[NEohioPAL]Oberlin Orchestra Tours China (revised release)

Mon Dec 19 12:20:21 PST 2005

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Media Contact Only:
Marci Janas
Director of Conservatory Media Relations
440-775-8328
marci.janas at oberlin.edu

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Orchestra from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music
to Embark on a Tour of the People=92s Republic of China

Nine-day tour covers five cities, with more than 60 students performing=20=

nine concerts

<Editors please note: A schedule of the concerts, updated as of Dec.=20
19, is included.>

OBERLIN, OHIO (Nov. 21, 2005, revised Dec. 19, 2005) =97 Nine concerts,=20=

nine days, five cities=97the numbers add up to an intense tour schedule=20=

under ordinary circumstances. But for student-musicians from the=20
Oberlin Conservatory of Music in Oberlin, Ohio, the intensity is=20
heightened by the fact that the six cities are in the People=92s =
Republic=20
of China.
	The Oberlin Orchestra, an ensemble of 66 Conservatory students=20=

selected by audition, leaves for China on Dec. 23, 2005, and will=20
perform in some of China=92s premier venues, including the Beijing Poly=20=

Theater and the Shanghai Concert Hall.
	The tour begins with two concerts in Anshan, in central Liaoning=20=

Province, followed by a performance in Shenyang. =46rom there it=92s on =
to=20
Dalian, at the southern tip of the province, for three concerts. Two=20
evening performances in Beijing are next on the itinerary, and the tour=20=

concludes with a performance in Shanghai. The musicians return home on=20=

Jan. 5, 2006.
All of the members of the Oberlin Orchestra are undergraduates. They=20
represent cities throughout the United States and Canada, as well as=20
South Korea, Bulgaria, Denmark, and Singapore. Bridget-Michaele=20
Reischl, music director of the Oberlin Orchestras, will conduct the=20
ensemble during the tour; J Freivogel of St. Louis, Missouri, is=20
concertmaster.
	Along with intensive rehearsal sessions, the student-musicians =
are=20
preparing for the tour by taking a course, China Tour Preparation,=20
offered by the East Asian studies department of Oberlin College, the=20
Conservatory=92s liberal arts counterpart.
	Funding for the tour is being provided by the Liaoning =
Performance=20
Company, a presenting company from China; Chinese businessman Sen Wang;=20=

the Chinese Ministry of Culture; and the Oberlin Conservatory of Music.
	The concert program includes the overture to Mozart=92s The =
Marriage of=20
Figaro, selections from Bizet=92s Carmen, Strauss=92 Blue Danube, =
Brahms=92=20
Hungarian Dance No. 5, Dvor=E1k=92s Slavonic Dances Op. 46, Nos. 1, 3, =
and=20
8, and Chinese folk songs, one of which, Jasmine, has been given a new=20=

arrangement by Professor of Composition and Music Theory Randolph=20
Coleman. This core program will alternate George Gershwin=92s Rhapsody =
in=20
Blue with Igor Stravinsky=92s Pulcinella Suite. Pianist Thomas=20
Rosenkranz, a 1999 graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory, will be the=20
featured soloist for the Gershwin.
	The orchestra also will perform the official songs of Anshan, =
Dalian,=20
and Beijing, respectively, during concerts in those cities. In Dalian,=20=

the Oberlin Orchestra will perform under the baton of guest conductor=20
Fan Tao. Tao, a conductor with the China Broadcasting Performing-Arts=20
Troupe, was awarded a special prize at the 2000 Sibelius International=20=

Conducting Competition in Helsinki, Finland.
	A trip to China made last spring by the dean of the Oberlin=20
Conservatory, David H. Stull, and several faculty members was the=20
genesis of this tour. The Oberlin contingent was invited by the=20
Szechuan Conservatory in Cheng du and visited major concert halls and=20
music schools, where they gave master classes.
=93Our primary interest was to visit major schools to get a sense of=20
their philosophy of teaching and to establish at least an informal=20
relationship with the leaders of those institutions,=94 says Stull. In=20=

