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In The News |
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Worldly
Holiday Concert Is Group's Latest Effort to Strike New Chord
Written by Danielle Bouchat-Friedman
Community News
Poster December 01, 2011 @ 4:00 PM
Newark, Del. - The Newark Symphony, lead
by new Music Director Siemone Tartaglione, is preparing for its second
symphony concert titled "Celebration Around the World," which is sure
to dazzle audiences this afternoon at The Independence School in
Newark.
The concert will begin at 3 p.m. and will
feature The Music School of Delaware's Children's Choir and the
Lincoln University (Pa.) Choir, as well as a number of festive
classics from Johann Strauss and Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker Suite,
op. 71a.
Tartaglione, who was appointed Music
Director of the Newark Symphony in 2010, brings with him a resume
chocked full of accomplishments. He moved to the United States from
Italy in 2005, and has since not only graduated from but also taught
in the Opera Department at the prestigious Peabody Institute in
Baltimore.
Tartaglione, who commutes to Newark from
Baltimore, said he was drawn to the Music Director position for a
number of reasons.
"It is a healthy organization of people
with ideas," he said.
These ideas have lead to an increase in
the Symphony's audiences by 63 percent--no small feat considering many
people consider music and concerts a luxury.
"It took a lot of hard work," Tartaglione
said. "But I looked at what we could do better, such as collaborating
with different organizations as we are doing in this Sunday's
concert."
Tartaglione believes the tweaks the
Symphony has made are keeping the concert halls full. He's keeping
ticket prices relatively low, but giving his audience their money's
worth. He even spent the time surveying his audience and orchestra to
find out what pieces they wanted to hear and to play.
"A lot of people love classical music,"
Tartaglione said. "Music communicates feeling."
To purchase tickets to this Sunday's
"Celebration around the World" and for more information on the Newark
Symphony, visit www.newarksymphony.org. |
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Anything Once: Easiest job in music? Maybe for you, maestro
For conductor Simeone Tartaglione, it's all about the passion
Written by Justin Williams
The News Journal
I can't keep my eyes off the orchestra's feet.
With their hands full of flutes, violins, violas, oboes, mallets and
trombones, the 60-plus symphony members are left with their feet to
keep time.
It's a tangle of tapping sandals, hiking boots and Converse All-Stars.
One woman taps with the front of her red satin flats, a man across the
stage uses the heel of his wing-tips. A few in flip-flops tap with
just their big toes, and a violinist in the throes of a finale arches
her feet like a ballerina.
Looking out over his wire-rimmed glasses, conductor Simeone
Tartaglione leads the rehearsal from atop a short perch at center
stage. All the feet are following his bouncing baton, and he's calling
out instructions in his clipped southern Italian accent.
"Remember," he says. "Rhythm, rhythm. More important than notes. Same
place, please. One more time."
Later, as Simeone was preparing me to lead the orchestra in the
national anthem, he was sure I'd have no problem.
"Everybody can do the basics," he says. "It's the easiest job in
music.
As long as you can dance, you can conduct."
I'm skeptical, and not just because I can't dance. I don't know an
A-sharp from Al Sharpton, and Simeone, who turned 38 this month, has
been at this since he was a boy in Sicily.
"Conducting was my dream since I was a child," he says, waving his
arms the same way he does on stage. "My mom told me that when I was 6,
I was in my living room with Tchaikovsky 5, very high volume, all the
lights out and conducting like crazy. She thought I was a little sick.
She was right."
Italy takes conducting seriously, and it was a long road from his
living room to the stage. After studying piano through his teenage
years, Simeone attended Rome's prestigious Santa Cecilia Conservatory
to immerse himself in 10 years of conducting, composition and opera.
By the time he finished with a flurry of 18-hour final exams, he was
in his 30s and could have gone to grad school, medical school or
law
school.
"In Italy, the tradition is that conductors should be old," he says.
"You cannot stand in front of people if you are young. So if you want
to be a conductor, you really want to be a conductor."
In 2005, Simeone won an audition to conduct in Denver and moved to the
United States. A few years later, he was invited to teach at the
Peabody Institute at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, where he now lives
with his wife and two small children.
