The 2019-20 Season

Westchester Philharmonic

2019-2020 Season

Oct. 27, 2019, 3:00 pm

Breaking New Ground

The Emily and Eugene Grant Series

Eric Jacobsen, conducting

Simone Porter, violin

Caroline Shaw: Entr’acte

Barber: Violin Concerto

Brahms: Symphony No. 2

Pre-concert discussion with the artists at 2 pm.

Ground-breaking musical moments arrive with conductor Eric Jacobsen (co-founder of The Knights; Music Director of Orlando Philharmonic and Bridgeport Symphony) and the astonishing young violinist Simone Porter in a program that seamlessly connects music from the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries.

“She reminded me most of all of the young Yehudi Menuhin…if you want to encounter someone who has all the potential to be one of the great violinists of her era, grab a ticket.” – Edmonton Journal

“Jacobsen is an interpretive dynamo.” – New York Times

Dec. 8, 2019, 3:00 pm

A Vision of Sound

Rachael Worby, conducting

HyeJin Kim, piano

Members of Ballet Hispanico, Eduardo Vilaro, Artistic Director

Ellington/Strayhorn: Take the A Train
Ellington: Excerpts from River Suite
Jed Feuer: 4 AM (world premiere)
Paquito D’Rivera: Danzón
Dave Brubeck: Kathy’s Waltz
Dizzy Gillespie: Manteca
Bernstein: Times Square (from “On the Town”)
Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue

This concert will be performed without intermission. Please note that there is no pre-concert talk before this performance.

Rachael Worby’s debut performances this past season imbued us with a fearlessness of the unexpected. December’s A Vision of Sound explores jazz and Latin jazz influences on American classical music, highlighted by HyeJin Kim and Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue and a collaboration with members of Eduardo Vilaro’s Ballet Hispanico. February’s A Sound Vision brings the jaw-dropping talent of violinist Ray Ushikubo, highlighted by a special concerto arrangement of Bernstein’s West Side Story.

“Worby’s multi-sensual vision of music commands the ear and the eye, the head and the heart.” – Pasadena Reporter

“HyeJin Kim’s hands appear to pirouette on the keys: she jumps over several octaves and then, in other passages, allows harmonies to dreamily flow.” – WAZ-Witten

February 9, 2020, 3:00 pm

A Sound Vision

Rachael Worby, conducting

Ray Ushikubo, violin

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Bernstein: West Side Story Suite (violin concerto arrangement by David Newmann)

Works of Bernard Herman and John Williams.

Pre-concert discussion with the artists at 2 pm.

April 19, 2020, 3:00 pm

Eternal Spring: Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Earth Day

Jayce Ogren, conducting

Ran Dank, piano

Mendelssohn: Hebrides Overture

Copland: Appalachian Spring (complete ballet)

Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 4

Pre-concert discussion with the artists at 2 pm.

Conductor Jayce Ogren, who began his career on a high rung as the Cleveland Orchestra’s assistant conductor, has guest-conducted the major symphony orchestras of the world and regularly collaborates with Rufus Wainwright. He is joined by Israeli pianist Ran Dank for Beethoven’s most intimate Piano Concerto No. 4. And to honor the 50th anniversary of Earth Day on April 22nd, we’ve chosen two works composed as love letters to our planet.

“Ogren possesses brilliant mastery of orchestral color.” – Spokesman Review

“Mr. Dank played brilliantly, giving a muscular and virtuosic performance.” – The New York Times

“Impeccable technical surety…explosive force and triumphant exultation.” – Washington Post