The New Millennium Chamber Orchestra’s twelfth concert season begins November 9 and 10 with “The French Collection”, a journey through the music of the French Impressionist period.
Join us on Saturday, November 9 at 7:00 PM at Transfiguration Episcopal Church in San
Mateo or on Sunday, November 10th at 4:00 PM at First Presbyterian Church in Palo Alto as we delve into the lyrical and
harmonically complex music of this period.
The performance features two compositions by Maurice Ravel: “Pavane pour une infante défunte”, dance music written for a Spanish princess depicted in a painting by Diego Velázquez, and “Le Tombeau de Couperin”, each of whose four atmospheric movements evoke the distinct personalities of a friend who perished during the First World War.
Gabriel Fauré’s “Sicilienne” from Pelléas et Mélisande is one of the most recognizable works from the French Impressionists, featuring soaring melodic lines and
masterful orchestration.
Originally composed for piano four hands, the Petite Suite by Claude Debussy was orchestrated by Henri Büsser and features movements inspired by the poems of Paul Verlaine
and the art of dance. Charming in its simplicity, it maintains a distinctly French air throughout.
DATES/VENUES
Saturday, November 9th 7:00 PM Transfiguration Episcopal Church, San Mateo
3900 Alameda de las Pulgas, San Mateo, CA 94403 This event has passed
Sunday, November 10th 4:00 PM First Presbyterian Church, Palo Alto
1140 Cowper St Palo Alto, CA 94301 This event has passed
September 15th, 2024
“At Summer’s End” Chamber Music Concert
Join us for New Millennium Chamber Orchestra’s “ At Summer’s End ”, an annual concert of chamber music featuring members of the orchestra. Enjoy a rich variety of delightful works including the Allegro con brio from Johannes Brahms‘ Piano Trio No. 1 in B Major; Robert Muczynski‘s Duos for Flutes, Henri Rabaud‘s Solo de Concours for Clarinet and Piano; Carl Nielsen‘s quintet Serenata in Vano; Nikolai Tcherepnin’s Horn Quartet, Op 35; Ludwig van Beethoven‘s Cello Sonata No. 3 in A Major, Op. 69 1st movement Allegro ma non tanto, and J.S. Bach‘s Suite No. 1 in G Major for solo Viola.
This concert will be held on Sunday, September 15th at 3:00 pm at Transfiguration Episcopal Church, 3900 Alameda de las Pulgas in San Mateo.
DATES/VENUES
Sunday, September 15th 3:00 PM Transfiguration Episcopal Church, San Mateo
3900 Alameda de las Pulgas, San Mateo, CA 94403 This event has passed
April 27th & 28th, 2024
American Landscapes
The New Millennium Chamber Orchestra concludes its 11th Concert Season this April with “American Landscapes“, a journey through music inspired by the urban and natural landscapes of the United States.
Saturday evening’s program on April 27th is at 7 PM in San Mateo’s
Transfiguration Episcopal Church. The Sunday afternoon concert on April 28th
starts at 4:00 PM at the First Presbyterian Church of Palo Alto.
From the Bay Area’s own Mason Bates, composer of the GRAMMY-winning opera “The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs,” we are thrilled to present “Rusty Air in Carolina,” a fantastic and imaginative blend of orchestra and “electronica” evocative of the passing of time through a summer’s evening in the South.
Since its inception, NMCO has been honored to perform various works by the late Nancy Bloomer Deussen on our programs. This local composer’s “Peninsula Suite,” a work for string orchestra in the classical style, paints a lyrical picture of our own local environment.
Victoria Bond’s celebrated “Bridges” is a symphonic journey around, under and across five different structures from the Brooklyn Bridge to our own Golden Gate. Each movement has its own distinct harmonic and rhythmic palette.
In 1935, the United States Department of Agriculture commissioned composer Virgil Thomson and filmmaker Pare Lorentz to create “The Plow That Broke the Plains,” a motion picture charting the agricultural destruction of the Great Plains. This deeply affecting and lovely suite of music from the film resonates with the impact of climate change today.
And finally, NMCO will return to a cherished work, Samuel Barber‘s “Knoxville: Summer of 1915.” Our performance of this moving work will feature English soprano Margaret Lingas, who has performed with the Tallis Scholars, Cappella Romana, Ex Cathedra, and the Magdalen College Consort of Voices.
We’re delighted to conclude our 11th season with this evocative program of works inspired by the American landscape, and we look forward to presenting it to you in San Mateo and Palo Alto! Mark your calendars now and get your tickets for the New Millennium Chamber Orchestra’s “American Landscapes” performances on April 27 and 28!
DATES/VENUES
Saturday, April 27th 7:00 PM Transfiguration Episcopal Church, San Mateo
3900 Alameda de las Pulgas, San Mateo, CA 94403 This event has passed
Sunday, April 28th 4:00 PM First Presbyterian Church, Palo Alto
1140 Cowper St Palo Alto, CA 94301 This event has passed
February 24th & 25th, 2024
Northern Lights
The New Millennium Chamber Orchestra continues its 11th Concert Season this Winter with “Northern Lights”, an adventure into fantastic works from the edge of the Arctic!
Saturday evening’s program on February 24th is at 7 PM in San Mateo’s Transfiguration Episcopal Church. The Sunday afternoon concert on February 25th starts at 4:00 PM at the First Presbyterian Church of Palo Alto.
Here are some of the unique treasures of “Northern Lights”:
The 2019 “Ice Forms”, a work for “spatialized” orchestra by the young Canadian composer Katerina Gimon, evokes the sound and atmosphere of Lake Ontario as it freezes over.
NMCO concertmaster Colyn Fischer leads the strings and percussion through the fascinating and immersive “tintinnabuli” aesthetic of Arvo Pärt’s “Fratres” (Brothers).
