Eastern Shore, MD & Lower Delaware – The Mid-Atlantic Symphony Orchestra (MSO), the Eastern Shore of Maryland and Lower Delaware’s only professional Symphony, is celebrating its 22nd season, offering concerts from Easton to Ocean City, and returning this year to Lewes, Delaware.
The orchestra’s 2019-2020 season will feature an American premiere, iconic masterworks and a number of world-class soloists. Mandolinist Vincent Beer-Demander will be featured in September’s opening concerts in Wye Mills, Washington, D.C. and Ocean City. He will be performing the American premiere of Lalo Schifrin’s “Mandolin Concerto,” followed by Beethoven’s stirring yet inspiring “Symphony No. 7.”
Other highlights throughout the year will include November concerts in Easton, Ocean View and Ocean Pines, featuring Haydn’s “Piano Concerto in D Major” with French pianist Dider Castell-Jacomin, along with a performance of Copland’s iconic “Appalachian Spring.” The Holiday Joy concerts in Easton, Lewes and Ocean City will feature Bass Baritone, Kevin Short and students from the University of Maryland’s Opera Studio, in a Jazz and Popular music program that will pay tribute to the great Pops Orchestras of America.
On New Year’s Eve in Easton, Soprano Rochelle Bard and Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Principal Trumpeter Andrew Balio will ring in the new year in a highly energetic concert. January will feature the MSO’s inaugural Elizabeth Loker Concerto Competition which will be open to the public. The competition’s winner will receive $2000 and be the featured soloist at the Symphony’s March concerts in Easton, Ocean View and Ocean Pines. The March concert will also include Mozart’s “Symphony No. 33.”
Finally, in April, the orchestra will feature Russian-born pianist Boris Slutsky in a performance of Tchaikovsky’s “Piano Concerto No. 1,” and conclude the season with Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at and Exhibition.” Performances will be held in Wye Mills and Ocean City.
According to Maestro Julien Benichou, “This year’s season includes an incredible mix of new music, iconic masterworks and amazing soloists. Like every season, the MSO continues to break new ground and introduce new repertoire. We can’t wait to share our 22nd season with our patrons!”
The Mid-Atlantic Symphony Orchestra is supported in part by the Maryland State Arts Council, the Talbot County Arts Council, the Worcester County Arts Council, Sussex County, Delaware, the Community Foundation of the Eastern Shore, Inc, Delmarva Public Radio, Whats Up? Media, and Coastal Style Magazine.
Season subscriptions and individual tickets for the MSO’s 2019-2020 season are available online at midatlanticsymphony.orgor by telephone at 888-846-8600. For further information, visit midatlanticsymphony.org.
2019-2020 MSO Season
From Movie Themes to Classics
Thursday, September 26, 7:30PM – French Embassy, Washington, DC
Friday, September 27, 7:30PM – Chesapeake College, Wye Mills, MD
Sunday, September 29, 3:00PM – Ocean City Convention Center, Ocean City, MD
Nicolas Mazmanian, Mission Impossible Variations
Lalo Schifrin, Mandolin Concerto
Ludwig van Beethoven, Symphony No. 7
Guest Artist: Vincent Beer-Demander, Mandolin
Ticket Link: midatlanticsymphony.org/september-2019-concert
Appalachian Spring
Thursday, November 7, 7:30PM – Easton Church of God, Easton, MD
Saturday, November 9, 3:00PM – Ocean View Church of Christ, Ocean View, DE
Sunday, November 10, 3:00PM – Community Church, Ocean Pines, MD
Antonin Dvorak, String Serenade
Antonino Vivaldi, Two Cello Concerto
Joseph Haydn, Piano Concerto in D Major
Aaron Copland, Appalachian Spring
Guest Artist: Dider Castell-Jacomin, Piano
Ticket Link: midatlanticsymphony.org/november-2019-concerts
Holiday Joy: A Salute to the Great Pops Orchestras
Friday, December 6, 7:00PM – Avalon Theater, Easton, MD
Saturday, December 7, 7:00PM – Cape Henlopen, Lewes, DE
Sunday, December 8, 3:00PM – Ocean City Convention Center, Ocean City, MD
Guest Artists: Kevin Short, Bass Baritione & Students from the University of Maryland Opera Studio
Ticket Link: midatlanticsymphony.org/holiday-joy-2019-concerts
A Toast to the New Year!