April, five members of the Szechuan Conservatory made a reciprocal=20
visit to Oberlin to explore the nuances of American conservatory=20
training.
	=93This China tour will be of immense educational benefit to =
Oberlin=20
students,=94 says tour manager James Kalyn. =93In addition to the =
musical=20
growth they will experience by performing the same pieces over and over=20=

again=97something students in conservatory orchestras rarely get to=20
do=97they will be exposed to the culture of an emerging economic=20
superpower.=94
=93China now produces some of the world=92s finest musicians,=94 adds =
Stull.=20
=93Many of these young people come to Oberlin to study. Of the 50=20
students enrolled in the Conservatory from countries in Asia, 15 are=20
from China. It is in our own students=92 best interest to explore the=20
educational and performance opportunities this country has to offer.=94

Bridget-Michaele Reischl, Music Director, Oberlin Orchestra
Since becoming the first American to win Italy=92s Antonio Pedrotti=20
International Conducting Competition in 1995, Bridget-Michaele Reischl=20=

has been an active guest conductor throughout the United States and=20
internationally. Besides being music director of the Oberlin Orchestras=20=

and a member of Oberlin=92s conducting faculty, Reischl is music =
director=20
of the Green Bay Symphony Orchestra in Green Bay, Wisconsin, a position=20=

she has held since 2001. =46rom 1992 to 2004, she was music director of=20=

the Lawrence Symphony Orchestra and associate professor of conducting=20
at the Lawrence University Conservatory of Music in Appleton,=20
Wisconsin. She is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music. As a=20
student of Robert Spano (a 1983 Oberlin graduate), she continued her=20
studies as a conducting fellow at both the Aspen and the Tanglewood=20
music festivals, where she worked with Seiji Ozawa, Murray Sidlin, and=20=

David Zinman (also an Oberlin graduate, Class of 1958). She has=20
recorded on the Velut Luna, CRI, and Sea Breeze Record Company labels.

Thomas Rosenkranz, piano soloist
Thomas Rosenkranz has performed on four continents and has twice been=20
named an artistic ambassador, sponsored by the United States State=20
Department on tours of the Middle East and Africa to present recitals=20
of American music for television and radio broadcasts. He was recently=20=

awarded the prestigious =93Classical Fellowship Award=94 from the =
American=20
Pianists Association. He has given performances at Lincoln Center (New=20=

York), the Miller Theatre (New York), the 92 Street Y (New York), the=20
Kennedy Center (D.C.), the Hilbert Circle Theatre (Indianapolis),=20
L=92Acropolium (Carthage), and Theatre de la Ville (Tunis). He toured=20
Japan and Taiwan with the Eastman Wind Ensemble and has been a featured=20=

pianist at such notable festivals as the the Tabarka Jazz Festival=20
(Tunisia), Octobre Musical (Tunisia), the Kurt Weill Fest (Germany),=20
and the National MTNA Convention in Seattle. He has performed as=20
soloist with the National Orchestra of Beirut, the Orchestre=20
Symphonique Tunsien, the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra, and the=20
Northwest Chamber Orchestra. A graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory=20
(Class of 1999) and the Eastman School of Music, his major teachers=20
include Robert Shannon, Nelita True, and Yvonne Loriod-Messiaen. He=20
lives in Honolulu, Hawaii, and is assistant professor of piano at the=20
University of Hawaii at Manoa. He will be artist-in-residence at the=20
Cortona Contemporary Festival in Italy this summer.

J Freivogel, concertmaster
Raised in a family of musicians, J Freivogel began playing violin at=20
the age of two. Now in his last year of Oberlin=92s double-degree=20
program, he studies violin with Marilyn McDonald and is pursuing=20
degrees in violin performance and politics. Named one of Northern Ohio=20=

Live magazine=92s =93best and brightest=94 in 2004, Freivogel has=20
participated in critically acclaimed concerts at Carnegie=92s Weill=20
Recital Hall and Merkin Hall in New York City. He is first violinist of=20=

the Jasper String Quartet. In the spring, he will return to New York to=20=

perform Alban Berg=92s Kammerkonzerte and the world premiere of Lewis=20
Nielson=92s Violin Concerto. Freivogel is from St. Louis, Missouri.

