Press Contact:
Rebecca Roling
rroling@newwestsymphony.org
(805) 469-1496

New West Symphony and GRAMMY-Winning Music Director Michael Christie Present
25th Anniversary Season

Christie Conducts Concerts This April 4th, 6th and 7th, 2019 Featuring Chopin
Competition Winner Yulianna Avdeeva Performing Chopin’s Second Piano Concerto

April Concerts Michael Christie’s Debut As Music Director for New West Symphony

25th Anniversary Season Opens with TITANIC-LIVE! – Film with live orchestra on June 22, 2019

2019/2020 Season Highlights include:

  • A season full of virtuosos including jazz legend Marcus Roberts, Eroica Trio, pianist Olga Kern and violinist Sarah Chang;
  • Violins of Hope, a collection of Holocaust-era string instruments, played by select New West Symphony musicians;
  • Holocaust remembrance concerts including children’s opera, Brundibar, written in a concentration camp, and “Heichalos” written expressly for Violins of Hope;
  • TITANIC-LIVE! Academy® Award blockbuster film with live accompaniment opens anniversary season outdoors at William Rolland Stadium on the campus of California Lutheran University.
  • Expansion of the Symphony’s commitment to contemporary classical music with commission for a new work for guitar and bandoneon, and introduction of Entr’acte performances featuring new music.
  • Christie introduces Intermission Insights, on-stage interviews he conducts with guest artists.

 

[Thousand Oaks, CA – March 25, 2019] – New West Symphony announces its 2019/2020 Masterpiece Series in conjunction with the debut performance of GRAMMY® Award winner, Maestro Christie as the Symphony’s new Music Director, on April 4th, 6th, and 7th, 2019. Appointed in December 2018, Christie’s inaugural season coincides with New West Symphony’s 25th anniversary. The new season will be presented when Christie leads the New West Symphony in three concerts next week featuring Chopin Piano Competition winner Yulianna Avdeeva along with works from Schumann and Mason Bates, with whom Christie recently won a GRAMMY Award.

“I’ve been looking forward to conducting the New West Symphony’s April concerts, where I am proud to take the podium as your orchestra’s new Music Director,” said Christie.  “It is a great honor to have been selected to be the creative voice for New West Symphony, and to lead this extraordinarily talented orchestra.”

Christie recently won a GRAMMY Award for a recording of his performance of the contemporary opera, “The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs” about the infamous founder of Apple Computers. The opera was composed by Mason Bates with a libretto by Mark Campbell, and Christie selected another of his works to be performed at the Symphony’s April concerts. “Garages of the Valley” imagines the energy that surrounded the famous garage workshops that incubated some of the world’s largest companies today, such as Apple, Hewlett-Packard and Microsoft.

With a creative vision grounded in a background in both opera and symphonies, Christie selected pieces for the 2019/2020 Masterpiece series with music that reflect his interests while infusing new perspectives with traditional music. “More than just selecting great works to perform, my aim is to curate experiences that tell stories about the works themselves, the composers who wrote them, the artists performing them or the times they were written. One of my primary goals as Music Director is to offer you the opportunity to connect with performances and performers in unique ways,” said Christie. “For example, to commemorate our 25th anniversary season opening program we will showcase our orchestra musicians and I chose Schéhérazade by Rimsky-Korsakov to demonstrate their incredible artistry.”

The Symphony’s 25th Anniversary Season launches June 22, 2019 with “TITANIC – LIVE!,” the OSCAR® winning hit film with live orchestra, performed by New West Symphony at the William Rolland Stadium on the campus of California Lutheran University.

Tickets are available now for Maestro Christie’s debut concerts next week and TITANIC-LIVE! Season subscriptions for the Symphony’s 2019/2020 Masterpiece Series go on sale April 1, 2019.

APRIL 2019 CONCERTS

WHAT:                     Indescribable Beauty

Bates| Garages of the Valley
Chopin | Piano Concerto No. 2
Schumann | Symphony No. 4

WHEN/WHERE:

Thursday April 4, 2019 | 7:30pm | The Broad Stage in Santa Monica
Saturday April 6, 2019 | 7:30pm | Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza
Sunday April 7, 2019 | 3:00pm | Oxnard Performing Arts Center

WHO:                       Michael Christie, music director
                                 Yulianna Avdeeva, piano

TICKETS:                Tickets $30-$120, available at https://newwestsymphony.org/2018-2019-masterpiece-series/indescribable-beauty/

TITANIC-LIVE!

WHAT:                     The Oscar-winning film with Live Orchestra
                                 Performed by New West Symphony

WHEN/WHERE:

Saturday June 22, 2019 | 7:30pm | William Rolland Stadium on the campus of California Lutheran University
Festival doors open at 5:00pm with a beer garden, food trucks and picnic areas.

TICKETS:                Tickets $25 – $175, available at https://newwestsymphony.org/home/titanic-live/

2019/2020 MASTERPIECE SERIES – 25th ANNIVERSARY SEASON

25th Anniversary Salute

We welcome Maestro Michael Christie and the New West Symphony alongside America’s great jazz legends, for a swinging start to a special season.

