Symphony Orchestra "Soloisti St. Louis"
Featuring Amy Greenhalgh, viola, Benedetta Orsi, mezzo-soprano, and Dana Hotle, clarinet, and works by Saint-Saëns, Richter, Weber, and Tchaikovsky
Conductor-in-Residence: Darwin Aquino
Program:
Aria and Toccata for Viola (1957) - Marga Richter
Adieu Forets from Jeanne D'arc (1881) - Peter Ilitch Tchaikovsky
Concertino in E-flat for Clarinet, Op. 26 (1811) - Carl Maria von Weber
Danse Bacchanale from Samson and Delilah (1877) - Camille Saint-Saens
Mon Coeur from Samson and Delilah - Camille Saint-Saens
Old Wine in New Bottles (1958) - Gordon Jacob
1) The Wraggle Taggle Gipsies
2) The Three Ravens
3) Begone Dull Care!
4) Early One Morning
Conducted by Chris Becker
Habanera from Carmen (1875) - Geroges Bizet (1838-1875)
Amy Greenhalgh was born in Britain, read music at Oxford University, and went on to postgraduate education at the Royal College of Music and Trinity College of Music. She has worked as a chamber and orchestral musician throughout Europe, with ensembles such as the London Philharmonic Orchestra, London Soloists’ Chamber Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, and National Symphony Orchestra of Malta, as well as recording for labels such as Decca, EMI, and Deutsche Grammophon. She was also a founder member of the Symposia String Quartet, with which she toured in Britain, France and Spain.
In 2009, Amy moved to South America, after having won the position of principal viola of the Philharmonic Orchestra of Santiago, Chile, where the repertoire consists of opera, ballet and symphony orchestra concerts. During her time in Chile, she was also professor of viola at the University Mayor, a member of the Ensamble Filarmónico, and principal viola of the Chilean-German Chamber Orchestra.
In addition to performing, Amy also arranges music. She has a wide range of genres, and many artists have played her arrangements. These include the Crystal Palace String Quartet, London, the Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus of Santiago, Chile, the University Andrés Bello, Chile, and Américo (philharmonic orchestra plus cumbia band and singer). Amy has also designed both small- and large-scale concerts for the Children's Theater of the Municipal Theater in Santiago, whose concerts have been extremely popular.
Amy moved to the United States in 2015, where she is currently living and working as a violist, violinist and arranger in St. Louis. Missouri.
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Italian mezzo-soprano Benedetta Orsi has been praised by Teresa Berganza as “perfect voice for belcanto.” She is one of the 2018 nominee for Outstanding Achievement in Opera by St. Louis Theater Circle for her Carmen, reviewed by Broadway Opera World: “Benedetta Orsi has a quite breathtakingly beautiful voice, full and rich, with such easily accessed resources of power. She gives us a simply perfect “Habanera".
Ms. Orsi is one of only a few contemporary mezzo-sopranos to have performed all three of Donizetti's Tudor Operas: Jane Seymour in Anna Bolena, Elisabetta in Maria Stuarda and Sara in Roberto Devereux with Royal Opera Theater in Manchester, UK. Recent performances also include Adalgisa in Norma with Winter Opera St. Louis, the title role of Carmen with Winter Opera St. Louis, Boulder Symphony Orchestra in Colorado, and Amore Opera in New York, Mamma Lucia in Cavalleria Rusticana with the New Jersey Festival Orchestra, Ulrica in Un Ballo in Maschera with the Miami Lyric Opera, and Maddalena in Rigoletto with Amore Opera in New York.
Her first album Christmas Around the World won the Silver Medal at the Global Music Awards in Los Angeles as Best Album and Best Female Vocalist. Her new album La Voix de l’amour, a collection of French operatic arias and art songs, will be released this Winter for the International label Limen Music. Along with concert appearances at Carnegie Hall in NYC and throughout Italy, England, United States and Spain, Ms. Orsi’s performance credits include roles in Verdi's Rigoletto, Trovatore, Bellini's Norma, La Sonnambula, and Romeo and Juliet, Rossini's L’Italiana in Algeri and Il Turco in Italia and Massenet's Werther.
Benedetta is a first prize winner of the Barry Alexander International Voice Competition (IVC), First Prize and Star Performer Award in the American Protégé IVC; Third Prize Winner of the Roschel IVC, and Audience & Orchestra Award in the Boulder Music Institute IVC. In her homeland, she received the Audience Award and Special Prize of the Italian Music Federation during the 28th International Piero Boni International Singing Competition.
Ms. Orsi received her bachelor degree in Music and Voice from Modena’s Istituto Musicale Pareggiato Orazio Vecchi, pairing her studies with numerous master classes and stage workshops taught by opera luminaries such as Marilyn Horne, Luciana Serra, Teresa Berganza, and stage director Chuck Hudson. Later, she received her Master in Voice at the Regia Accademia Filarmonica di Bologna.
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Dana Hotle can be heard performing in both her home state of Missouri and in Illinois. She is currently Principal Clarinet with the Illinois Symphony Orchestra and performs with Winter Opera St. Louis. Dana is a former member of The Equinox Chamber players and the Cedar Rapids Symphony. She performs with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra and Opera Theatre of St. Louis as a regular substitute musician. She has a Bachelor's of Music from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana and a Master of Music from The Manhattan School of Music, where she studied with David Krakauer. Additionally, she teaches at the Community Music School of Webster University and is the Festival Director for the Gesher Music Festival, as well as serving as the Executive Director for Chamber Project St. Louis.