The Oberlin Orchestra and the Oberlin Conservatory of Music
After Sir Simon Rattle conducted the Oberlin Chamber Orchestra in=20
December 2004, Plain Dealer music critic Donald Rosenberg wrote that=20
the concert was =93stamped by magnificence.=94 Indeed, Rosenberg =
included=20
the Oberlin-Rattle performance of Mahler=92s Symphony No. 4, which he=20
described as =93uncommonly rich in poetry and drama,=94 in his list of =
top=20
10 memorable events from the 2004 concert season.
Magnificence has come to be synonymous with all aspects of the Oberlin=20=

Conservatory of Music, from its exacting standards for incoming=20
students to the excellence in teaching and performance expected of its=20=

faculty and the notable careers of its alumni, who can be found=20
performing in every major orchestra and opera house and with many of=20
today=92s acclaimed chamber ensembles.
Founded in 1865 and situated within the intellectual vitality of=20
Oberlin College since 1867, Oberlin is the oldest continuously=20
operating conservatory in the United States. An undergraduate=20
institution, Oberlin is renowned internationally as a professional=20
music school of the highest caliber and has been called a =93national=20
treasure=94 by the Washington Post.
Past guest conductors of the Oberlin Orchestra have included Marin=20
Alsop, Pierre Boulez, Catherine Comet, Tan Dun, Eve Queler, Robert=20
Shaw, Oscar Shumsky, Igor Stravinsky, composer John Williams, and Hugh=20=

Wolff.
Upcoming appearances by the Oberlin Orchestra for the 2005-06 season=20
include a performance at Cleveland=92s Severance Hall, home of the=20
Cleveland Orchestra, under the baton of music director and conductor=20
Bridget-Michaele Reischl. The 2006-07 season features a performance at=20=

Carnegie Hall with Robert Spano conducting.
For more information about the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, please=20
visit www.oberlin.edu/con.

Oberlin College=92s Historic Ties to China
For more than a century, Oberlin College and China have benefited from=20=

a mutually supportive relationship encompassing educational, social,=20
and cultural exchanges, beginning with the teaching work of Oberlin=20
graduates in the late 1800s. To commemorate the efforts of Oberlin=20
educators in China, the Oberlin Shansi Memorial Association was founded=20=

in 1908, more than 50 years before the Peace Corps was begun. Today=20
Shansi is an independent non-profit organization on the Oberlin campus=20=

that sponsors numerous educational exchanges, sending Oberlin students=20=

to sites throughout Asia to work and to teach and bringing Asian=20
scholars to the College for the same purpose. Shansi has empowered=20
generations of participants to make constructive and useful=20
contributions to Asian and American institutions and communities.
Another strong Oberlin-China connection can be found at the Shanghai=20
Conservatory of Music, the oldest conservatory in China. Huang Tzu, a=20
1926 Oberlin graduate who is widely considered to be one of the=20
patriarchs of Western music education in modern China, was one of its=20
founding fathers. He wrote the school=92s curriculum, which ultimately=20=

became the platform for the professional study of music in China.
=0C
Concert Schedule
December 25, 2005
Anshan
Shengli Auditorium, 7 p.m.

December 26, 2005
Anshan
Shengli Auditorium, 7 p.m.

December 27, 2005
Shenyang
Nanfeng International Centre, 7 p.m.

December 28, 2005
Dalian
Dalian Broadcasting Centre, 6:30 p.m. and 9 p.m.

December 29, 2005
Dalian
Dalian Broadcasting Centre, 7 p.m.

December 30, 2005
Beijing
Poly Theatre, 7 p.m.

December 31, 2005
Beijing
Poly Theatre, 7 p.m.

January 1, 2006
Tianjing
CANCELLED

January 2, 2006
Shanghai
Shanghai Concert Hall, 7 p.m.

