The Martin E. Segal Theatre Center and the CUNY Graduate Center Music Program present a special performance by the OSO Chamber Players, a new student orchestra founded by music student Xheni Rroji in collaboration with the Music Department. With Lara St. John as soloist, the program will feature Schoenberg’s Verklärte Nacht, Op. 4, Astor Piazzolla’s The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires for violin and chamber ensemble, and Transformation of the Hummingbird by Michael Gatonska. Conducted by Orlando Alonso.

Ossia Symphony Orchestra
Photo courtesy of of OSO

The Ossia Chamber Orchestra is a newly created classical music orchestra consisting of some of the finest young musicians from age 18 to 35 years old selected from the different music conservatories and music schools in New York City. The orchestra’s mission is to assist members with the financial burden of formal education by providing them with scholarships. The orchestra’s scholarship program will help significantly alleviate the financial burden of many students. As part of the scholarship program the OSO will also perform four concerts a year in important venues around the city where the musicians will have the opportunity to collaborate with renown soloists from the classical world that will donate their time to coach and perform with the orchestra.

Lara St. John is an acclaimed violinist. She has performed as soloist with the orchestras of Cleveland, Philadelphia, Minnesota, Seattle, Brooklyn, Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, the Boston Pops and many more in North America. In Europe, she has played with the NDR Symphony (Hanover), Zurich Chamber Orchestra, Ensemble Orchestral de Paris, Bournemouth Symphony and the Amsterdam Symphony, among others. In Asia, solo appearances have included the Hong Kong Symphony, Tokyo Symphony, China Philharmonic in Beijing, Guangzhou Symphony and the Shanghai Broadcasting Orchestra. Lara has also performed with the Queensland Orchestra in Australia. Recitals in major concert halls have included New York, Boston, San Francisco, Ravinia, Washington DC, Prague, Berlin, Toronto, Montreal and in the Forbidden City. Lara St. John’s latest recording Vivaldi – The Four Seasons and Piazzolla – The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires, with the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela and conductor Eduardo Marturet, reached No. 2 on the iTunes charts on its first day. Her debut CD, Bach Works for Solo Violin, has sold over 50,000 copies and received resounding acclaim. She has been featured in People, US News and World Report, on CNN’s Showbiz Today, NPR’s All Things Considered, Fox News, CBC and a Bravo! Special: Live At the Rehearsal Hall. .

6:30 p.m., Friday, Nov 13, 2009
Elebash. Suggested Donation: $ 15

Part of CUNY Arts Fest 09 An initiative of CUNY Stages