Although Lars-Erik Larsson wasn’t Sweden’s most prolific composer, this versatile composer’s career spanned much of the 20th century. “A Winter’s Tale”, like many of his orchestral compositions, is finely-crafted, popular and immensely listenable!
Iceland’s Maria Huld Markan Sigfusdottir brings us the flat, calm surfaces – and turbulent storms – of the sea in her 2016 “Aequora”.
“Cantus Arcticus” (subtitled “Concerto for Birds and Orchestra”), one of the celebrated works of the mystical Finnish master Einojuhani Rautavaara, features an astonishing recorded soundtrack of Arctic birds in animated conversation with the instruments of the orchestra!
“Northern Lights” also presents Tejas Tirthapura, winner of NMCO’s 2023 Concerto Competition for Young artists, essaying the opening movement of William Walton’s Viola Concerto.
We’re very excited to bring this electrifying program to our San Mateo and Palo Alto audiences! Mark your calendars now and get your tickets for the New Millennium Chamber Orchestra’s “Northern Lights” on February 24 and 25!
DATES/VENUES
Saturday, April 24th 7:00 PM Transfiguration Episcopal Church, San Mateo
3900 Alameda de las Pulgas, San Mateo, CA 94403 This event has passed
Sunday, April 25th 4:00 PM First Presbyterian Church, Palo Alto
1140 Cowper St Palo Alto, CA 94301 This event has passed
November 11th and 12th, 2023
Antica Moderna: 18th Century and 21st
The New Millennium Chamber Orchestra opens its eleventh concert season on November 11 and 12 with “Antica / Moderna”, an invigorating blend of music from the 18th and 20th centuries! On Saturday, November 11, the 7:00 PM concert is at Transfiguration Episcopal Church in San Mateo. The following day, the November 12 Sunday afternoon concert at First Presbyterian Church in Palo Alto starts at 4:00 PM.
The “Ancient” (Antica) portion of the program features a late classical masterpiece: Joseph Haydn’s beloved “London” Symphony No. 104 in D Major, his final symphonic work. This is set against the seeming craziness and “wildly adventurous” Sturm und Drang of Carl Phillip Emanuel Bach’s Symphony No. 1 in D Major, anearly experiment in the Classical symphonic form. And principal cellist Natsumi Nakamura essays the Concerto in G minor of Georg Matthias Monn, a composer whose music bridged the late Baroque and early Classical periods.
Bringing us into the present (Moderna) are two works of women writers. “The Transit of Venus” by the late, well-known Bay Area composer Nancy Bloomer Deussen, was written to commemorate astronomical event of the same name in 2012, and has since received many performances in the US and abroad. Virtuoso flautist and African-American composer Valerie Coleman’s sumptuous and celebrated “Umoja: Anthem of Unity” was commissioned by the Philadelphia Orchestra in 2019 and has enjoyed tremendous success with orchestras across the country and around the world.
DATES/VENUES
Saturday, November 11th 7:00 PM Transfiguration Episcopal Church, San Mateo
3900 Alameda de las Pulgas, San Mateo, CA 94403 This event has passed
Sunday, November 12th 4:00 PM First Presbyterian Church, Palo Alto
1140 Cowper St Palo Alto, CA 94301 This event has passed
September 17th, 2023
At Summer’s End” Chamber Music Concert”
Join us for New Millennium Chamber Orchestra’s “At Summer’s End”, a chamber music concert featuring members of the orchestra.
Be delighted and captivated by Marcel Bouchard’s Suite Champetre for Flute and Horn, Joseph Haydn’s String Quartet in F Minor, Op.20, and Felix Mendelssohn’s Piano Trio No.1 in D Minor, Op.49 Molto Allegro e Agitato. We will also feature the World Premier of works by our own Trevor Lloyd: ‘Hopes and Dreams’ for violin/piano, and ‘Barbara’s Song’ for voice and piano.
This concert will be held on Sunday, September 17th at 3:00 pm at Transfiguration Episcopal Church, 3900 Alameda de las Pulgas in San Mateo.
DATES/VENUES
Sunday, September 17th 3:00 PM Transfiguration Episcopal Church, San Mateo
3900 Alameda de las Pulgas, San Mateo, CA 94403 This event has passed
“Banned Music”
April 29th & 30th, 2023
“Banned Music” Concert
The New Millennium Chamber Orchestra invites you to join us for the final concert of our 10th anniversary season. This spring concert features musical compositions that have been banned by those in power throughout time, most during the composers’ lifetimes.
Our program includes overtures from George Frideric Handel’s “Rinaldo” and Alessandro Scarlatti’s “Telemaco,” operas whose performances were forbidden in Catholic countries under Pope Clement XI in the early 1700s.
“Banned Music” will feature suites from The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny by Kurt Weill, a political satire in operatic form; and Erich Korngold’s incidental music to Shakespeare’s comedy Much Ado About Nothing. Both works were banned by the Nazi regime.
Henriëtte Bosmans was a leading composer and performer in The Netherlands in the first half of the twentieth century. Her evocative Concert Piece for Flute and Chamber Orchestra will feature our principal flutist Margaret Warton.
Please help us celebrate a decade of innovative community music-making on the Peninsula at the final concert of our tenth anniversary season!
Saturday, April 29th, 7 pm at Transfiguration Episcopal Church, 3900 Alameda de las Pulgas, San Mateo.
Sunday, April 30th, 4 pm at First Presbyterian Church, 1140 Cowper Street, Palo Alto.
DATES/VENUES
Saturday, April 29th 7:00 PM Transfiguration Episcopal Church, San Mateo
3900 Alameda de las Pulgas, San Mateo, CA 94403 This event has passed
Saturday, April 30th 4:00 PM First Presbyterian Church, Palo Alto
1140 Cowper St Palo Alto, CA 94301 This event has passed
February 25th and 26th, 2023
Celebrating 10 Years
The New Millennium Chamber Orchestra invites you to join us in celebrating our 10th Anniversary! We’ve been bringing exceptional concerts and imaginative programming to Peninsula audiences, year in and year out, since 2012.
