September 14-15
RISE UP
Saturday | 9.15.18 | 8:00 PM
The Chelsea Symphony presents the opening concert series of its thirteenth season, RESOLUTION, featuring pieces from the past and present that echo and reflect the times in which they were written.
Conducted by Matthew Aubin, Reuben Blundell, and Nell Flanders, TCS welcomes two soloists to the stage: Stephen McDougall Graham plays Dmitri Kabalevsky’s Violin Concerto on Friday's concert and violist Michael Vannoni performs on Paul Hindemith’s Der Schwanendreher (The Swan Turner) on Saturday's concert. Both concerts open with the NYC premiere of Linda Robbins Coleman’s For a Beautiful Land.
The second half showcases two works by American composers that speak to our season theme. Suite from On the Waterfront by Leonard Bernstein features music from the Academy Award-winning film which depicts the struggles of longshoreman in mid-twentieth century New York. Our concert concludes with Aaron Copland’s Lincoln Portrait, featuring special guest narrator Kim King. Copland uses excerpts from several of Lincoln’s speeches including the Gettysburg Address to celebrate an "eminent American," responsible for strengthening the Union, abolishing slavery, modernizing the economy, and is renowned by scholars and the public alike as one of America's greatest presidents.
Concerts will be held at St. Paul's German Lutheran Church, 315 West 22nd Street
Season and September tickets on sale now at Eventbrite!
Program
Featured Artists
Kim King is a Jamaican born actress who grew up in New York. She is a student at the Stella Adler Studio of Acting in New York City. Her depth of empathy for the human experience, particularly people of color, is the guiding force behind her work. Telling stories often overlooked and dismissed feeds her curiosity as an actor. She is in constant search of a deeper understanding of how life unfolds for different people living the same human experience. …
Michael Vannoni, a Juilliard graduate (BM and MM in Viola Performance), is a world-class multi-instrumentalist (violin, viola, cello, flute), a passionate educator, and an experienced music administrator. His career includes world-wide orchestra tours, community music school teaching, festival and orchestra management, and international music publishing roles.
As a performer, Michael has performed in the festival orchestras at Verbier and Tanglewood, and has participated in the Taos Chamber Music Festival. He has also performed with Albany Symphony (NY), Binghamton Philharmonic, Glens …
Stephen McDougall Graham is an active orchestral and chamber musician with a significant professional background in nonprofit administration and public service. In addition to numerous performances with ensembles in New York City and Atlanta, His playing can be heard on the album The Great Northwest, featuring members of the indie band, Lucius, and he can be seen in the Amazon Original series Mozart in the Jungle. Stephen earned a BA in music and philosophy from Bucknell University, where he led …
Conductor
A leader in the 21st century orchestral landscape, Dr. Matthew Aubin is constantly reaching new audiences through innovative performance formats and creative initiatives both on and off the podium.
The 2022-23 season kicks off Dr. Aubin’s inaugural year as Music Director of the Southwest Michigan Symphony Orchestra. Additionally, he is Music Director of the Jackson Symphony Orchestra and serves as Artistic Director of The Chelsea Symphony. In his role at TCS, he has led highly visible collaborations with partners such …
Reuben Blundell has been a Chelsea Symphony conductor/violinist since 2012, enjoying collaborations with musicians, soloists, composers and other conductors. Conducting Aaron Dai’s The Night Before Christmas, first with B. D. Wong then Annie Golden narrating, he initiated, conducted and edited (in Premiere Pro) the orchestra’s 2020 remote performance, narrated by John Lithgow.
Blundell is Music Director of the Riverside Orchestra on the Upper West Side, rehearsing Mondays and performing five concerts each season. He also directs another outstanding community …
Active as a conductor, violinist, violist, pianist, and educator, Nell Flanders brings her dynamic musicality to performances in a wide variety of genres, from orchestral classics to contemporary music, tango, blues, and period instrument baroque. Ms. Flanders is currently the Director of Orchestral Activities at Idaho State University, where she leads the Idaho State-Civic Symphony and the ISU University Chamber Orchestra. From 2018-2021 she held the position of Georg and Joyce Albers-Schonberg Assistant Conductor with the Princeton Symphony Orchestra, conducting …