Tuesday, December 31 7:00 p.m. Christ Church, Easton, MD
Guest Artists: Andrew Balio, Trumpet & Rochelle Bard, Soprano
Ticket Link: midatlanticsymphony.org/december-2019-new-year-concert
Elizabeth Loker Concerto Competition: Final Round
Thursday, January 9, 7:00PM – Avalon Theatre, Easton, MD
Competition Info: midatlanticsymphony.org/concerto-competition
Elizabeth Loker Concerto Competition: Winning Performance
Thursday, March 5, 7:30PM – Easton Church of God, Easton, MD
Saturday, March 7, 3:00PM – Ocean View Church of Christ, Ocean View, DE
Sunday, March 8, 3:00PM – Community Church, Ocean Pines, MD
Winning Concerto TBD
Amadeus Mozart, Symphony No. 33
Guest Artist: Competition Winner TBD
Ticket Link: midatlanticsymphony.org/march-2020-concerts
Portraits of Life and Love
Friday, April 3, 7:00PM – Chesapeake College, Wye Mills, MD
Sunday, April 5, 3:00PM – Ocean City Convention Center, Ocean City, MD
Darius Milhaud, Creation of the World
Pyotr Tchaikovsky, Piano Concerto No. 1
Modest Mussorgsky, Pictures at and Exhibition
Guest Artist: Boris Slutsky, Piano
Ticket Link: midatlanticsymphony.org/april-2020-concerts
Locations:
Avalon Theatre, 40 East Dover Street, Easton, MD 21601
Cape Henlopen High School, 1250 Kings Highway, Lewes, DE 19958
Christ Church, 111 S. Harrison Street, Easton, MD 21601
Community Church, 11227 Racetrack Road, Ocean Pines, MD 21811
Easton Church of God, 1009 N. Washington Street, Easton, MD 21601
French Embassy, 4101 Reservoir Rd. NW, Washington, DC 20007
OC Convention Center, 4001 Coastal Highway, Ocean City, MD 21842
Ocean View Church of Christ, 55 West Ave, Ocean View, De 19970
Todd Performing Arts Center at Chesapeake College, Rt. 50 & 213, Wye Mills, MD 21679
About the Mid-Atlantic Symphony Orchestra
The Mid-Atlantic Symphony Orchestra is a professional orchestra that exists to offer citizens of the Mid-Atlantic Region opportunities for musical entertainment and enjoyment, the development of the musical arts, the promotion, development and operation of musical enterprises in the performing arts, particularly through symphonic programs and choral activities; and to engage in enterprises directed at discovering and fostering musical talents, and to promote musical activities and programs for the cultural and educational benefit of the public.
About Music Director Julien Benichou
Hailed as “one of the most interesting and accomplished conductors of his generation,” Julien Benichou is noted for his blend of flexibility and control, inspiring musicality and incredibly infectious energy. Benichou currently serves as Music Director for the Mid-Atlantic Symphony Orchestra (MSO) and was recently appointed Principal Conductor of the Washington Opera Society. He is also the Music Director of the Chesapeake Youth Symphony Orchestra (CYSO) and the Southern Maryland Youth Symphony Orchestra (SMYOC). This past December, he made his debut with the New York City Ballet, in Balanchine’s The Nutcracker, and returned to Carnegie Hall, in a concert that featured Robert Redford and Vice-President Al Gore.
As Music Director of the MSO for the last 12 seasons, Benichou has greatly raised the profile of the ensemble, attracting premier artists, as well as expanding the orchestra’s season. This year, he collaborates with Stefan Jackiw, Virgil Boutellis-Taft, Kurt Nikkanen, Brandie Sutton and Leon Fleisher. Previous seasons have included concerts with such noted artists as Kevin Short, Lester Lynch, Arnaud Sussmann and Tine Thing Helseth.
Served by a keen attention to detail and an ability to bring forth a wealth of expression from singers, Benichou has also found success conducting operatic productions. Most recently, as principal conductor of Washington Opera Society, he conducted La Cenerentola at the French Embassy, and L’elisir d’amore at the Residence of the Ambassador to Colombia. This June, he will conduct their production of Carmen with Jonathan Tetelman as Don José. He has conducted, to great critical acclaim, fully staged performances of Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess with the Morgan State University Choir and Opera Workshop. In September of 2016 he conducted the premiere performance of James Lee’s Mother’s Lament with the Morgan State University Choir.
Benichou has also garnered acclaim as guest conductor at the Annapolis Symphony, Newark Symphony, Ballet Theatre of Maryland, Baltimore Concert Opera, Baltimore Symphony/Mobtown Modern Synchronicity projects, Orquestra Sinfonica do Parana in Curitaba, Brazil, the St. Petersburg State Symphony in Russia, the Maison Symphonique de Montreal in Canada, and the Siberian State Symphony in Krasnoyarsk, Russia, where he will return next season. Other return engagements will include a collaboration with Tim Janis at Carnegie Hall.
An avid supporter of new music, Benichou collaborated with many composers and was the Principal Conductor of the Towson New Music Ensemble for ten seasons. He also served as principal conductor for the Mobtown Modern Ensemble. Also a composer, Benichou has received commissions for theater, film and concert music; most recently from the Siberian State Symphony Orchestra.
Benichou has taken the Chesapeake Youth Orchestra on six different European tours, performing side-by-side concerts with the Orchestre des Jeunes de Montréal and the St. Petersburg State Symphony. He also brought the orchestra to prestigious venues such as Carnegie Hall. The orchestra has been invited by several festivals in France, with an upcoming tour where they will premiere Lalo Schifrin’s Mandolin Concerto with Vincent Beer-Demander.
Julien Benichou also enjoys crossover and pops concerts and has worked with The US Army Blues Big Band, the Army Strings, the Irish band Lunasa, and such artists as Warren Wolf, Mairead Nesbitt, Loreena McKennitt, Sarah McLachlan, and Matthew Morrison.
Benichou received a Graduate Performance Diploma from The Peabody Institute and earned a master’s degree from Northwestern University. He also pursued graduate studies at Yale University. In master classes he has worked with Leonard Slatkin, Yuri Temirkanov, Marin Alsop, Michael Tilson Thomas and JoAnn Falletta. His main teachers have been Victor Yampolsky, Gustav Meier and Jorma Panula.
Before coming to the United States, he trained in France, with Roland Hayrabedian and Pol Mule at the Marseille Conservatory and Jean Sébastien Bereau at the Rueil-Malmaison Conservatory, as well as privately with Yves Cohen. He also studied harmony and counterpoint with Pierre Doury at the Schola Cantorum in Paris.