Miriam Burns
Now in its 33rd season and continuing its search for a new music director, the Woodstock Chamber Orchestra (WCO) is pleased to present Miriam Burns conducting two concerts this Friday and Sunday, November 11 and 13. As a candidate for the esteemed position with WCO, Burns was invited to prepare the program as a function of her audition. The concert will include Mozart’s Symphony No. 38 in D Major (the “Prague”); the Concertino for Trombone and String Orchestra by Swedish composer Lars-Erik Larsson, with solo trombonist Sean Scot Reed, assistant professor of Music and Music Education and director of Brass Studies at New York University’s Steinhardt School; Edvard Grieg’s Holberg Suite; and “In the Steppes of Central Asia” by Alexander Borodin.
“Burns comes with a fantastic résumé,” says Shawn Jaeger. “We do four concerts a year, making it possible for someone like Burns to fit us into their schedule.” He’s referring to the fact that she has been music director of the Tallahassee Symphony Orchestra and currently serves as music director/conductor of the Kenosha Symphony in Wisconsin, and for the Orchestra of the Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City. She also is a backup conductor for the New York Philharmonic. She began her music career as a violinist and studied at Ohio State University’s well-known music school, but was sidelined by persistent pain in her left arm, eventually laying down the violin and taking up conducting.
These will be the second pair of four audition concerts, with the season concluding in April 2012. This season also marks a change of venue for the WCO, which will hold the Friday evening concert at Olin Hall on the Bard College campus at 8 p.m., and at 3 p.m. on Sunday at the recently renovated Woodstock Playhouse on Route 212 in Woodstock. Tickets go for $20 for adults and $5 for students. Subscription sets of four tickets good for any concert are available. The WCO is comprised of professional musicians from the entire Hudson Valley, and regularly commissions music by local and regional composers. Call (845) 679-6431 or visit www.wco-online.com for information and updates.