July 22, 2013 
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The Music School Festival Orchestra will take a step into the Wild West at 8:15 p.m. tonight in the Amphitheater as it performs Hershy Kay’s “Western Symphony,” accompanied by festival dancers in the School of Dance.
Kayoko Dan, 2003 David Effron Conducting Fellow, will return to the Amp tonight as a guest conductor. She will be joined by Vlad Vizireanu, 2013 David Effron Conducting Fellow.
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July 15, 2013 0 Comments
A domineering sultan declares women unfaithful and launches a campaign to kill each of his wives after their first marital night. But in an attempt to save her own life, the clever sultana Scheherazade begins spinning wondrous tales for the sultan every night, and every night he is temporarily persuaded to abandon his plan. One thousand and one nights later, he gives it up completely.
Chautauqua Institution’s Music School Festival Orchestra will end tonight’s show, which begins at 8:15 p.m. in the Amphitheater, with Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Scheherazade.”
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July 10, 2013 0 Comments
The Music School Festival Orchestra performed Monday evening in the Amphitheater. [SLIDESHOW]
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July 8, 2013 0 Comments
Ballet and opera will take center stage at the second Music School Festival Orchestra concert of the season.
Vlad Vizireanu, the School of Music’s 2013 David Effron Conducting Fellow, will conduct five arias and Timothy Muffitt, the MSFO’s music director, will conduct two pieces at 8:15 p.m. tonight in the Amphitheater. Five voice students, the 2012 Sigma Alpha Iota competition winners, will sing Vizireanu’s choice of operatic arias.
July 2, 2013 0 Comments
Eight students took turns sitting at a piano bench to play 15 minutes of a composition of their choosing during the preliminary round of the Sigma Alpha Iota concerto competition Sunday. Only four students qualified for the finals, which take place at 1:30 p.m. today in Elizabeth S. Lenna Hall.
Alvin Zhu, Magdalena Ondicova, Christina Liu and Shuai Wang impressed the judges and were invited to play in today’s competition. Instead of the 15 minutes allotted in the first round, each contestant will perform for approximately 20 minutes.
The finalists are competing for a cash prize, as well as the opportunity to come back to Chautauqua Institution next year to play with the Music School Festival Orchestra.
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July 1, 2013 1 Comment
What was written in a desperate attempt to appease political and social groups became Dmitri Shostakovich’s most famous work. Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5, Op. 47 in D Minor brought him back into the good graces of Russian leadership, in a time when many of his friends and relatives were disappearing.
The Music School Festival Orchestra will open its concert season at 8:15 p.m. tonight in the Amphitheater with Shostakovich’s piece, preceded by Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 8, Op. 93 in F Major. MSFO Music Director Timothy Muffitt chose these symphonies as a base point for the rest of the season.
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July 23, 2012 Comments Off
Together, festival students from the School of Music and the School of Dance will “Serenade” audiences at 8:15 p.m. tonight in the Amphitheater.
Dancers will perform George Balanchine’s “Serenade,” restaged by répétiteur Patricia McBride, North Carolina Dance Theatre associate artistic director.
Musicians will accompany the ballet with Tchaikovsky’s Serenade for Strings in C, lead by guest conductor Stilian Kirov.
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July 16, 2012 Comments Off
Encore!
Following last Monday’s brilliance with returning 2011 Sigma Alpha Iota-winning violinist Laura Park’s solo and David Effron conducting fellow Roderick Cox’s Chautauqua debut, conductor Timothy Muffitt and the Music School Festival Orchestra will once again take the stage at 8:15 p.m. tonight in the Amphitheater.
“It was a great moment,” Cox said, reflecting on the previous performance, where Park and he received a thunderous reception. “But now that I’ve sat back and start to really think about the performance, I gather a couple things I want to work on to fix.”
Based on the crowd’s endearing reaction, it is easy to see how the 24-year-old conductor might want to rest on his laurels. Cox, however, is far from satisfied.
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Chautauqua Institution is a community on the shores of Chautauqua Lake in southwestern New York state that comes alive each summer with a unique mix of fine and performing arts, lectures, interfaith worship and programs, and recreational activities. Over the course of nine weeks, more than 170,000 visitors will participate in programs, classes and community events for all ages—all within the beautiful setting of a historic lakeside village. Learn more →
