Orpheus Chamber Orchestra

About the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra

The Orpheus Chamber Orchestra has invigorated international audiences and critics alike with its superior artistry, energy, and distinctive approach to musicmaking. Orpheus is committed to illuminating both traditional orchestral repertoire and new works by contemporary composers in a unique and liberating manner. Orpheus has built a legacy with its acclaimed recordings, performances, and collaborations with the world’s most esteemed and dynamic soloists. In addition to the orchestra’s extensive national and international touring schedule, the ensemble presents an annual concert series at Carnegie Hall and appears regularly at many major New York City venues, including Lincoln Center and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Orpheus was founded in 1972 by cellist Julian Fifer and a group of fellow musicians who aspired to perform diverse orchestral repertoire using chamber music ensemble techniques. One of the few self-governing ensembles playing today, Orpheus continues this philosophy, performing without a conductor and rotating musical leadership roles for each work.

Orpheus has made more than 70 recordings, including the Grammy Award-winning Shadow Dances: Stravinsky Miniatures. The orchestra’s extensive catalog for Deutsche Grammophon includes Baroque classics, works by Haydn, Mozart, Dvorak, Grieg and Tchaikovsky, as well as a number of 20^th-century masterpieces. Orpheus began a new relationship with EMI Classics in 2007 with a recording of Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons featuring violinist Sarah Chang. A collection of Mozart piano concerti with Jonathan Biss followed in 2008.

In addition to performing, Orpheus is committed to providing diverse audiences with opportunities to engage in music. In 2003, the orchestra launched the Orpheus Institute, through which Orpheus musicians share their unique artist-centered philosophy, methodology and skills with college-aged musicians. Orpheus also provides hands-on music learning opportunities for hundreds of New York City public school students through the Access Orpheus programs, which include workshops, open rehearsals and concerts.

In March 2007, Orpheus became one of the first winners of the Worldwide Award for the Most Democratic Workplaces, sponsored by WorldBlu, Inc., an Austin, Texas-based organization that specializes in organizational democracy. Orpheus has maintained its presence on the WorldBlu list in all subsequent years. For more information, visit orpheusnyc.org.

About New York, New York

2,027 bridges, 22 subway lines and every cuisine known to humankind bring together five boroughs to create what many people consider the greatest city on earth. There is such an abundance of fine institutions here that some have to double up on names (the Met, the Met, and the Mets, for instance). New York City is home to several of America’s most instantly identifiable landmarks; parks that range in size from a suburban backyard to twice the acreage of Monaco, and a number of world-class colleges and universities, one of which, Columbia, was founded by royal charter of England’s King George II and whose faculty formerly included Mozart’s best librettist, Lorenzo da Ponte. In the immortal words of the late, great songwriters Comden and Green, both natives of the city:  New York, New York, it’s a hell of a town; the Bronx is up and the Battery’s down. –  Carnegie Hall, they left unsaid, is right in between.