Our celebration concert program spotlights the winners of the NMCO 2022 Competition for Young Artists. From nearly a dozen talented young musicians who competed, we selected two outstanding players to join us in a pair of concerts on Saturday evening, February 25th in San Mateo and Sunday afternoon, February 26th in Palo Alto.
Violinist Joshua Cisneros, an eleventh-grader and student of Elbert Tsai, plays the exquisite opening movement of Sergey Prokofiev’s Concerto No. 1 in D Major.
Cellist Samuel Cotta, a sophomore at Saratoga High School and a student of Christopher Costanza, will essay selections from Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s virtuosic Rococo Variations.
Our celebration concerts also include three great works from the orchestral repertoire:
Giuseppe Verdi’s electrifying overture to the opera La Forza del Destino (The Power of Destiny), a true orchestral tour de force
Jean Sibelius’ famous Karelia Suite, three pieces from his much larger Karelia Music, which evokes the region comprising southeast Finland and parts of Russia
Gustav Holst’s atmospheric Somerset Rhapsody, a fusion of three great English tunes: the Sheep-Shearing Song, High Germany and The Lovers Farewell
Come and hear the New Millennium Chamber Orchestra as we celebrate ten years of great music making on the Peninsula!
DATES/VENUES
Saturday, February 25th 7:00 PM Transfiguration Episcopal Church, San Mateo
3900 Alameda de las Pulgas, San Mateo, CA 94403 This event has passed
Saturday, February 26th 4:00 PM First Presbyterian Church, Palo Alto
1140 Cowper St Palo Alto, CA 94301 This event has passed
November 12th and 13th, 2022
Invitation to the Dance”
The New Millennium Chamber Orchestra invites you to join us for the first presentation of our Tenth Anniversary Season with “Invitation to the Dance,” an electrifying program of classical music rooted in the forms and spirit of the art of dance!
The two programs are on Saturday, November 12 at 7 pm at Transfiguration Episcopal Church in San Mateo; and on Sunday, November 13 at 4 pm at First Presbyterian Church in Palo Alto.
This lively and varied program spotlights Igor Stravinsky’s fascinating “Pulcinella Suite,” a set of dances Stravinsky extracted from his one-act ballet. Based on pieces by the 18th-century composer Giovanni Pergolesi, “Pulcinella” marks the beginning of Stravinsky’s iconic “neoclassical” period.
Baroque dance is also brought vividly to life in Edvard Grieg’s “Aus Holberg’s Zeit.” This setting for string orchestra is a virtuosic, stylish homage to the Norwegian writer and playwright Ludvig Hoberg, in the style of country dances “from Holberg’s time.”
From the period of the late Renaissance and very early Baroque, NMCO plays two innovative transcriptions for “flexible ensemble” of winds and strings by two arrangers from Japan. These arrangements of music by the English composer Anthony Holborne and the German master Michael Praetorius are full of wonderful melodies, enchanting sonorities and toe-tapping rhythmic treats. The program is rounded out by one of Johann Strauss’ loveliest Vienna waltz suites, “An Artist’s Life.”
You won’t want to miss this wonderful kickoff to the holiday season and New Millennium’s Tenth Anniversary Season!
DATES/VENUES
Saturday, November 12th 7:00 PM Transfiguration Episcopal Church, San Mateo
3900 Alameda de las Pulgas, San Mateo, CA 94403 This event has passed
Saturday, November 13th 4:00 PM First Presbyterian Church, Palo Alto
1140 Cowper St Palo Alto, CA 94301 This event has passed
September 18th, 2022
At Summer’s End” Chamber Music Concert
Join us for New Millennium Chamber Orchestra’s “At Summer’s End”, a chamber music concert featuring members of the orchestra. Be delighted and captivated by Gabriel Faure’s String Quartet in E minor, Op. 121, Ludwig van Beethoven’s Trio in C major, Op. 87 arranged for brass, Astor Piazzolla’s Oblivion and Otoño Porteño for piano trio and Jacques Ibert ‘s Cinq Pieces en Trio for woodwinds.
This concert will be held on Sunday, September 18th at 3:00 pm at Transfiguration Episcopal Church, 3900 Alameda de las Pulgas in San Mateo.
DATES/VENUES
September 18th, 2022 Transfiguration Episcopal Church, San Mateo
3900 Alameda de las Pulgas, San Mateo, CA 94403 This event has passed
May 7 and 8, 2022
“Spirals” Concert
The New Millennium Chamber Orchestra brings its tenth concert season to a close in a celebration of new life, heroism, and women with “Spirals.” On May 7, the eve of Mother’s Day, the program begins at 7:00 PM at Transfiguration Episcopal Church in San Mateo; on Mother’s Day itself, the concert starts at 4:00 PM at First Presbyterian Church in Palo Alto.
Featured on the program are three works by women: Adrienne Albert’s stirring “Courage” fanfare; the dramatic 1873 “Faust” concert overture by Emilie Mayer, whose music is finally being widely played; and “Spirals” for solo strings and recorded music by the celebrated Icelandic composer Maria Huld Markan. Arvo Pärt’s achingly beautiful “Cantus in Memory of Benjamin Britten” features the strings, and the 1916 First Symphony (the “Classical”) of Sergei Prokofiev shows the astonishing brilliance and maturity of the young Ukrainian composer.
You won’t want to miss “Spirals” as New Millennium celebrates on Mother’s Day weekend!
Saturday, May 7th at 7:00 pm
at Transfiguration Episcopal Church, 3900 Alameda de las Pulgas in San Mateo Sunday, May 8th at 4:00 pm
at First Presbyterian Church of Palo Alto, 1140 Cowper St. in Palo Alto.
