David Briskin leads UTSO in Bernstein, Brahms, Dvorak

DAVID BRISKIN LEADS THE UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA IN MUSIC BY BERNSTEIN, BRAHMS, AND DVO‰òˆÅK

TORONTO ’Äì On Friday, November 28, conductor David Briskin will lead the University of Toronto Symphony Orchestra in its second concert of the season. The program begins with Leonard Bernstein’Äôs Overture to Candide in commemoration of the 90th anniversary of the composer’Äôs birth, followed by Brahms’Äô Violin Concerto in D featuring student soloist Luri Lee. Rounding out the program is Dvo‰ôˆ°k’Äôs Symphony No. 9 (From the New World). The concert takes place at 7:30 pm in MacMillan Theatre in the Edward Johnson Building, 80 Queen’Äôs Park. Tickets ($18 adults and $10 seniors/students) can be purchased at the box office in person or by calling 416-978-3744.

Internationally recognized as a conductor of extraordinary versatility and discernment, DAVID BRISKIN currently serves as Music Director and Principal Conductor of The National Ballet of Canada. For seven years he served as Conductor with American and is now a frequent guest conductor with some of the world’Äôs leading Ballet companies including New York City Ballet and San Francisco Ballet, among others. He also served as Music Director of Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre for three years and Conductor for the The Juilliard School’Äôs Dance Division for 12. On the concert stage, Mr. Briskin has appeared with the Pittsburgh, Detroit, Baltimore, Cincinnati Pops and Singapore Symphony Orchestras, as well as the Hong Kong Philharmonic and the National Symphony Orchestra of Costa Rica. He has also served for six years as the Music Director of the Masterwork Chorus and Orchestra in New York City, performing annually at Carnegie Hall. Mr. Briskin was appointed Director of Orchestral Studies and Conductor of the University of Toronto Symphony Orchestra on July 1, 2008.

LURI LEE is a fourth year student at the University of Toronto, completing her Bachelor of Music degree in Performance. She began studying the violin at the age of 6 in Korea, and completed music studies at the Claude Watson Arts Program and the Young Artist Performance Academy Program at the Royal Conservatory of Music. She currently studies with Erika Raum and appears as a soloist at this concert as a winner of the student concerto competition. She has been the top prize winners of the Korean National Youth Musician Competition and the Canadian Music Competition. Luri has performed in master classes for David Stewart, Annalee Patipatanakoon, and Mayumi Seiler. She has also performed chamber music with Steve Dann and Jean-Michel Fonteneau at the Domain Forget Chamber Music Festival. She has received the Maime May scholarship from the University of Toronto (2005-7) and the Lorand Fenyves String scholarship in 2007.

Part of Canada’Äôs top university, the University of Toronto FACULTY OF MUSIC has an illustrious history as one of North America’Äôs leading centres for the scholarly and professional study of music, offering a rich array of degree and diploma programs from the undergraduate to post-graduate levels. Many of this country’Äôs greatest musicians such as John Weinzweig, Lois Marshall, Elmer Iseler, Adrienne Pieczonka, Russell Braun, and the St. Lawrence String Quartet have studied or taught at the Faculty. With over 100 events featuring students, faculty and distinguished guests, the Faculty’Äôs performance season embodies its commitment to an education that champions diversity, depth and explorations. Highlights of the 2008-09 season include cellists Steven Isserlis and Shauna Rolston, baritone Sherrill Milnes, composer Maria Schneider, conductors David Briskin and Miah Im, jazz great Phil Nimmons, the Mirˆ„, and St. Lawrence String Quartets, the Gryphon Trio and Nexus.

For more information on this or other Faculty of Music concert series, please visit our website at www.music.utoronto.ca or contact the Box Office at 416-978-3744.

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Ticket sales and general inquiries:
Faculty of Music Box Office
Hours: 1 ’Äì 7 pm, Monday to Friday, with extended hours on performance nights.
Phone: 416-978-3744
Address: Lobby level, Edward Johnson Building, 80 Queen’Äôs Park, Toronto ON M5S 2C5