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NEW YORK CITY BALLET WORLD PREMIERE OF FRIANDISES

Christopher Rouse's new dance work, FRIANDISES, will receive its world premiere with the New York City Ballet, choreography by Peter Martins, on February 10, 2006. The Juilliard Dance Ensemble will present the work with choreography by Adam Hougland beginning on February 22, 2006. For more information see the Performance Calendar.

FRIANDISES will also be featured on PBS's "Live from Lincoln Center" on April 3, 2006, as part of their broadcast of 100 Years of The Juilliard School: A Gala Celebration.

Der gerettete Alberich, Rapture, and Violin Concerto all receive their world premiere recordings on a new Ondine CD featuring the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Leif Segerstam, and soloists Evelyn Glennie and Cho-Liang Lin.

Click here for more information and to listen to excerpts.

On May 7th's Opening Night at Pops, Keith Lockhart led the Boston Pops Orchestra in the world premiere of The Nevill Feast, a Boston Pops commission from Pulitzer Prize- and Grammy-winning composer Christopher Rouse. This entertaining eight-minute work recalls the great celebratory feasts of the Middle Ages with a modern-day rock-and-roll twist.

TELDEC RELEASES RECORDING OF ROUSE'S CONCERT DE GAUDI

Teldec has released a CD of Christopher Rouse's 1999 guitar concerto, Concert de Gaudi. The Gulbenkian Orchestra of Lisbon, Portugal performs, with Sharon Isbin as soloist and Muhai Tang conducting. This world premiere recording was released by Teldec on May 15, 2001 (Teldec Classics 8573-81830-2). For more information, click here.

Mark Swed of the Los Angeles Times gives this recording his top rating of four stars: "If Sharon Isbin won a Grammy this year for her...Dreams of the World, then she deserves a Nobel for this recording of two terrific new guitar concertos, written for her and played with gripping persuasiveness. Christopher Rouse, a composer with a plucky taste for classic rock and a contradictory tendency to slip into dark Shostakovichian moods, shows off neither here. Instead he sets conventional Spanish guitar style surrealistically on its ear. His [Concert de Gaudi] begins as though it was a sequel to Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez gone wonderfully awry. The middle movement, however, is the work's treasure, with a lyricism that is about as compulsively memorable as the beloved middle movement of Rodrigo's concerto."

The Dallas Morning News says of Concert de Gaudi, "It's uncommonly beautiful and here's predicting it's going to be performed and recorded a lot... Its emotional impact is reminiscent of Falla's Nights in the Gardens of Spain." Barrymore L. Scherer of Public Arts comments "Wonderfully eclectic... From the opening swirl of flamenco-style gestures, through the poignant, ballad-like slow movement and the scintillating finale, the score kaleidescopically presents memorably expressive passages."

Concert de Gaudi was jointly commissioned by the Norddeutsche Rundfunk and the Dallas Symphony Orchestra for Sharon Isbin, with additional funding provided by Richard and Jody Nordlof. It is published by Boosey & Hawkes.

COMPOSER CHRISTOPHER ROUSE HONORED WITH A.I. DuPONT AWARD AT DELAWARE SYMPHONY CONCERTS

Wilmington, DE - January 10, 2001 - The Delaware Symphony Orchestra announced that composer Christopher Rouse has been named as the recipient of this year's Alfred I. duPont Award to, "a distinguished American composer, who has made a significant contribution in the field of contemporary orchestral music," for his Flute Concerto. Rouse was previously honored with the Pulitzer for his Trombone Concerto, and the Kennedy Center's Friedheim Award for his Symphony No. 1. Rouse's Flute Concerto will be played at the DSO's fourth Classical Series concerts, along with Brahms' Symphony No. 2 and Strauss' Burleske in D minor for Piano and Orchestra, with DSO conductor Stephen Gunzenhauser, as well as guest pianist Diane Walsh, on February 8, 9, and 10, at the Grand Opera House. Delaware Symphony flutist Carol Brown Beste will perform Rouse's Flute Concerto. Thursday's performance begins at 6:30 PM, Friday and Saturday performances both begin at 8:00 PM. Tickets are priced from $14 to $54. Concert previews take place one hour prior to each concert. Christopher Rouse will participate in the previews along with Delaware Symphony musician Chuck Holdeman. Call 302-652-5577 or 1-800-37GRAND for tickets.

As a part of the Delaware Symphony's Education Outreach Programs, Christopher Rouse will visit students at Brandywine High School on February 9th. DSO bassoonist and composer Chuck Holdeman worked with theory and band students for several weeks at area schools to help them create original compositions based on Christopher Rouse's music. Rouse will listen to the compositions and offer comments and encouragement to the students. The music that Rouse chooses will be played by the winning students at a Performance Preview in the Function Room of the Grand Opera House one hour prior to the three concerts.

Saturday night's concert has traditionally been Educators' Night, when area teachers are invited to attend the concert in recognition of their service to Delaware's young people. This year the McKean High School Highlander Chorale will perform before the concert and during intermission. In addition, this year the Delaware Symphony Association has joined with the Jessie Ball duPont Fund in creating the Jessie Ball duPont Educator Award. The award was created to honor a Delaware teacher who has excelled in, and made a significant contribution to, the field of music education. The first winner is Marcia Schiff Acero, a music teacher at Colwyck Elementary School, New Castle, Delaware. Acero will receive a plaque and a $1,000 stipend at the concert on Saturday. Nominations came from the Delaware Music Educator's Association and the Delaware State Music Teachers Association. This award was created as a way to honor an outstanding music teacher, and to honor the late Jessie Ball duPont. Mrs. duPont was a devoted teacher before her marriage to Alfred I. duPont. After their marriage, Mrs. duPont continued to support the cause of the importance of education. "Early, I realized that love and knowledge were the only things of value," she wrote. During her lifetime she gave hundreds of individual scholarships as well as major donations to almost two hundred colleges and universities.

Today's DSO brings music to thousands of Delawareans through its Classical, Pops, and Chamber Series, its Kent & Sussex Series, and its education outreach programs. Friday's concert is sponsored by DuPont and the Alfred I. duPont Foundation. Saturday's concert is sponsored by the Jessie Ball duPont Fund. The Delaware Symphony is supported, in part, by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Delaware Division of the Arts, a state agency committed to enhancing and supporting the arts in Delaware.