DATES/VENUES
Saturday, November 6th 7:00 PM Transfiguration Episcopal Church, San Mateo
3900 Alameda de las Pulgas, San Mateo, CA 94403 This event has passed
Sunday, November 7th 4:00 PM First Presbyterian Church of Palo Alto
1140 Cowper Street, Palo Alto
New Millennium Chamber Orchestra, under the direction of James Richard Frieman, is excited to announce its first performances of the 2021-2022 concert season. Our “New Beginnings” concert will highlight favorite works from the orchestra’s past performances, including Reena Esmail‘s “The Blue Room” concerto for violin, featuring concertmaster Colyn Fischer as soloist. Other works on the program will include: Ludwig van Beethoven’s Egmont Overture Johannes Brahms: Variations on a Theme of Haydn Maurice Ravel: Mother Goose Suite Ottorino Respighi: Ancient Airs and Dances, Suite No. 1 We hope you are as excited as the orchestra is to return to live performance with this delightful program, and we look forward to welcoming you back to our first concerts since early 2020.
Saturday, November 6th at 7:00 pm
at Transfiguration Episcopal Church, 3900 Alameda de las Pulgas in San Mateo
Sunday, November 7th at 4:00 pm
at First Presbyterian Church of Palo Alto, 1140 Cowper St. in Palo Alto.
DATES/VENUES
Saturday, May 7th 7:00 PM Transfiguration Episcopal Church, San Mateo
3900 Alameda de las Pulgas, San Mateo, CA 94403 This event has passed
Sunday, May 8th 4:00 PM First Presbyterian Church of Palo Alto
1140 Cowper Street, Palo Alto
Music Director James Richard Frieman and The New Millennium Chamber Orchestra start off the Beethoven 250th Anniversary Year with a bang! It’s a special all-Beethoven concert on February 22 and 23.
Featured on the program is the mighty Symphony No. 3, which was published in 1806 as the “Sinfonia Eroica” or Heroic Symphony. This celebrated work, while rooted in the tradition of the Classical-era symphony, really “pushes the envelope” in terms of formal structure, harmonic innovation, psychological reach, and…well, length. It marks a turning point in Beethoven’s style as he explores new expressive possibilities that herald the Romantic period.
This “Beethoven 250” concert will also highlight concertmaster Colyn Fischer, playing the dazzling final Rondo movement from the Violin Concerto in D, the composer’s only concerto for the instrument.
Rounding out the program will be the magnificent Leonore Overture, No. 3, the best-known of the four (4) overtures that Beethoven composed for his only venture into the realm of opera, Fidelio; and the charming Andante in F for wind instruments, which was originally written to be played by an automated instrument, the mechanical organ.
Join us as we celebrate the beginning of Beethoven’s 250th anniversary in inimitable NMCO style at one of our two upcoming performances:
Saturday, February 22nd at 7:00 pm at Transfiguration Episcopal Church, 3900 Alameda de las Pulgas in San Mateo
Sunday, February 23rd at 4:00 pm at First Presbyterian Church of Palo Alto, 1140 Cowper St. in Palo Alto.
DATES/VENUES
Saturday, February 22nd 7:00 PMTransfiguration Episcopal Church, San Mateo
3900 Alameda de las Pulgas, San Mateo, CA 94403
This event has passedSunday, February 23rd 4:00 PMFirst Presbyterian Church of Palo Alto
1140 Cowper Street, Palo Alto
This event has passed
November 2nd and 3rd 2019
“Bohemian Rhapsodies”
Join Music Director James Richard Frieman and The New Millennium Chamber Orchestra for a concert featuring “Bohemian Rhapsodies” – works inspired by Bohemia, its countryside and folk music along with music created by Bohemian and Czech composers.
We always enjoy the adventure of discovering composers that we haven’t encountered before, and we’re pleased to essay Vítzslava Kaprálová’s 1938 “Suita Rustica,” which draws much of its material from Bohemian folk song. It’s full of an exuberant life-force and mastery of compositional technique that belies the young age of its composer, who finished this piece scarcely two years before her untimely death at the age of 25.
Mozart‘s “Prague” Symphony was indeed premiered in that city in 1787, probably because Mozart felt more at home with the residents of Prague than with the musical public in Austria or France. The brilliant Symphony No. 38 in D, full of harmonic innovation and textural richness, is one of his most popular symphonies. It comprises only three movements instead of the usual four, but the elegant structural balance between the three movements makes the omission of the usual Minuet seem perfect.
The delightful “Three Dances” from Bedrich Smetana‘s opera “The Bartered Bride” capture perfectly the bursting spirits and country manner of the opera. The Polka, which closes Act I, accompanies the impromptu dancing of a group of villagers. Act II, set in a tavern, depicts the performance of a whirling Furiant. The Dance of the Comedians takes place in Act III when a circus troupe arrives in the village and performs a pantomime.
The Adagietto from Gustav Mahler‘s Fifth Symphony, a short, lyrical composition for strings and harp, is an introduction to the final movement of Mahlers Fifth Symphony. It is frequently performed as an independent work and is the composer’s best-known piece. Hauntingly beautiful, it was written by Mahler as a love letter to Alma Schindler whom he married in 1902.
Dvorák‘s Symphony No. 6 was premiered by the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra on March 25, 1881, in Prague. Dvorák wrote the symphony in four movements with many similarities to symphonies by Brahms and Beethoven and references to Czech folk tunes. We will perform the second movement, Adagio in Bb major, a loose rondo of variations within sections that ends with pianissimo woodwinds.
We will also feature the Finale of Dvorák‘s Serenade in D-minor, Op. 44, a work composed in two weeks in 1878, which was well-received and praised by Brahms. The Finale begins with a lively polka-like theme that returns at intervals interspersed with new material, followed by the reappearance of the first movement march right before one last polka.
