Symphony Number One Makes Baltimore Debut

Symphony Number One Makes Debut at Baltimore War Memorial

Jordan Randall Smith Conducts Mozart, Schubert, Fromm World Premiere

BALTIMORE, MD — Symphony Number One will make their concert debut at the Baltimore War Memorial on May 8 & 9, 2015 at 8pm with the world premiere of Symphony No. 1 by Mark Fromm. Led by conductor Jordan Randall Smith, the program will also feature Jordan Thomas and Raoul Cho in Mozart's Concerto for Flute, Harp, and Orchestra as well as works by Webern and Schubert. Symphony Number One is a unique addition to Baltimore’s contemporary music scene. The group will oversee the commission, performance, and promotion of substantial works by emerging composers and program them alongside carefully selected works of the classical canon. The organization hopes to bring more attention to contemporary composers by featuring one new large-scale work on each concert. The orchestra is raising funds on Kickstarter for their official launch. Make a pledge today!

ABOUT THE PROGRAM

These works will serve as a prelude to the program's featured World Premiere of Pittsburgh composer Mark Fromm‘s Symphony No. 1. Rather than scoring for traditional pairs of wind instruments, Fromm's symphony makes use of a collection of solo winds, including soprano saxophone, alto flute, oboe, English horn, basset horn, bass clarinet, and bassoon. Bassoonist Hanul Park opens the work with an extended solo, and the string section makes extensive use of divided parts, essentially treating all twenty-three musicians as a large collection of soloists. Fromm, a bassoonist himself, has just completed and premiered another major work, his Concerto for Contrabassoon and Orchestra. Maestro Jordan Randall Smith first collaborated with Mark Fromm while guest conducting Pittsburgh's new music ensemble Alia Musica, where Fromm is both a performer and composer.

Production Details:

Friday, May 8 at 8pm Facebook | Google
Saturday, May 9 at 8pm Facebook | Google
Venue: Baltimore War Memorial
Address: 101 N Gay St, Baltimore, MD 21202 (enter through North entrance on Lexington Ave)
Admission: $0-15 (pay what you want) at the door or via the War Memorial Arts Initiative's event page. VIP Admission by contributing to the orchestra’s crowdfunding campaign at Kickstarter.
Parking/Transit: The Baltimore War Memorial is located within a five-minute walk from stops on the green, purple, and orange Charm City Circulator routes and the Shot Tower metro station. Parking is available one block west of the War Memorial at the Baltimore Street Garage (15 Guilford avenue) and on the surrounding streets on a limited basis. Additional parking cross Lexington Ave at the Legal Aid Bureau building.

ABOUT SYMPHONY NUMBER ONE

Founded in 2014, Symphony Number One is the newest chamber orchestra in Baltimore’s grassroots performing arts space. Led by Music Director Jordan Randall Smith, Symphony Number One offers a unique model for presenting new music by bringing together great composers of the past, virtuoso performers of the present, and the leading compositional voices of the future. The orchestra is not exclusively devoted to the performance of new music. Instead, each program presents a new, large-scale composition alongside classical masterworks custom-tailored to work together and highlight the featured composer. These concerts will also serve a larger mission: provide other grassroots ensembles with exciting programs to re-invigorate the American classical landscape while giving composers a chance to have their works performed again.

Symphony Number One’s creative team joins Baltimore’s thriving startup culture; the organization was founded by Music Director Jordan Randall Smith, who is also a contributor to Sequenza21. A Dallas native, Smith previously co-founded and conducted Ars Nova Dallas and the Dallas Festival of Modern Music as Artistic Director. He also received a Bruno Walter fellowship at the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, studying with Marin Alsop and Gustav Meier both at Cabrillo and at the Peabody Conservatory.

Transplanted to Baltimore, Smith recruited a creative team of five colleagues from the Peabody Conservatory: Nicholas Bentz, Sean Meyers, Christopher Ciampolli, Kelsey Ross, and Mayitrey . Executive Director Nicholas Bentz is also the orchestra's concertmaster and a composer himself. The creative team pools expertise gleaned from their work with other Baltimore contemporary music projects, such as Sonar, Outer Spaces, and Occasional Symphony.

For more information, please visit symphno1.com.

The Baltimore War Memorial is a historic venue and meeting hall in Downtown Baltimore. The War Memorial Arts Initiative serves to strengthen Baltimore neighborhoods surrounding the City Hall Campus by promoting civic engagement through shared culture while honoring and serving veterans. Baltimore's Department of General Services operates the arts initiative and maintains the War Memorial on behalf of the War Memorial Commission. Visit at 101 N. Gay St. or online at www.wmaibaltimore.org.

COMING FALL 2015

September 25-26: To open their inaugural season, Symphony Number One will make a splash with the music of Mahler and Boss! Soprano Amanda Williams joins the orchestra for the Schoenberg/Stein edition of Gustav Mahler's epic Symphony No. 4. Symphony Number One's own Sean Meyers will perform the world premiere of the Andrew Boss Concerto for Saxophone and Chamber Orchestra. Follow this concert on Facebook for updates.

October 29-30: Symphony Number One proudly presents Transfigured Nights, featuring Arnold Schoenberg's hauntingly beautiful Verklarte Nacht, Shostakovich's mesmerizing Chamber Symphony, along with other beloved works for strings and a world premiere work by a leading compositional voice of the future. Follow this concert on Facebook for updates.