But despite his intense training and his years of teaching and leading
orchestras
around the world, he still believes success is rooted in something
that can't be taught, something that even newcomers can sense in their
very first concert.
"There are people who write wonderful books about music," Simeone
says, "but then you talk to them or they listen to a piece, they don't
get it, they don't cry. People should cry when they go to the opera or
they
listen to music.
It's joy, it's sadness, it's all human life."
Since winning a year-long audition in 2010, Simeone has been driving
an hour up I-95 at least once a week to conduct the 45-year-old Newark
Symphony Orchestra.
The group, whose season runs from fall to late spring and includes
half a dozen performances, is a mix of professional
musicians,
enthusiasts and talented students. There are teenagers and
80-something retirees, nurses and music teachers, computer programmers
and a diner owner, a former fashion model, a code enforcement officer
and a mechanic.
"I think we all fell in love with him right from the start," says
53-year-old violinist Debra Kenaley of Hockessin. "He's got such
passion for the music."
Before I take to his podium, Simeone says he is worried I might never
be the same.
"When people start, they cannot stop," he says. "I hope you will be
very careful, because it is so
beautiful.
When you get the connection with all these souls, with all this
energy, that is too good."
To my surprise, he's right.
The orchestra comes alive as soon as my hands signal the first note of
the Star-Spangled Banner, and as the wave of sound washes over me, I
can't help but break out in a huge smile.
"This is the very basic," Simeone says. "Then you can add a lot of
extra messages. For example, tell them how you want to play. Is it
loud? Is it soft? Is it short? Is it long? Do you want a romantic
sound, do you want clean, classical sound?"
And just by speeding up my hands or slowing them down, pursing my lips
or leaping off the podium, the musicians set off in new directions.
It's a gas.
"It's not about power," Simeone says. "It's about multiplication of
energy. A famous conductor told me, 'You know what is different with a
good orchestra and a great orchestra? The good orchestra will do
everything you want. A great orchestra will do everything you want,
with pleasure.'"
I would add this: A great orchestra will keep it together while being
led by a tone-deaf newspaper writer. |
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Click
here
to see Justin Williams' conducting experience with the NSO. |
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Click
here to see Maestro Tartaglione's performance on NBC 10's The
10! Show.
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After 26 Years at the
Helm, Newark Symphony Orchestra Conductor Retires |
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Maestro Roman
Pawlowski has conducted the Newark Symphony Orchestra since 1983.
But after the concert on May 17, 2009, he will put away his baton
and pick up his fishing pole and composer’s pencil.
Newark, DE April 20, 2009—Professionally trained conductor Maestro
Roman Pawlowski will conduct his last performance with the Newark
Symphony Orchestra on May 17, 2009. As the Music Director since
1983, Maestro Pawlowski has elevated the NSO to a level not often
achieved by non-professional orchestras.
With 80 volunteer musicians, the NSO has grown from a group that
played in a living room to an orchestra that performs four full
symphony concerts and four chamber music concerts per season.
Pawlowski leaves behind an orchestra that respects his
uncompromising artistic integrity. Felix Cohen, a lawyer and a
bassist with the Orchestra, says, “In my 40+ years of amateur and
professional playing, I’ve met no conductor better at
communicating his love for music and motivating his players to
maximum achievement.” |
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Susan Kiley,
principal violist and Pawlowski’s wife, enthuses, “Roman is a
professional conductor who has trained with some of the world's
best conductors; his high musical and personal standards rub off
on his players. His concern and generosity are boundless.”
Maestro Pawlowski’s involvement in all aspects of the NSO’s
organization—including selecting music, attending Board meetings,
writing program notes, and helping with fund-raising—will be
sorely missed. “I can’t imagine any artist putting more of
himself into his work than he has into this orchestra,” says Dr.
Peter Caws, professor of philosophy at George Washington
University and President of the Orchestra’s Board of Directors.