Celebrate Bohemian music of the classical kind with us at one of our two performances:
Saturday, November 2nd at 7:00 pm at Woodside Village Church, 3154 Woodside Road, in Woodside.
Sunday, November 3rd at 4:00 pm at First Presbyterian Church of Palo Alto, 1140 Cowper St. in Palo Alto.
DATES/VENUES
Saturday, November 2nd 7:00 PM Woodside Village Church
3154 Woodside Rd. Woodside, CA This event has passed Sunday, November 3rd 4:00 PM First Presbyterian Church of Palo Alto
1140 Cowper Street, Palo Alto This event has passed
June 1st and 2nd 2019
“Impressions of Childhood”
Join Music Director James Richard Frieman and The New Millennium Chamber Orchestra for a concert featuring pianist Karina Tseng, winner of the 2019 Young Artists Concert Competition. Ms. Tseng will perform the first movement of Camille Saint-Saëns Piano Concerto No. 2 in G minor, Op. 22.
The program also features works composed as an homage to childhood, many originally written as piano works for young musicians.
The Toy Symphony is a cheerful work for chamber orchestra and toys that has been variously attributed to Haydn, Haydn’s brother, Mozart, and Mozart’s father. More recent scholarship suggests the piece was actually the work of Edmund Angerer, an Austrian monk.
Maurice Ravel‘s “Mother Goose Suite” was originally composed for piano four hands for two pianists aged six and seven. The work is based on well-known fairy tales including Sleeping Beauty, Tom Thumb, and Beauty and the Beast. Ravel’s delicate and elegant orchestration has made this piece a concert hall favorite.
Claude Debussy‘s piano suite “Children’s Corner” was dedicated to his three year old daughter, and contains movements evoking childhood subjects such as “Serenade for the Doll” and “The Snow is Dancing.” The six short, charming pieces depict favorite toys and range from hushed lullabyes to popular jazz dance tunes.
Student of Saint-Saëns and teacher of Ravel, Gabriel Fauré also composed a suite for piano four hands in honor of a child, in this case, the daughter of his mistress. Fauré’s music in this suite begins with the very famous lullaby “Berceuse” and concludes with a rollicking Spanish dance.
Celebrate the artistry of young musicians and the creative inspiration of childhood at one of our two upcoming performances:
Saturday, June 1st at 7:00 pm at Transfiguration Episcopal Church, 3900 Alameda de las Pulgas in San Mateo
Sunday, June 2nd at 4:00 pm at First Presbyterian Church of Palo Alto, 1140 Cowper St. in Palo Alto.
DATES/VENUES
Saturday, June 1st 7:00 PM Transfiguration Episcopal Church, San Mateo
3900 Alameda de las Pulgas, San Mateo, CA 94403 This event has passed
Sunday, June 2nd 4:00 PM First Presbyterian Church of Palo Alto
1140 Cowper Street, Palo Alto
Join us as Music Director James Richard Frieman leads The New Millennium Chamber Orchestra in a concert of music inspired by the English countryside.
The concert will feature concertmaster Colyn Fischer in Ralph Vaughan Williams‘ celebrated tone poem “The Lark Ascending“, which evokes the bucolic atmosphere of English countryside as it was in the early 20th century.
Also featured on the concert are Gustav Holst‘s “A Somerset Rhapsody” based on three folk songs from the county of Somerset and “An English Suite” for string orchestra by Sir Hubert Parry, one of England’s most inventive composers and a teacher of both Vaughan Williams and Holst.
Rounding out the program are two works by George Butterworth: the idyllic “On the Banks of Green Willow” and “A Shropshire Lad“, an orchestral epilogue to the composer’s achingly beautiful song cycle on poems of A. E. Housman.
DATES/VENUES
Saturday, March 2nd 7:00 PM Transfiguration Episcopal Church, San Mateo
3900 Alameda de las Pulgas, San Mateo, CA 94403
Sunday,March 3rd 4:00 PM First Presbyterian Church of Palo Alto
1140 Cowper Street, Palo Alto This event has passed
October 27th and 28th 2018
“Musical Mystery Tour”
The New Millennium Chamber Orchestra, under the baton of Music Director James Richard Frieman, will perform “A Musical Mystery Tour,” featuring music representing the unknown, the magical, and the mysterious.
The highlight of this autumnal concert is Edward Elgar’s Variations on an Original Theme, Op. 36, more popularly known as the “Enigma Variations.” The theme and variations that musically describe many of Elgar’s acquaintances are based on a hidden “dark saying” which has not been definitively identified since the work was first performed in 1899.
This concert will feature other works inspired by magic and spirits, including Edvard Grieg‘s “In the Hall of the Mountain King,” Charles Gounod‘s “Funeral March of a Marionette,” and Modest Mussorgsky‘s “A Night on Bald Mountain.”
The concert will also feature New Millennium’s Concertmaster Colyn Fischer in the delightfully spooky “Danse Macabre” by Camille Saint-Saens.
DATES/VENUES
Saturday, October 27th 7:00 PM Transfiguration Episcopal Church, San Mateo
3900 Alameda de las Pulgas, San Mateo, CA 94403
Sunday, October 28th 4:00 PM First Presbyterian Church of Palo Alto
1140 Cowper Street, Palo Alto This event has passed
June 2nd and 3rd 2018
Con Brio! Springtime in Style
The New Millennium Chamber Orchestra, under the baton of Music Director James Richard Frieman, presents a showcase of musical talent featuring the winner of this year’s Young Artists Concerto Competition, Abigail Leong. Ms. Leong’s musical artistry and technical prowess will be on full display in the first movement of Dvorak’s Cello Concerto in B Minor.
The program will also include a pair of double concertos featuring orchestra members: Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante for violin and viola and Cimarosa’s Concerto for Two Flutes and Orchestra.
Concertmaster Colyn Fischer and Principal Viola Donny Lobree will perform Mozart’s wonderful work for violin, viola, and chamber orchestra written in 1779 when the composer was in his early twenties.
