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THE
ORCHESTRA AT WILLIAM PATERSON UNIVERSITY ADOPTS NEW NAME AND NEW ARTISTIC
LEADERSHIP FOR 2003-2004 SEASON
• Decision to change name to High Mountain
Symphony reflects the orchestra’s regional significance
• Paul Hostetter, a prominent conductor and musician, is named
conductor and music director
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The Orchestra at William Paterson University
embarks on an exciting new direction during the 2003-2004 season,
signified by its new name – High Mountain Symphony at William
Paterson University – and fresh artistic leadership brought
by new conductor and music director Paul Hostetter.
Established in 1986 as the Wayne Chamber Orchestra, the High Mountain
Symphony at William Paterson University is the only professional orchestra
in New Jersey in permanent residence at a university. It represents
an exciting collaboration of musical talent drawn from the University’s
faculty artists and gifted student instrumentalists in performance
with established metropolitan area professional musicians.
The new name for the ensemble refers to a local and well-known nature
preserve in Wayne that borders the University’s campus. “We
believe this name more appropriately refers to the region the orchestra
serves,” explains Ofelia Garcia, dean of the University’s
College of the Arts and Communication.
Hostetter, a prominent conductor and musician, has been named conductor
following a search that encompassed the 2002-2003 season. He will
conduct the Symphony’s four-concert 2003-2004 season that opens
October 25 at 8 p.m. with a concert titled “Journey Around the
World.” Additional performances are scheduled for November 23,
2003 and February 21 and April 24, 2004. The concerts will be held
in Shea Center on the William Paterson University campus in Wayne.
“All orchestras derive a portion of their character from the
conductor – Paul Hostetter is a talented, exciting conductor
whose love of music and interest in sharing it is very strong,”
says Garcia. “We look forward to his artistic leadership.”
The conductor of the New Jersey Youth Symphony, Hostetter serves as
artistic director for the Winter Sun Music Festival in St. Petersburg,
FL, and music director for the Festival Orchestra at the Stony Brook
Summer Festival in Stony Brook, New York. He has appeared as a guest
conductor with orchestras including the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra,
the American Composers Orchestra, Philharmonia Virtuosi, the Sequitur
Ensemble, and the Delaware Symphony Orchestra, as well as opera companies
including the New York City Opera and the Genesis Opera Company. On
Broadway, he was the associate conductor for Leonard Bernstein’s
“Candide,” where he led over 40 performances. Hostetter
has collaborated with Jim Hall, Pat Metheny, and Joe Lovano with strings
from the Orchestra of St. Luke’s in a recording for Telarc,
as well as with Heidi Grant Murphy and members of Aureole and the
Metropolitan Opera for Koch. He also has recorded for the CRI, Zadick,
Mode, Albany, and Milkin Archive labels, and has premiered more than
30 works by well-known composers.
Hostetter, who will also serve as an associate professor of music
at William Paterson, has been a consultant to Carnegie Hall’s
educational division and has appeared as a guest conductor with the
Manhattan School of Music. He has presented master classes at The
Juilliard School, Mannes College, The Peabody Conservatory, New York
University, and Sao Paulo State College (Brazil), and is the conductor
for the New York Premiere Ensemble with whom he has presented numerous
performances of Raphael Mostel’s “The Travels of Babar”
to critical acclaim in both English and French.
The opening concert of the season on October 25 at 8 p.m. will feature
pianist Aaron Wunsch as guest soloist for De Falla’s “Nights
in the Gardens of Spain.” Other works include Bernstein’s
“Overture to Candide,” Bartok’s “Romanian
Folk Dances” and Respighi’s “Pines of Rome.”
A special concert geared to families will be held on November 23 at
3 p.m. Titled “The Lost Elephant: A Comedy Concerto,”
the program will feature Dan Kamin as a zookeeper who shows up at
a concert of animal-inspired music by such composers as Handel, Stravinsky,
Rossini and others. One hour before the concert there will be an instrument
“petting zoo” in the lobby of Shea Center where adults
and children will have the opportunity to meet many of the Symphony’s
musicians and play a variety of instruments.
On February 21, the Symphony will present a concert titled “Legends
and Myths” at 8 p.m. Works include Beethoven’s “Creatures
of Prometheus,” Bizet’s “Carmen” in an arrangement
for strings and percussion, Sibelius’ “Valse Triste”
and Stravinsky’s “Pucinella.”
The final concert of the season on April 24 at 8 p.m. features the
finalists in the symphony’s seventh annual Mae and Fletcher
Fish Young Artist competition. It will also include the New Jersey
premiere of “A Flourish,” composed by John Link, a William
Paterson associate professor of music, and music by Puccini and Ravel.
Subscriptions for the four-concert season are $80. Individual tickets
are $25, $20 for senior citizens and William Paterson faculty, staff
and alumni, and $8 for William Paterson students and those ages 17
and younger.
The High Mountain Symphony is underwritten, in part, by William Paterson
University. It is also funded, in part, by the Passaic County Cultural
and Heritage Council at Passaic County Community College through the
State/County Block Grant Program of the New Jersey State Council on
the Arts/Department of State, a Partner Agency of the National Endowment
for the Arts.
For information on subscriptions or individual tickets, call the Shea
Center Box Office at 973-720-2371. #
# #
- For
Further Information, contact:
- Mary
Beth Zeman, Director, Public Relations 973-720-2966
8/12/03
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