NSO at Maryland—November 10-15

[Click here for complete schedule.]

University of Maryland School of Music and National Symphony Orchestra Announce Activities for NSO at Maryland Residency

Thirty Events Culminate in Two Free Performances Featuring National Symphony Members and University of Maryland Symphony Orchestra Members Side-by-Side

The National Symphony Orchestra and the University of Maryland School of Music announce the events taking place during the University of Maryland Residency, taking place between November 10 and November 15. During the 5 days 30 separate events are scheduled. Public performances will feature National Symphony Orchestra members and musicians in the University of Maryland Symphony Orchestra side-by-side; concerts will take place Friday, November 14, at 7 p.m. in the Dekelboum Concert Hall of the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, and Saturday, November 15, at 6 p.m. in the Concert Hall of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Both are free and open to the public; tickets are required only for the November 14 performance.

This week of events is the first time the National Symphony Orchestra has been in residence at a university. The focus of the week is three-fold:

• to give music students a variety of opportunities to work closely with seasoned professionals, better equipping them to pursue professional careers;
• to provide performances that will at once serve as training opportunities for students and artistic excellence for patrons' enjoyment;
• to serve Prince George's County through concerts for students and adults.

"The Orchestra welcomes the opportunity to work with the University of Maryland," said NSO Executive Director Rita Shapiro. "The University of Maryland has an excellent music program and a beautiful facility in the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center. Our musicians are great teachers, and the fact that 17 NSO members are already on the University faculty is clear evidence that they find working with students to be invigorating. There are other connections between our organizations: last December Music Director Leonard Slatkin donated his time to work with the UM Symphony Orchestra and conducting students, and his services to music and to the community were recognized last May with an honorary degree from the University. The UM Concert Choir is scheduled to appear with us for Handel's Messiah in December, and we also have well-established relationships with Prince George's County Public School staff and teachers who utilize the educational benefits of the NSO's Young Peoplešs Concerts at the Kennedy Center."

"The University of Maryland is tremendously enthusiastic about this project," said Christopher Kendall, Director of the University of Maryland School of Music. "Not only is the artistry of the National Symphony extraordinary, their commitment to education in the arts is unique. This creates a remarkable opportunity for our students. Collaborations of this kind are wonderfully enriching and stimulating. Students face an enormous leap when they leave the university or conservatory realm to enter the world of the professional performer. Our job is to equip them with the tools they'll need—from surviving auditions, to adjusting to the demands of different conductors, to experiencing the sheer exhilaration of great music-making. We believe the Residency will be an inspiration on all counts. We also are delighted that the NSO will also make itself available to our community, through its Young People's Concert for Prince George's County students."

Dedicated to the educational and outreach facets of its mission, the NSO continues to seek out such opportunities within the greater Washington region as well as across the nation. Re-creating many of the outreach activities the NSO currently undertakes on its annual American Residency program, projects for the University of Maryland School of Music Residency will include seminars on audition techniques, sectional coachings, master classes, educational concerts and workshops on designing and executing educational chamber concerts.

The Residency includes two "side-by-side" concerts with members of NSO performing alongside UM students, co-conducted by UM Director of Orchestral Studies James Ross and NSO Associate Conductor Emil de Cou. Acclaimed soprano Linda Mabbs, UM Professor of Voice, performs with the combined orchestras.

Click here