Orchestra of St. Luke’s
Orchestra of St. Luke’s (OSL) is an independent orchestra and concert producer based in New York City. Founded in 1974 when a group of virtuoso chamber musicians began performing together in Greenwich Village at The Church of St. Luke in the Fields, the ensemble expanded into an orchestra in 1979 and is today “a mainstay of New York’s classical scene” (New Yorker) under the baton of Principal Conductor Bernard Labadie, a celebrated specialist in 18th-century music, and special guests. OSL performs and produces in a variety of formats, including orchestra and chamber music series curated expressly for each of Carnegie Hall’s iconic venues, programs focused on contemporary composers presented throughout the five boroughs of New York City, collaborations with Paul Taylor Dance Company at Lincoln Center, a composition institute which creates new works each season, and much more. Many of OSL’s performances and programs are presented for free, reaching over 12,000 public school students and families annually with accessible, interactive student concerts, a diverse youth orchestra of neighborhood students, and mentorship programs for emerging players. OSL owns and operates the DiMenna Center for Classical Music in Manhattan, described by the New York Times as “a major boon for New York’s classical music scene”, for local and international musicians and audiences.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (born January 27, 1756, Salzburg, archbishopric of Salzburg [Austria]—died December 5, 1791, Vienna) Austrian composer, widely recognized as one of the greatest composers in the history of Western music. With Haydn and Beethoven he brought to its height the achievement of the Viennese Classical school. Unlike any other composer in musical history, he wrote in all the musical genres of his day and excelled in every one. His taste, his command of form, and his range of expression have made him seem the most universal of all composers; yet, it may also be said that his music was written to accommodate the specific tastes of particular audiences. (Britannica)
Johannes Brahms (born May 7, 1833, Hamburg [Germany]—died April 3, 1897, Vienna, Austria-Hungary [now in Austria]) German composer and pianist of the Romantic period, who wrote symphonies, concerti, chamber music, piano works, choral compositions, and more than 200 songs. Brahms was the great master of symphonic and sonata style in the second half of the 19th century. He can be viewed as the protagonist of the Classical tradition of Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and Ludwig van Beethoven in a period when the standards of this tradition were being questioned or overturned by the Romantics. (Britannica)
CHECK OUT: Carnegie Hall’s website (for our program)
CHECK OUT: Orchestra of St. Luke’s website
READINGS