# # #

Marci Janas
Director of Conservatory Media Relations
Oberlin Conservatory of Music
39 West College Street
Oberlin, OH  44074
www.oberlin.edu/con
(P) 440-775-8328
(F) 440-775-5457
marci.janas at oberlin.edu=

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<flushright>Media Contact Only:

Marci Janas

Director of Conservatory Media Relations

440-775-8328

=
<underline><color><param>0000,0000,FFFD</param>marci.janas at oberlin.edu</co=
lor></underline>

<underline>

</underline></flushright><underline>FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

</underline><center><bold><bigger>Orchestra from the Oberlin
Conservatory of Music=20

to Embark on a Tour of the People=92s Republic of China =
</bigger></bold><bigger>

</bigger><italic>Nine-day tour covers five cities, with more than 60
students performing nine concerts=20

</smaller></bold></italic></center><underline>

</underline>OBERLIN, OHIO (Nov. 21, 2005, <bold>revised Dec. 19,
2005</bold>) =97 Nine concerts, nine days, five cities=97the numbers add
up to an intense tour schedule under ordinary circumstances. But for
student-musicians from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music in Oberlin,
Ohio, the intensity is heightened by the fact that the six cities are
in the People=92s Republic of China.=20

	The Oberlin Orchestra, an ensemble of 66 Conservatory students
selected by audition, leaves for China on Dec. 23, 2005, and will
perform in some of China=92s premier venues, including the Beijing Poly
Theater and the Shanghai Concert Hall.=20

	The tour begins with two concerts in Anshan, in central Liaoning
Province, followed by a performance in Shenyang. =46rom there it=92s on =
to
Dalian, at the southern tip of the province, for three concerts. Two
evening performances in Beijing are next on the itinerary, and the
tour concludes with a performance in Shanghai. The musicians return
home on Jan. 5, 2006.

All of the members of the Oberlin Orchestra are undergraduates. They
represent cities throughout the United States and Canada, as well as
South Korea, Bulgaria, Denmark, and Singapore. Bridget-Michaele
Reischl, music director of the Oberlin Orchestras, will conduct the
ensemble during the tour; J Freivogel of St. Louis, Missouri, is
concertmaster.

	Along with intensive rehearsal sessions, the student-musicians =
are
preparing for the tour by taking a course, <italic>China Tour
Preparation,</italic> offered by the East Asian studies department of
Oberlin College, the Conservatory=92s liberal arts counterpart.

	Funding for the tour is being provided by the Liaoning =
Performance
Company, a presenting company from China; Chinese businessman Sen
Wang; the Chinese Ministry of Culture; and the Oberlin Conservatory of
Music.

	The concert program includes the overture to Mozart=92s =
<italic>The
Marriage of Figaro, </italic>selections from Bizet=92s <italic>Carmen,
</italic>Strauss=92<italic> Blue Danube, </italic>Brahms=92<italic>
Hungarian Dance No. 5, </italic>Dvor=E1k=92<italic>s Slavonic Dances Op.
46, Nos. 1, 3, and 8, </italic>and Chinese folk songs, one of which,
<italic>Jasmine</italic>, has been given a new arrangement by
Professor of Composition and Music Theory Randolph
Coleman<italic>.</italic> This core program will alternate George
Gershwin=92s <italic>Rhapsody in Blue</italic> with Igor Stravinsky=92s
<italic>Pulcinella Suite</italic>. Pianist Thomas Rosenkranz, a 1999
graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory, will be the featured soloist for
the Gershwin.=20

	The orchestra also will perform the official songs of Anshan, =
Dalian,
and Beijing, respectively, during concerts in those cities. In Dalian,
the Oberlin Orchestra will perform under the baton of guest conductor
Fan Tao. Tao, a conductor with the China Broadcasting Performing-Arts
Troupe, was awarded a special prize at the 2000 Sibelius International
Conducting Competition in Helsinki, =
Finland.<color><param>FFFD,0000,0000</param>

</color>	A trip to China made last spring by the dean of the =
Oberlin
Conservatory, David H. Stull, and several faculty members was the
genesis of this tour. The Oberlin contingent was invited by the
Szechuan Conservatory in Cheng du and visited major concert halls and
music schools, where they gave master classes.

=93Our primary interest was to visit major schools to get a sense of
their philosophy of teaching and to establish at least an informal
relationship with the leaders of those institutions,=94 says Stull. In
April, five members of the Szechuan Conservatory made a reciprocal
visit to Oberlin to explore the nuances of American conservatory
training.

