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The North/South Chamber Orchestra welcomes the New Year on Tuesday evening January 9, 2018 performing optimistic and vibrant works by four living American composers.
Violinist Kurt Nikkanen and pianist Maria Asteriadou will appear as soloists in the first New York performance of Encore II by Dinos Constantinides -- the Greek-American composer celebrating his 90th birthday next year. Other works also receiving their first hearing in New York include the American Elegy by Richard Brooks; Hextet by Paul Reale; and Fire Within by the ensemble's conductor, Max Lifchitz.“American Elegy” for string orchestra, by Richard Brooks, was composed in 2002 with a profound love for New York and a deep sadness for those who were lost on September 11, 2001. Brooks has composed over one hundred works in all media. His opera for young audiences, Rapunzel, was commissioned by the Tri-Cities Opera (Binghamton) in 1971 and has been mounted also by the Opera Theatre of Northern Virginia, Wolf Trap Farm Park, and the Denver Symphony/Central City Singers. Most recently, it received sixty-five performances by the Cincinnati Opera. A native of upstate New York, Brooks holds a B.S. degree in Music Education from the Crane School of Music, Potsdam College; an M.A. in Composition from Binghamton University; and a Ph. D. in Composition from New York University.