Domenico Cimarosa’s delightful Concerto for Two Flutes and Orchestra, composed in 1793, will be performed by the New Millennium Orchestra’s flute section, Margaret Warton and Kay Saito Shafi.
Finally, the Kona Woodwind Quintet featuring members of the orchestra’s wind and brass sections will present Northern California composer Michael Kibbe’s Woodwind Quintet #4.
DATES/VENUES
Saturday, June 2nd 7:00 PM Transfiguration Episcopal Church, San Mateo
3900 Alameda de las Pulgas, San Mateo, CA 94403 This event has passed
Sunday, June 3rd 4:00 PM First Presbyterian Church of Palo Alto
1140 Cowper Street, Palo Alto This event has passed
April 7th and 8th 2018
For the Birds
To celebrate the joyous arrival of spring, the New Millennium Chamber Orchestra, under the baton of Music Director James Richard Frieman, will perform works inspired by birds and birdsong.
The program will feature Stravinsky’s fabulous Firebird Suite from 1919 along with works by Delius, Ravel, and Tchaikovsky inspired by birdsong. Also on the program is the first movement of Haydn’s Symphony #83, “The Hen,” and Ottorino Respighi’s delightful Suite “Gli Uccelli” (The Birds). ElmerBernstein’s moving Suite from “To Kill a Mockingbird” completes the program.
DATES/VENUES
Saturday, April 7th 7:00 PM Transfiguration Episcopal Church, San Mateo
3900 Alameda de las Pulgas, San Mateo, CA 94403
Enjoy a lively evening featuring two of Ludwig van Beethoven’s “middle period” masterpieces with the New Millennium Chamber Orchestra, Music Director James Richard Frieman, and pianist and recording artist Louise Costigan-Kerns.
Leading off the concert is the Piano Concerto No. 4 in G Major, which Beethoven wrote as a showcase for himself: it would turn out to be the last work that he performed in public as soloist. Ms. Costigan-Kerns, a renowned soloist, accompanist, educator and coach, lends her many talents to enliven the maestro’s voice in this strong and delicate concerto.
The second half of the program features the great Symphony No. 7 in A Major. One of Beethoven’s own favorite works, the 7th Symphony’s velocity, lyricism and energy are contagious for both the performer and the listener. The composer once wrote “I write what I feel,” and we invite you to join us and feel the power, passion and indomitable spirit of this great symphony!
DATES/VENUES
Saturday, November 11th 7:30 PM Transfiguration Episcopal Church, San Mateo
3900 Alameda de las Pulgas, San Mateo, CA 94403
Sunday, November 19th 4:00 PM First Presbyterian Church of Palo Alto
1140 Cowper Street, Palo Alto This event has passed
Sunday August 27 2017
Women Composers: A Celebration
Reena Esmail: The Blue Room violin concerto
Cecile Chaminade: Concertino for flute and orchestra
Nancy Bloomer Deussen: Mulholland Recollections for Viola and Orchestra
Adrienne Albert: Courage
Fanny Mendelssohn (Hensel): Overture in C Major
ABOUT
Join Music Director James Richard Frieman and the New Millennium Chamber Orchestra as they mark the conclusion of NMCO’s fifth season with “Women Composers: A Celebration.” This mini-festival of music by female writers, both historical and current, spans nearly two centuries of musical history, ranging from the German Romantic tradition to the highly-diverse musical culture of the present day. Three of the works are for solo instruments and orchestra:
NMCO Concertmaster and fiddle champion Colyn Fischer essays “The Blue Room,” a passionate, electrifying two-movement violin concerto by the young Chicago-born composer Reena Esmail. She writes: “The title was taken from a poem called White Key, by the Poet Laureate of California, Carol Muske. The line reads, ‘…like the light on the bed / In the blue room where I last held you.’ The poem is such a poignant expression of love and loss and has resonated with me for years, since the day I first heard it.”
Margaret Warton, NMCO principal flautist, plays Cecile Chaminade’s virtuoso showpiece, the “Concertino” for flute and orchestra, one of the best known and most beloved works in the flute repertoire.
Donny Lobree, NMCO principal violist, is featured in a work by the award-winning Bay Area composer Nancy Bloomer Deussen, “Mulholland Recollections.” This piece has been re-scored by Nancy expressly for Donny and NMCO from a movement of her earlier Clarinet Concerto.
The orchestra will also play two fanfares from the year 2000 by California composers: Adrienne Albert’s inspirational Courage and Jacqueline Hairston’s Trilogy on Spirituals – Fanfare, commissioned by the Bay Area Women’s Philharmonic.
Mark your calendar now for this exciting and adventurous program of music by some outstanding female composers!
Cecile Chaminade: Concertino for flute and orchestra
Nancy Bloomer Deussen: Mulholland Recollections for Viola and Orchestra
Adrienne Albert: Courage
ABOUT
Join Music Director James Richard Frieman and the New Millennium Chamber Orchestra as they mark the conclusion of NMCO’s fifth season with “Women Composers: A Celebration.” This mini-festival of music by female writers, both historical and current, spans nearly two centuries of musical history, ranging from the German Romantic tradition to the highly-diverse musical culture of the present day. Four of the works are for solo instruments and orchestra:
NMCO Concertmaster and fiddle champion Colyn Fischer essays “The Blue Room,” a passionate, electrifying two-movement violin concerto by the young Chicago-born composer Reena Esmail. She writes: “The title was taken from a poem called White Key, by the Poet Laureate of California, Carol Muske. The line reads, ‘…like the light on the bed / In the blue room where I last held you.’ The poem is such a poignant expression of love and loss and has resonated with me for years, since the day I first heard it.”
Innovative “OutBach®” pianist Donna Coleman brings her rendering of Clara Wieck Schumann’s only complete work for piano and orchestra, the Concerto in A Minor, Op. 7. This wonderfully imaginative virtuoso masterpiece is all the more astonishing when we consider that Clara completed it when she was just 17 years old!
