The Maryland Day Celebration marks the Strathmore Music Center debut of both the Maryland Symphony Orchestra and the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra, two of the state’s cultural gems. Their music directors, Elizabeth Schulze and José-Luis Novo respectively, are among the most honored and sought-after young conductors on the international scene.
The MSO has served Hagerstown and surrounding Washington County for 25 years, 16 of them under French horn virtuoso Barry Tuckwell, while the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra was established in Maryland’s capital city 46 years ago.
Upon becoming the MSO music director in 1999, Schulze began broadening the repertoire with world premieres. A popular past associate conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra, she is deeply involved in community outreach and conducts the All County High School Orchestra of Washington County. She also teaches and conducts the NSO/Kennedy Center’s Summer Music Institute for gifted youth.
The MSO season finale next month opens with the string section performing Tchaikovsky’s “Serenade” and concludes with the mighty “Carmina Burana” by Carl Orff, showcasing both the orchestra and the voices of the Baltimore Choral Arts Society and the Frederick Children’s Chorus.
“We’ll rehearse the orchestra in Frederick, the CAS in Baltimore and the children in Hagerstown,” Schulze says. “Then we’ll all come together for one rehearsal, so this will really be an all-Maryland experiment. Since I like to be busy, this is a wonderful opportunity to enlarge our presence and outreach to the greater Maryland community.
“In the eight years that I’ve been with MSO, the budget and audiences have grown. The Strathmore audience will discover that this is a very fine orchestra and that there is great music-making all over the state.”
José-Luis Novo became music director of the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra two years ago with a goal to enlarge the scope of the repertoire and bring the audience more interesting and unexpected programming. A violinist from childhood, he has worked with youth orchestras since the age of 19 when he was an assistant conductor of the National Youth Orchestra of his native Spain.
“I love working with young people,” he says. “I remember the great impact Vivaldi had in my life and as I look at them when they are playing, I see how the power of music reflects in their faces.”
Since coming to this county as a Fulbright Scholar, he has earned two Master’s degrees from Yale University and won numerous prestigious awards. In addition to his ASO position, he has been music director and conductor of the Binghamton Philharmonic since 2003 and a conducting faculty member at the Eastern Music Festival in Greensboro, N.C., since 1999.
“I’m fortunate to work with ASO’s core of dedicated and energetic freelance musicians” he says. “They’ve enabled us to build the audience and invite outstanding guest artists like Leon Fleisher and Roberto Diaz. As they perform in Strathmore’s wonderful acoustics, the audience will realize that this ensemble is passionate about music.”
IF YOU GO:
Strathmore’s Maryland Day Celebration features the Maryland Symphony Orchestra and Annapolis Symphony Orchestra performing works by Berlioz and Brahms
When: 2 p.m. Saturday
Venue: Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda
Tickets: $18 to $35
Info: 301-581-5100,
www. strathmore.org