	=93This China tour will be of immense educational benefit to =
Oberlin
students,=94 says tour manager James Kalyn. =93In addition to the =
musical
growth they will experience by performing the same pieces over and
over again=97something students in conservatory orchestras rarely get to
do=97they will be exposed to the culture of an emerging economic
superpower.=94

=93China now produces some of the world=92s finest musicians,=94 adds =
Stull.
=93Many of these young people come to Oberlin to study. Of the 50
students enrolled in the Conservatory from countries in Asia, 15 are
from China. It is in our own students=92 best interest to explore the
educational and performance opportunities this country has to offer.=94

<bold>Bridget-Michaele Reischl, Music Director, Oberlin Orchestra</bold>

Since becoming the first American to win Italy=92s Antonio Pedrotti
International Conducting Competition in 1995, Bridget-Michaele
Reischl<bold> </bold>has been an active guest conductor throughout the
United States and internationally. Besides being music director of the
Oberlin Orchestras and a member of Oberlin=92s conducting faculty,
Reischl is music director of the Green Bay Symphony Orchestra in Green
Bay, Wisconsin, a position she has held since 2001. =46rom 1992 to 2004,
she was music director of the Lawrence Symphony Orchestra and
associate professor of conducting at the Lawrence University
Conservatory of Music in Appleton, Wisconsin. She is a graduate of the
Eastman School of Music. As a student of Robert Spano (a 1983 Oberlin
graduate), she continued her studies as a conducting fellow at both
the Aspen and the Tanglewood music festivals, where she worked with
Seiji Ozawa, Murray Sidlin, and David Zinman (also an Oberlin
graduate, Class of 1958). She has recorded on the Velut Luna, CRI, and
Sea Breeze Record Company labels.=20

<bold>Thomas Rosenkranz, piano soloist</bold><fontfamily><param>Times =
New Roman</param>

</fontfamily>Thomas Rosenkranz has performed on four continents and
has twice been named an artistic ambassador, sponsored by the United
States State Department on tours of the Middle East and Africa to
present recitals of American music for television and radio
broadcasts. He was recently awarded the prestigious =93Classical
Fellowship Award=94 from the American Pianists Association. He has given
performances at Lincoln Center (New York), the Miller Theatre (New
York), the 92 Street Y (New York), the Kennedy Center (D.C.), the
Hilbert Circle Theatre (Indianapolis), L=92Acropolium (Carthage), and
Theatre de la Ville (Tunis). He toured Japan and Taiwan with the
Eastman Wind Ensemble and has been a featured pianist at such notable
festivals as the the Tabarka Jazz Festival (Tunisia), Octobre Musical
(Tunisia), the Kurt Weill Fest (Germany), and the National MTNA
Convention in Seattle. He has performed as soloist with the National
Orchestra of Beirut, the Orchestre Symphonique Tunsien, the
Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra, and the Northwest Chamber Orchestra. A
graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory (Class of 1999) and the Eastman
School of Music, his major teachers include Robert Shannon, Nelita
True, and Yvonne Loriod-Messiaen. He lives in Honolulu, Hawaii, and is
assistant professor of piano at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. He
will be artist-in-residence at the Cortona Contemporary Festival in
Italy this summer.

<bold>J Freivogel, concertmaster

</bold>Raised in a family of musicians, J Freivogel began playing
violin at the age of two. Now in his last year of Oberlin=92s
double-degree program, he studies violin with Marilyn McDonald and is
pursuing degrees in violin performance and politics. Named one of
<italic>Northern Ohio Live</italic> magazine=92s =93best and brightest=94 =
in
2004, Freivogel has participated in critically acclaimed concerts at
Carnegie=92s Weill Recital Hall and Merkin Hall in New York City. He is
first violinist of the Jasper String Quartet. In the spring, he will
return to New York to perform Alban Berg=92s <italic>Kammerkonzerte
</italic>and the world premiere of Lewis Nielson=92s <italic>Violin
Concerto</italic>. Freivogel is from St. Louis, Missouri.

