeff Tyzik has served as the orchestra's principal pops conductor since 1994. RPO concerts are rebroadcast on WXXI 91.5 FM.
The RPO has recorded under at least three different names: Eastman Rochester Orchestra, Rochester Pops Orchestra, and the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra. Recordings have featured many prominent American composers, including George Gershwin, Samuel Barber, Morton Gould, and Howard Hanson). The orchestra's first recordings were from the late 1930s and early 1940s, conducted by Hanson and José Iturbi. Among these is a 1939 recording of William Grant Still's Afro-American Symphony, conducted by Hanson. The RPO presented the world premiere of this work in 1931.
| External audio | |
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 You may hear the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by José Iturbi performing Symphony No. 9 in E minor, Op.95 (From the New World) Op. 95 by Antonin Dvorak in 1941 Here on archive.org |
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| You may hear the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra with Erich Leinsdorf performing: Mozart's Symphony No 41 in C Major, (K. 551) "Jupiter" Mozart's Symphony No.35 in D Major (K. 385) "Hoffner" in 1957 Here on archive.org |
The RPO was one of the first American orchestras to use radio to help increase its outreach and education. The RPO first began national radio broadcasts, on the NBC Blue Network, in 1929. In 1939, 1941, and 1944, the orchestra won First Place at the Exhibition of Educational Programs for its elementary school programming.
In 1959, the Ford Foundation invited the RPO to participate in a program to promote new American composers and their works. The RPO has received the ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming four times, in 1982, 2005, 2006, and 2012, in recognition of its commitment to music written in the previous 25 years. In 2002, the RPO was awarded the New York State Governor's Arts Award for excellence and community service. The Rochester Arts and Cultural Council's Artist Award has been given to both Jeff Tyzik (2002) and Christopher Seaman (2003).[ citation needed ]
The Concert Companion radio broadcast with Christopher Seaman on WXXI 91.5 FM won both the Gabriel Award and the Silver Reel Award in 2002. In 2007, the RPO's web site received two of the Rochester Business Journal's "Best of the Web" awards; and that same year, the RPO's annual report received an award from the Rochester chapter of the Public Relations Society of America.[ citation needed ] In 2013, the RPO again was awarded the Rochester Business Journal's "Best of the Web" Award for Nonprofit (Cultural). [10]
In 2012, the RPO received the first-ever Amy Award for Excellence in Orchestral Programming from Women's Philharmonic Advocacy.
In 2018, the RPO and harpist Yolanda Kondonassis, conducted by Ward Stare, recorded the world premiere recording of Jennifer Higdon's Harp Concerto . This recording received a Grammy Award in 2020 for Best Contemporary Classical Composition and was nominated for Best Classical Instrumental Solo in the same year.
The 6th Annual Grammy Awards were held on May 12, 1964, at Chicago, Los Angeles and New York. They recognized accomplishments by musicians for the year 1963. Henry Mancini won 4 awards.
Serge Koussevitzky was a Russian and American conductor, composer, and double-bassist, known for his long tenure as music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra from 1924 to 1949.
Erich Leinsdorf was an Austrian-born American conductor. He performed and recorded with leading orchestras and opera companies throughout the United States and Europe, earning a reputation for exacting standards as well as an acerbic personality. He also published books and essays on musical matters.
Howard Harold Hanson was an American composer, conductor, educator, music theorist, and champion of American classical music. As director for 40 years of the Eastman School of Music, he built a high-quality school and provided opportunities for commissioning and performing American music. In 1944, he won a Pulitzer Prize for his Symphony No. 4, and received numerous other awards including the George Foster Peabody Award for Outstanding Entertainment in Music in 1946.
Concerto in F is a composition by George Gershwin for solo piano and orchestra which is closer in form to a traditional concerto than his earlier jazz-influenced Rhapsody in Blue. It was written in 1925 on a commission from the conductor and director Walter Damrosch. A full performance lasts around half an hour.
Shlomo Mintz is a Russian-born Israeli violinist and conductor. He regularly appears with orchestras and conductors on the international scene and is heard in recitals and chamber music concerts around the world.
Gil Shaham is an American violinist. His accolades include a Grammy Award in 1999, and he has performed as a soloist with such orchestras as the New York Philharmonic, Berlin Philharmonic, Vienna Philharmonic, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Russian National Orchestra, Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, and the Orchestre de Paris.
The Piano Concerto, Op. 38, by Samuel Barber was commissioned by the music publishing company G. Schirmer in honor of the centenary of their founding. The premiere was on September 24, 1962, in the opening festivities of Philharmonic Hall, now David Geffen Hall, the first hall built at Lincoln Center in Manhattan, with John Browning as soloist with the Boston Symphony Orchestra conducted by Erich Leinsdorf.
Walter Hendl was an American conductor, composer and pianist.
Kevin Matthew Puts is an American composer, best known for his opera The Hours and for winning a Pulitzer Prize in 2012 for his first opera Silent Night and a Grammy Award in 2023 for his concerto Contact.
Andreas Delfs is a German conductor. He is the music director of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra and conductor laureate of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra.
Samuel Jones is an American composer and conductor.
Christopher Seaman is a British conductor.
Jeff Tyzik is an American conductor, arranger, and trumpeter. He has recorded jazz albums as a soloist and arranged pop and jazz music for orchestras.
Malcolm Frager was an American piano virtuoso and recording artist.
James Willey, is a composer. He began composing at an early age and attended the Eastman School of Music, earning a bachelor's degree in 1961, a master's in 1963, and his Ph.D. in Music Theory and Composition in 1972. He studied composition with Bernard Rogers and Howard Hanson.
Piotr Janowski was a Polish violinist and first Polish winner of the Henryk Wieniawski Violin Competition.
Hans Richter-Haaser was a noted German classical pianist, who was known for his interpretations of Beethoven, Schubert and Schumann. He was also a teacher, a conductor, and a composer.
Lorin Hollander is an American classical concert pianist. He has performed with virtually all of the major symphony orchestras in the United States and many around the world. A New York Times critic called him in 1964 "the leading pianist of his generation."
The Harp Concerto is a composition for harp and orchestra by the American composer Jennifer Higdon. It was commissioned by the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra, Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra, Fargo-Moorhead Symphony Orchestra, Lansing Symphony Orchestra, and the Oklahoma City Philharmonic. The work was completed in early 2018 and was given its world premiere at the Eastman Theatre in Rochester, New York, by the harpist Yolanda Kondonassis and the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra under the conductor Ward Stare on May 10, 2018. The piece is dedicated to Yolanda Kondonassis.
1. Rochester's Orchestra: A History of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra and its Educational Programming, 1922 to 1989; by William L. Cahn, published 1989. 2. The Eastman Theatre: Fulfilling George Eastman's Dream; by Elizabeth Brayer, photos by Andy Olenick, design by Kathryn D'Amanda; to be published in December 2010.
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