Upon retiring, Maestro Pawlowski and his wife intend to move
closer to the Delaware beaches, where he will spend his retirement
fishing and composing. “Retirement will offer me new opportunities
and energies for creative undertakings that have been impossible
to indulge until now,” Pawlowski adds.
Four guest conductors—Nicole Aldrich, Simeone Tartaglione, Dimitar
Nikolov, and Jeremy Gill—will publicly audition for the position
in the 2009-10 season. Each will conduct one symphony concert, and
the NSO will announce its new Music Director in the summer of
2010.
But before that happens, the orchestra will wrap up this season’s
musical “tour of the world” in Italy. The May 17 concert, “Viva
L’Italia!” to be held at The Independence School on Paper Mill
Road in Newark, will be the last full symphony concert of the
2008-09 season. The orchestra will perform Gioacchino Rossini’s
Thieving Magpie Overture, Peter Tchaikovsky’s Capriccio
Italien, Charles Griffes' Poem for Flute and Orchestra
with soloist Charlotte Lin, winner of NSO's concerto competition,
high school division, and Ottorino Respighi’s The Pines of Rome.
About the Newark Symphony Orchestra (NSO):
The Newark Symphony Orchestra has been in existence for 44 years.
It is a non-profit, volunteer supported arts organization that is
governed by a Board of Directors. The NSO performs four full
symphony concerts and four chamber concerts per season. The
Newark Symphony Society assists the NSO by providing financial and
volunteer support.
About Roman Pawlowski:
Maestro Pawlowski has been Music Director of the Newark
Symphony since 1983. He spent 40 years directing the Delaware
County Symphony in Delaware Co., PA; 22 years with the Immaculata
Symphony in Chester Co., PA; and 8 years as conductor of the Young
People's String Orchestra in Baltimore. He is a graduate of the
Philadelphia Musical Academy with a Master’s from the University
of Pennsylvania and doctoral studies at Temple University. He
studied conducting with Mehli Mehta, Pierre Monteux, Erich
Leinsdorf and Max Rudolph, among others.
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Four Guest
Conductors Audition to Be the Next Music Director of the
Newark Symphony Orchestra |
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When Maestro Roman Pawlowski retired in May
2009, he left the position that he had filled since 1983. But
the 2009-10 season will see four different guest conductors
attempt to take his place on the conductor’s podium.
Newark, DE
August 14, 2009—Maestro Roman Pawlowski conducted his last
performance with the Newark Symphony Orchestra on May 17,
2009. As the Music Director since 1983, Maestro Pawlowski has
elevated the NSO to a level not often achieved by
non-professional orchestras.
With 80 volunteer
musicians, the NSO has grown from a group that played in a
living room to an orchestra that performs four full symphony
concerts and four chamber music concerts per season. |
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But four guest
conductors—Nicole Aldrich, Simeone Tartaglione, Dimitar
Nikolov, and Jeremy Gill—will publicly audition for the
position in the 2009-10 season. Each will conduct one symphony
concert, and the NSO will announce its new Music Director in
the summer of 2010. |
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When
Pawlowski announced his intention to retire, the NSO Board of
Directors promptly formed a search committee. Peter Caws,
president of the board, talks about the mixed emotions of
saying goodbye to Pawlowski while welcoming the next phase in
the Orchestra’s development, “Roman
has said that he won’t be far away, and that’s reassuring.
But it’s exciting to look forward to four proven talents on
the podium in the coming year, and to the eventual choice of a
successor. Whoever gets the nod will have very big shoes to
fill.”
The committee
received 19 applications for the position, which was both a
relief and a burden. Reflects Susan Kiley, member of the
committee and principal violist in the orchestra, “The search
resulted in four outstanding candidates for 2009-10 with
amazingly varied backgrounds and talents. Under their
inspired leadership, the NSO will grow artistically,
continuing to bring the world's greatest music to our
community.”
After combing
through the applications and support materials, conducting
interviews, and checking references, the committee narrowed
their search to the final four candidates—Aldrich, Tartaglione,
Nikolov, and Gill. And now the interviews will open up to a
much larger group: the orchestra.