Margaret Warton, NMCO principal flautist, plays Cecile Chaminade’s virtuoso showpiece, the “Concertino” for flute and orchestra, one of the best known and most beloved works in the flute repertoire.
Donny Lobree, NMCO principal violist, is featured in a work by the award-winning Bay Area composer Nancy Bloomer Deussen, “Mulholland Recollections.” This piece has been re-scored by Nancy expressly for Donny and NMCO from a movement of her earlier Clarinet Concerto.
The orchestra will also play two fanfares from the year 2000 by California composers: Adrienne Albert’s inspirational Courage and Jacqueline Hairston’s Trilogy on Spirituals – Fanfare, commissioned by the Bay Area Women’s Philharmonic.
Mark your calendar now for this exciting and adventurous program of music by some outstanding female composers!
DATES/VENUES
Saturday, June 3 at 7:30 PM
Transfiguration Episcopal Church
3900 Alameda de las Pulgas, San Mateo
March 18 and 19 2017
Winter Into Spring
Vivaldi: L’Inverno and La Primavera from “The Four Seasons”
Prokofieff: Troïka from “Lieutenant Kijé”
Bloch: Hiver (Winter) and Printemps (Spring)
Delius: On Hearing The First Cuckoo In Spring
Schumann: Symphony No. 1 in B-flat Major “The Spring Symphony”
ABOUT
The New Millennium Chamber Orchestra conducted by James Richard Frieman presents “Winter into Spring”, featuring fiddle champion and NMCO concertmaster Colyn Fischer.
This concert, part of our 2016-2017 season, celebrates the changing of the seasons, featuring works depicting the beauty, cold, and wild storms of winter followed by the joyous awakening of spring.
Violinist Colyn Fischer will lead the orchestra in Vivaldi’s “Winter” and “Spring” concertos from “The Four Seasons. The program also includes Ernest Bloch’s rarely-heard “Hiver (Winter)” and “Printemps (Spring)” and music by Prokofiev, and Delius, bringing to life the sounds of the seasons by highlighting different orchestral musical palettes and traditions. The concert will conclude with Schumann’s “Spring” symphony, the rousing and joyful Symphony No. 1.
DATES/VENUES
Saturday, March 18 at 7:30 PM
Transfiguration Episcopal Church
3900 Alameda de las Pulgas, San Mateo
Sunday, March 19 at 4:00 PM
First Presbyterian Church of Palo Alto
1140 Cowper Street, Palo Alto
December 3 and 4, 2016
Brahms Symphony No. 2
J.S. Bach: Concerto in D Minor – Donna Jean Coleman, piano
Brahms: Symphony No. 2
Charles Ives: The Alcotts from “Concord” Sonata
ABOUT
Join The New Millennium Chamber Orchestra; its dynamic Music Director, James Richard Frieman; and internationally acclaimed pianist Donna Coleman as we play J.S. Bach’s Concerto in D Minor and Brahms’s Second Symphony. Dr. Coleman will also play the “The Alcotts” movement from Charles Ives’s “Concord” Sonata.
Award-winning Philadelphia-born pianist Donna Coleman has spent the last twenty-two years in Australia where she created the OutBach® project that explores relationships between Indigenous, art, and popular music and makes performances in unexpected locations and combinations, including the world-first piano and didgeridoo duo collaborations and performances of concerti by J.S. Bach with guitars and didgeridoo instead of the traditional string orchestra.
Coleman’s performance research on American music produced world acclaimed recordings of works by Charles Ives (Et’Cetera Records Amsterdam), by composers associated with the Ragtime tradition (ABC Classics Sydney), and her own label OutBach® Music released Don’t Touch Me, the Danzas Cubanas by Ignacio Cervantes (2010) and The Lost Lady (2015). Her recording of Ives’s “Concord” Sonata received France’s Diapason d’Or and Editor’s Choice, and Christian Tarting’s review for Diapason magazine claims, “this Second Pianoforte Sonata . . . finds here its most convincing recorded version, due to its assertion, the assurance in its manner of effectively carrying out each detail, its analytical finesse.” James North writing for Fanfare found “Donna Coleman’s performance of Ives’s First Sonata is grand and sweeping, strong and confident, filled with charm and overflowing with joy. It immediately becomes my preferred version.”
DATES/VENUES
Saturday, December 3 at 8:00 PM
St. Peter’s Episcopal Church
178 Clinton St. at Brewster Ave., Redwood City
Sunday, December 4 at 4:00 PM
Hillview Middle School Performing Arts Center
1100 Elder Ave., Menlo Park
October 1 and 2, 2016
Outside the Lines: Not The Usual Repertoire
PROGRAM
O’Connor: The Fiddle Concerto – Colyn Fischer, violin
Armstrong/Frieman: Concert Variations on a theme of Billy Joe Armstrong
Nelson/Frieman: A Memorial Tribute to Prince Rogers Nelson
Pender: Something to Live For – Don Pender, saxophone
ABOUT
Fiddle champion Colyn Fischer play’s Mark O’Connor’s phenomenal crossover hit “The Fiddle Concerto” for violin and orchestra. This work has received more performances than any violin concerto written in the last 50 years. Drawing on classical influences and fiddling traditions from the U.S. and abroad, this hallmark piece has thrilled audiences all over the world since its premiere in 1992.
Also on the program is NMCO conductor James Richard Frieman’s “When September Ends: Concert Variations on a Theme of Billy Joe Armstrong,” the celebrated songwriter, guitarist, singer and driving force behind the Bay Area’s legendary band Green Day for more than twenty years. In addition to this exciting premiere, jazz artist Don Penderplays his haunting ballad “Something to Live For” in an arrangement for strings, harp and baritone sax. The concert is rounded out by Frieman’s tribute to Prince, truly one of the great musical geniuses of our time.
