Jan 31, 2022
The Western New York Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Maestro Glen Cortese, will perform at St. Bonaventure University’s Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts at 2:30 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 13. This is the fifth concert of the 2021-2022 Friends of Good Music performance season.
The program includes John Corigliano’s “Voyages” for string orchestra; Debussy’s “Children’s Corner,” in an orchestral arrangement by Cortese; and Mozart’s “Concerto for Flute and Harp KV 297” with soloists Barry Crawford, flute, and Sonja Inglefield, harp.
The Western New York Chamber Orchestra has a 34-year history of excellence. The musicians’ love of music and of this orchestra brings them from all over Western New York and Pennsylvania to rehearse and perform together. This ensemble of outstanding players includes faculty at the Fredonia School of Music at SUNY Fredonia, as well as professional musicians from the Buffalo and Rochester regions, and from Erie, Pennsylvania.
Cortese has had hundreds of guest engagements as the conductor of dozens of orchestras, opera companies and summer festivals around the world.
He has appeared with the New Jersey Symphony, the North Carolina Symphony, the Florida Philharmonic, the Belarus State Philharmonic, Sofia Philharmonic, the National Romanian Radio Orchestra, the Slovak Radio Orchestra and the Mexico City Philharmonic. His opera credits include the New York City Opera, the Florida Grand Opera and the Wolftrap Opera.
A champion of new music, Cortese has conducted more than 150 premieres, working in direct collaboration with composers such as Milton Babbitt, Elliott Carter, John Corigliano, George Crumb, Richard Danielpour, Peter Maxwell Davies, Lukas Foss, Hans Werner Henze, and Ralph Shapey.
His work in education is extensive, including leading the orchestra at the Manhattan School of Music for 12 seasons, during which he was an eight-time recipient of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers’ (ASCAP) New and Adventuresome Programming Award. He has created community outreach programs, educational concerts and children's videos on classical music.
Cortese is also an award-winning composer, having won the Charles Ives Scholarship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and a two-time winner of the Joseph E. Bearns Prize.
At present, in addition to serving as artistic director of the Western New York Chamber Orchestra, he is the music director of the Greeley Philharmonic Orchestra in Greeley, Colorado.
Given the fluid nature of COVID-19 protocols, anyone planning to attend this concert is asked to please check SBU’s COVID-19 website for the university’s latest policy for campus visitors, or call the Quick Center at (716) 375-2494.
Single ticket prices for this concert are $20 at full price, $16 for senior citizens and SBU staff, and $5 for students. For tickets and information, call The Quick Center at (716) 375-2494.
For each Friends of Good Music performance, The Quick Center will open its galleries one hour before the performance and keep them open throughout the intermission. Regular gallery hours are noon to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Museum admission is free and open to the public year round. For more information, visit www.sbu.edu/quickcenter.
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About the University: The nation’s first Franciscan university, St. Bonaventure University is a community committed to transforming the lives of our students inside and outside the classroom, inspiring in them a lifelong commitment to service and citizenship. St. Bonaventure was named the #5 regional university value in the North in U.S. News and World Report’s 2022 college rankings edition.