“As sad as it
is to see Roman go, this is a very exciting time for the
orchestra. New conductors can energize the orchestra and
initiate a phase of growth in us and our musicianship,” says
Susan Ritter, principal oboe with the orchestra, who’s also a
stay-at-home mom and part time music teacher.
Nicole
Aldrich will open the season, conducting the first concert,
“Pas de Deux,” on Sunday, October 25 at 3:00 at The
Independence School. The orchestra will perform “Bacchanale” from
Samson et Dalila by Camille Saint-Saëns; Concerto for
Violin & Cello by Johannes Brahms, featuring Kathleen
Hastings, violin, and Cheryl Everill, violoncello; and
Symphonic Dances by Sergei Rachmaninov.
About the Newark Symphony Orchestra (NSO):
The Newark
Symphony Orchestra has been in existence for 45 years. It is
a non-profit, volunteer supported arts organization that is
governed by a Board of Directors. The NSO performs four full
symphony concerts and four chamber concerts per season. The
Newark Symphony Society assists the NSO by providing financial
and volunteer support.
Return
to Top
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Meet the new director of the
Newark Symphony
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Maestro Simeone
Tartaglione |
By Margaret Darby
Published:
Thursday, October 14, 2010 5:11 PM
CDT
Editor's note: Margaret Darby writes about the arts in
Delaware for
deartsinfo.blogspot.com
The
new conductor of the Newark Symphony Orchestra is a warm
and engaging young man whose Italian upbringing gives him
a refreshing directness. “Italians usually express
themselves and their feelings without filters,” says
Maestro Simeone Tartaglione. His unfiltered spontaneity
has endeared him to the musicians of the NSO. “Last week,
players were in awe when he started to sing the oboe solo
with such clarity of voice and perfection of tone. He now
has the whole symphony putting down our instruments and
singing our parts instead,” says Kathleen Chapmond,
violinist.
With
two small children, one born quite recently, Tartaglione
and his wife, Alessandra Cuffaro, have jumped into
American life without hesitation. Having served as
adjunct professor of conducting at the University of
Denver and having studied conducting at the Peabody
Institute in Baltimore, Tartaglione is not a
newcomer. Does he feel there is a distinctive American
approach to music? “In many ways, there is. In Europe, we
have strong and valid traditions of how music should be
performed, sometimes those traditions are somewhat too
constricting. In America you can use the same traditions,
but musicians are more open to new approaches and
experiments.”
Tartaglione does not believe classical music should remain
in an ivory tower. He plays for a church where he ‘sneaks
in a little opera’. He directs a group of musicians who
call themselves the BE Orchestra – BE for BE involved. They
take music to groups are not usually exposed to classical
music. He is also on the board of the Chesapeake Chamber
Opera which is trying to fill the hole left since the
Baltimore Opera Company declared bankruptcy in 2008. The
group now has many young members who are singing concert
versions of operas in churches and other nontraditional
venues. Tartaglione will conduct Engelbert Humperdinck’s
Hansel and Gretl on October 30 and 31.
So
Newark should be prepared to have music delivered to them
with gusto. The first program of the season on October 24
will have three romantic works: The Elgar Cello Concerto
is one whose themes are quite familiar. Larry Stomberg,
whose sonority is strong and striking, will be the
soloist. Also on the program is Tchaikovsky’s Fourth
Symphony and the overture to Verdi’s La Forza del Destino.
The
maestro is working systematically with the orchestra –
even having them do etudes and other exercises to improve
intonation. “We do what every player does – warm up before
playing. We just do it together to improve ensemble,
intonation, articulation, readiness of response to the
baton, “ says Tartaglione. The musicians say that his
passion for music is contagious and they feel so close to
him, they call him by his first name.
Laura
Rogers, violinist, says, “He is firm about increasing the
NSO's listening skills, but does not scold or use shame to
achieve his goals.” Another reason the musicians like the
new conductor is that he told them in his opening season
letter, “I will always have my ear open to your ideas,
concerns and suggestions.“ Laura Grass, veteran trumpet
player and member of the NSO, says, “The orchestra will
grow with him.”
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