Feb.4th, 2013 – $15 at (le) Poisson Rouge NYC

Show Time:

7:30 PM

Program:
Glass – Sextet for Strings (Symphony No.3, arr. Riesman)(1995/2009)
Prokofiev – Sonata for Two Violins in C, Op.56 (1932)
Glass – Violin Concerto No.2 “The American Four Seasons” (2009)
 
Robert McDuffie, violin and conductor
MCS Ensemble
Amy Schwartz Moretti, violin
Lawrence Dutton, viola

Join Robert McDuffie and the New York debut of the amazing talent from Mercer University's McDuffie Center for Strings, the MCS Ensemble, on Tuesday December 4th at New York's (le) Poisson Rouge for a performance celebrating Philip Glass' 75th year.  Philip Glass composed his second violin concerto for Robert McDuffie in the summer and fall of 2009. McDuffie performed the world premiere with the Toronto Symphony, the European premiere with the London Philharmonic (with whom McDuffie made a best selling recording of the work), and had a 30-city US tour with the Venice Baroque Orchestra culminating in a sold-out performance at Carnegie Hall in December 2010. 

This LPR performance marks the end of the three year period of performance exclusivity for McDuffie.  During this time McDuffie has been traveling the world with the concerto, having performed it over 70 times in three years.  McDuffie saw this not as an end, but a beginning thinking of this debut performance of the Strings from the McDuffie Center as a celebration of the piece and the work that is done at the McDuffie Center.

Founded as a special institute within Mercer University's Townsend School of Music, the McDuffie Center for Strings' enrollment is limited to 26 students: twelve violinists, six violists, six cellists and two double bassists.  Amy Schwartz Moretti, the school's director and renowned violinist, will join McDuffie in a performance of Prokofiev's 1932 Sonata for Two Violins. 

The distinguished artists of the McDuffie Center perform, collaborate and record with the finest orchestras, string ensembles and conductors around the world. They are at the top of their fields. Each McDuffie Center student interacts with these distinguished artists on a regular basis, which enhances the students' private lessons, master classes, chamber music coaching sessions and orchestral sectionals, all a part of their required curriculum.

Combining this intensive, conservatory experience with the practicality of a specific business-oriented curriculum, the McDuffie Center for Strings prepares the entrepreneurial musician for success in the real world.