Saturday October 6, 2019 | 7:30pm | Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza
Sunday October 7, 2019 | 3:00pm | Oxnard Performing Arts Center

Michael Christie, Music Director
Marcus Roberts Trio, guest artists

Corigliano | Salute
Gershwin | Concerto in F
Rimsky-Korsakov | Scheherazade

 

Trip the Light Fantastic

From the dawn of humanity, music has made our bodies move and spirits soar.

Saturday November 16, 2019 | 7:30pm | Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza
Sunday November 17, 2019 | 3:00pm | Oxnard Performing Arts Center

Michael Christie, Music Director
Jason Vieaux, guitar
Julien Labro, bandoneon

Bartók | Romanian Folk Dances
Frank | Leyendas: An Andean Walkabout
Labro | New work for guitar and bandoneon, world premiere commission
Piazzola | The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires
Copland | Hoedown

 

Happy 250th Ludwig!

Beethoven ignited a fire of emotion in a way people had never before connected to any form of music.

Saturday January 25, 2020 | 7:30pm | Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza
Sunday January 26, 2020 | 3:00pm | Oxnard Performing Arts Center

Stefan Sanderling, guest conductor
Eroica Trio, guest artists

Beethoven | Concerto for Violin, Cello, Piano, and Orchestra
Beethoven | Symphony No. 3 “Eroica”

 

Dreams

Uplifting music that acted as a beacon of hope, buoying people’s souls in the darkest of times.

Saturday February 29, 2020 | 7:30pm | Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza
Sunday March 1, 2020 | 3:00pm | Oxnard Performing Arts Center

Michael Christie, Music Director
Women’s and Children’s choirs

Mendelssohn | A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Krása | Brundibár

 

Violins of Hope

Select New West Symphony musicians will perform on the Violins of Hope, a collection of string instruments lovingly restored and with their own stories from the Holocaust. “Heichalos” was composed expressly for Violins of Hope.

Saturday April 4, 2020 | 7:30pm | Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza
Sunday April 5, 2020 | 3:00pm | Oxnard Performing Arts Center

Michael Christie, Music Director
Olga Kern, piano

Newman | Diary of Anne Frank Suite
Leshnoff | Symphony No. 4, “Heichalos”
Rachmaninoff | Piano Concerto No. 3

 

Sarah Chang – Brahms Violin Concerto

Sarah Chang returns to perform majestic Brahms with the New West Symphony.

Saturday May 2, 2020 | 7:30pm | Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza
Sunday May 3, 2020 | 3:00pm | Oxnard Performing Arts Center

Michael Christie, Music Director
Sarah Chang, violin

Sibelius | Symphony No. 3
Brahms | Violin Concerto

 

WHAT:                     2019/2020 Masterpiece Series

WHEN/WHERE:

6 concerts from October, 2019 through May, 2020
Saturdays at 7:30pm | Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza
Sundays at 3:00pm | Oxnard Performing Arts Center

WHO:                       Michael Christie, Music Director
                                 NEW WEST SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

TICKETS:                Season subscriptions for 6 concerts $160 – $1,200

https://newwestsymphony.org.

About Michael Christie

Christie joined New West Symphony as Music Director in December, 2018, and will be launching the organization’s 25th season in 2019/2020. Christie’s conducting career, spanning more than 20 years, has included Minnesota Opera, where Christie led 24 productions over eight years, six seasons as its first-ever Music Director (2012-2018), Music Director of the Phoenix Symphony (2005-2013) and Brooklyn Philharmonic (2005-2010), and as Chief Conductor of the Queensland Orchestra (2001-2004) in Australia, as well as guest appearances leading the Los Angeles Philharmonic, National Symphony Orchestra, Civic Orchestra of Chicago, and Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra. Christie’s many European engagements have included leading the Rotterdam Philharmonic, DSO Berlin, Orchestre National de Lille, Swedish and Netherlands Radio Symphony, City of Birmingham Symphony, NDR Hannover Orchestra and the Czech Philharmonic.

Christie lives in the Twin Cities with his wife, Alexis, a physician, and their two children.

About New West Symphony

The New West Symphony is an esteemed performing arts organization that attracts diverse, capacity audiences to experience and celebrate the transformative power of live symphonic music in Ventura and Los Angeles counties. Led by a visionary music director, Maestro Michael Christie, it serves as a growing hub for music appreciation and education sustained by robust financial support and community resources.

The New West Symphony orchestra includes some of the world’s most famous and accomplished musicians. Our tenured orchestra members have appeared as soloists with the finest orchestras, are GRAMMY®-nominated artists themselves, and can be heard on almost any film soundtrack you can imagine, from Jurassic Park and Star Wars to La La Land. New West Symphony performs exceptional music, exceptionally close.

 

For more information visit https://www.newwestsymphony.org and follow them on Facebook at www.facebook.com/newwestsymphony.

 

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