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October 3, 2005
HIGH MOUNTAIN SYMPHONY OPENS 2005-2006 SEASON ON OCTOBER 29
—Delta David Gier is guest conductor
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The High Mountain Symphony at William Paterson University in Wayne opens its 2005-2006 concert season on Saturday, October 29, 2005 with a performance at 8 p.m. in Shea Center on campus. Delta David Gier, music director of the South Dakota Symphony, will be the guest conductor.
The program, titled “Romantic Rachmaninoff,” will feature Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No. 2, one of the Russian composer’s most popular and enduring works, combining full-blooded Russian passion with dynamic rhythms and opulent, soaring orchestration. It will also feature the Overture to Mozart’s opera, The Magic Flute, and Musica Dolorosa by Latvian composer Peteris Vasks, a prominent voice in contemporary European music.
Gier is the first of four guest conductors for the High Mountain Symphony’s 2005-2006 season selected from among hundreds of applicants. One will be chosen to become the music director of the Symphony beginning with the 2006-2007 season.
Recognized widely for his penetrating interpretations of the standard repertoire and his passionate commitment to new music, Gier has been called a dynamic voice on the American music scene. For the past six seasons, he has served as an assistant conductor for the New York Philharmonic, and recently for the Metropolitan Opera as well. As a Fulbright Scholar (1988–90), Gier led critically acclaimed performances with many orchestras of Eastern Europe. He was invited to the former Czechoslovakia to conduct Dvorak’s Eighth Symphony in celebration of the 100th anniversary of its premiere.
Gier earned a master of music degree in conducting from the University of Michigan under Gustav Meier. He has served as a visiting professor at the Yale School of Music, the College-Conservatory of Music in Cincinnati, the San Francisco Conservatory and SUNY-Stony Brook.
Tickets for the concert are $25, $20 for senior citizens, William Paterson faculty, staff and alumni, and $8 for William Paterson students and those ages 17 and younger. The concert will be preceded by a pre-concert lecture with the conductor and guest artist beginning at 7 p.m. in Shea 101.
The High Mountain Symphony is the only professional orchestra in New Jersey in permanent residence at a university. The ensemble’s four-concert season will continue with a special holiday concert on Sunday, November 20, 2005 at 3 p.m. and Saturday evening performances on February 25 and April 29, 2006 at 8 p.m. in Shea Center on the William Paterson campus. Subscriptions for the Symphony’s season are available for $75.
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 more information on subscriptions or individual tickets, call the Shea Center Box Office at 973-720-2371.
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WILLIAM PATERSON UNIVERSITY 1855-2005: CELEBRATING 150 YEARS
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