DATES/VENUES
Saturday, October 1 at 8:00 PM
Woodside High School Performing Arts Center
199 Churchill Ave., Woodside
Sunday, October 2 at 7:00 PM
Lucie Stern Community Center Ballroom
1305 Middlefield Rd., Palo Alto
March 11, 12 and 13, 2016
MOZART “REQUIEM”
ABOUT
The featured work for our March concert is Mozart’s celebrated Requiem. We will perform a remarkable completion of this masterpiece by Mozart scholar and musicologist Robert D. Levin. This edition premiered in 1991 and contains new musical material, including an Amen fugue (based on Mozart’s own sketches) at the end of the Lacrymosa, as well as new realizations of the Osanna fugues in the Sanctus/Benedictus. Levin also made improvements in part-writing and orchestration which lend greater clarity and transparency to the work.
Also on the program are Toward the Unknown Region, a “festival” cantata for chorus and orchestra by Ralph Vaughan Williams, poetry by Walt Whitman, and Beethoven’s overture to The Creatures of Prometheus.
Our soloists for this concert are a set of highly respected West Coast musicians, all of whom perform extensively in the Bay Area and beyond: Claire Kelm, soprano, Danielle Sampson alto, Elliott Encarnación tenor, and Nikolas Nackley, bass. Performer’s bios are posted to the BCG Blog.
For this collaborative performance, James Richard Frieman, NMCO’s Music Director, will conduct the Mozart Requiem, and Sanford Dole, BCG’s Artistic Director, will conduct the Vaughan Williams and Beethoven.
DATES/VENUES
Friday, March 11, 8:00pm
Campbell United Methodist Church
1675 Winchester Blvd, Campbell
Saturday, March 12, 8:00 pm
First Unitarian Universalist Church
1187 Franklin Street, San Francisco
Sunday, March 13 4:30 pm
First United Methodist Church
625 Hamilton (at Webster), Palo Alto
November 7 and 8, 2015
GLORIA
The world premiere of “Gloria” for mixed chorus and chamber orchestra, composed expressly for NMCO by the Bay Area’s own
award-winning composer, Nancy Bloomer Deussen
Featuring the Masterworks Chorale Serenade, Bryan Baker, Artistic Director
Beethoven Symphony No. 8 F Major, Op. 93.
DATES/VENUES
Saturday, November 7 – 8pm
Transfiguration Episcopal Church
3900 Alameda de
las Pulgas, San Mateo
Sunday, November 8 – 4pm
St. Mark’s Episcopal Church
600 Colorado Avenue, Palo Alto
August 28 and 29, 2015
AMERICAN MASTERS: COPLAND & BARBER
James Richard Frieman, conductor
• Barber: Knoxville: Summer of 1915 with Claire Kelm, soprano
• Barber: Violin Concerto with Colyn Fischer, violin
• Copland: Clarinet Concerto with Rachel Dusenbury, clarinet
• Copland: Dances from Billy the Kid and Variations on a Shaker Melody
DATES/VENUES
Friday, Aug 28 8:00 PM
Transfiguration Episcopal Church
3900 Alameda de las Pulgas,
San Mateo, CA 94403
Saturday, Aug 29 3:00 PM
First Presbyterian Church of Palo Alto
1140 Cowper St,
Palo Alto, CA 94301
May 29 and 30, 2015
ESPAÑA!: SPANISH MASTERPIECES FOR ORCHESTRA
Join the New Millennium Chamber Orchestra, led by Music Director James Richard Frieman, for an evening of Andalusian gypsies, Catalonian gardens, birdsong at sunrise and spurned ghostly spirit lovers as we perform music from the pens of the 20th-century Spanish masters.
Our festival of Spanish Masterpieces features acclaimed classical guitarist Paul Psarras performing Joaquin Rodrigo’s celebrated “Concierto de Aranjuez.” Also on the program: Joaquin Turina’s electrifying and rarely-performed “Danzas Fantasticas,” an orchestral suite fromManuel de Falla’s signature ballet “El Amor Brujo” and Isaac Albeniz’ atmospheric “Recuerdos de Viaje (Travel Memories).” Come hear how these composers effortlessly capture the passion, grace and flavor of their native Spain.
In addition, New Millennium is proud to present Martha McGee, the winner of the NMCO Concerto Competition for Young Artists, playing the brilliant finale from Max Bruch’s Violin Concerto in G Minor.
DATES/VENUES
Friday, May 29 at 8:00 PM
Congregational Church of San Mateo
225 Tilton Avenue (at N. San Mateo Dr.) San Mateo CA 94401
Saturday, May 30 at 3:00 PM
First Presbyterian Church of Palo Alto
1140 Cowper St. (at Lincoln Ave.) Palo Alto CA
November 14 and 15, 2014
ARTISTS’ RIFLES: “THE GREAT WAR” 100 YEARS ON
Join the New Millennium Chamber Orchestra as we remember “The war to end all wars” with music of the composers who fought in and lived through the most devastating conflict the world has ever known. Orchestral music of war, remembrance and peace commemorating the 100th anniversary of the start of World War I.
Selections from…
Gustav Holst’s “The Planets”
Ralph Vaughan Williams’ “A Pastoral Symphony”
Rudi Stephan’s “Musik für Orchester”
Gerald Finzi’s “Requiem da Camera”
Cecil Coles’ “Behind the Lines”
Charles Ives’ “War Songs”
Maurice Ravel’s complete “Le Tombeau de Couperin”
George Butterworth’s “The Banks of Green Willow”
DATES/VENUES
Friday, November 14 at 7:30 PM
Transfiguration Episcopal Church,
San Mateo 3900 Alameda de las Pulgas
Saturday, November 15 at 7:30 PM
St. Peter’s Episcopal Church,
Redwood City 178 Clinton St.