<bold>

The Oberlin Orchestra and the Oberlin Conservatory of Music

</bold>After Sir Simon Rattle conducted the Oberlin Chamber Orchestra
in December 2004, <italic>Plain Dealer</italic> music critic Donald
Rosenberg wrote that the concert was =93stamped by magnificence.=94
Indeed, Rosenberg included the Oberlin-Rattle performance of Mahler=92s
<italic>Symphony No. 4, </italic>which he described as =93uncommonly
rich in poetry and drama,=94 in his list of top 10 memorable events from
the 2004 concert season.

Magnificence has come to be synonymous with all aspects of the Oberlin
Conservatory of Music, from its exacting standards for incoming
students to the excellence in teaching and performance expected of its
faculty and the notable careers of its alumni, who can be found
performing in every major orchestra and opera house and with many of
today=92s acclaimed chamber ensembles.

Founded in 1865 and situated within the intellectual vitality of
Oberlin College since 1867, Oberlin is the oldest continuously
operating conservatory in the United States. An undergraduate
institution, Oberlin is renowned internationally as a professional
music school of the highest caliber and has been called a =93national
treasure=94 by the <italic>Washington Post</italic>.

Past guest conductors of the Oberlin Orchestra have included Marin
Alsop, Pierre Boulez, Catherine Comet, Tan Dun, Eve Queler, Robert
Shaw, Oscar Shumsky, Igor Stravinsky, composer John Williams, and Hugh
Wolff.

Upcoming appearances by the Oberlin Orchestra for the 2005-06 season
include a performance at Cleveland=92s Severance Hall, home of the
Cleveland Orchestra, under the baton of music director and conductor
Bridget-Michaele Reischl. The 2006-07 season features a performance at
Carnegie Hall with Robert Spano conducting.=20

For more information about the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, please
visit
=
<underline><color><param>0000,0000,FFFD</param>www.oberlin.edu/con</color>=
</underline>.

<bold>Oberlin College=92s Historic Ties to China

</bold>For more than a century, Oberlin College and China have
benefited from a mutually supportive relationship encompassing
educational, social, and cultural exchanges, beginning with the
teaching work of Oberlin graduates in the late 1800s. To commemorate
the efforts of Oberlin educators in China, the Oberlin Shansi Memorial
Association was founded in 1908, more than 50 years before the Peace
Corps was begun. Today Shansi is an independent non-profit
organization on the Oberlin campus that sponsors numerous educational
exchanges, sending Oberlin students to sites throughout Asia to work
and to teach and bringing Asian scholars to the College for the same
purpose. Shansi has empowered generations of participants to make
constructive and useful contributions to Asian and American
institutions and communities.

Another strong Oberlin-China connection can be found at the Shanghai
Conservatory of Music, the oldest conservatory in China. Huang Tzu, a
1926 Oberlin graduate who is widely considered to be one of the
patriarchs of Western music education in modern China, was one of its
founding fathers. He wrote the school=92s curriculum, which ultimately
became the platform for the professional study of music in China.

=0C

<bold>Concert Schedule

</bold>December 25, 2005

Anshan

Shengli Auditorium, 7 p.m.

December 26, 2005

Anshan

Shengli Auditorium, 7 p.m.

December 27, 2005

Shenyang

Nanfeng International Centre, 7 p.m.

December 28, 2005

Dalian

Dalian Broadcasting Centre, 6:30 p.m. and 9 p.m.

December 29, 2005

Dalian

Dalian Broadcasting Centre, 7 p.m.

December 30, 2005

Beijing

Poly Theatre, 7 p.m.

December 31, 2005

Beijing

Poly Theatre, 7 p.m.

January 1, 2006

Tianjing

CANCELLED

January 2, 2006

Shanghai

Shanghai Concert Hall, 7 p.m.

<center># # #

</center>

<fontfamily><param>Times New Roman</param>

</fontfamily>

Marci Janas

Director of Conservatory Media Relations

Oberlin Conservatory of Music

39 West College Street

Oberlin, OH  44074

www.oberlin.edu/con

(P) 440-775-8328

(F) 440-775-5457

marci.janas at oberlin.edu=

--Boundary_(ID_NYferoNHiWXlwz+2ubqtvg)--