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Orpheus Chamber Orchestra to be Joined by Accordion and Mandolin Duo at Weis Center

Orpheus Chamber Orchestra will be joined by the unconventional duo of Israeli mandolinist Avi Avital and Latvian accordionist Ksenija Sidorova in a program called Stars Aligned on Saturday, November 3 at 7:30 p.m. at the Weis Center.

The performance is sponsored, in part, by Sam and Nancy Craig.

One of the world’s foremost chamber orchestras, Orpheus has recorded 71 albums, including the Grammy Award-winning Shadow Dances: Stravinsky Miniatures, and has commissioned and premiered 48 original works. The members of Orpheus rotate musical leadership roles for each work.

In Stars Aligned, Orpheus welcomes two innovative artists who are reinventing their time-honored instruments: Latvia’s Ksenija Sidorova on the accordion and Israel’s Avi Avital on the mandolin.

From a novel rendition of Bach to a world premiere by Golden Globe, Grammy Award and Emmy-nominated composer Benjamin Wallfisch, these trailblazing soloists showcase their enormous sonic spectrum.

At the Weis Center, they will perform Waxman’s “Sinfonietta for Strings and Timpani;” Rota’s “Canzona;” Bach’s “Double Concerto for Mandolin and Accordion in C Minor” (arr. Paul Chihara); Wallfisch’s Monomachía (Concerto for Mandolin & Accordion, Orpheus Commission) and Rozsa’s “Hungarian Serenade, Op. 25.”

ABOUT THE ARTISTS
One of the world’s foremost chamber orchestras, Orpheus has recorded 71 albums, including the Grammy-winning Shadow Dances: Stravinsky Miniatures, and has commissioned and premiered 42 original works. The members of Orpheus rotate musical leadership roles for each work, and the group relies on collaboration and open dialogue in approaching its diverse repertoire. Performing without a conductor, the orchestra presents an annual series at Carnegie Hall and tours extensively. Orpheus has trademarked its democratic organizational approach, the Orpheus Process™, and has been the subject of studies and seminars at Harvard, Stanford and Morgan Stanley, among others.

Praised as “superbly subtle and virtuosic” (The Arts Desk) and “an amazingly accomplished artist” (Classical Source), Ksenija Sidorova is the leading ambassador for the accordion. Encouraged to take up the instrument by a grandmother steeped in the folk tradition of accordion playing, Ksenija started to play the instrument aged eight under the guidance of Marija Gasele in her hometown of Riga.  Her quest for more exposure to both classical and contemporary repertoire took her to London where she became a prize-winning undergraduate at the Royal Academy of Music studying under Owen Murray. She subsequently received her Masters Degree with Distinction.

Acknowledged by The New York Times for his “exquisitely sensitive playing” and “stunning agility”, Grammy-nominated mandolinist Avi Avital is one of the world’s most exciting and adventurous musicians. He is deeply committed to building a fresh legacy for the mandolin through virtuosic performance in a range of genres and commissioning new works for mandolin. Avi Avital is the first mandolin player to receive a GRAMMY nomination in the category “Best Instrumental Soloist” (2010) for his recording of Avner Dorman’s Mandolin Concerto. Born in Be’er Sheva, southern Israel in 1978, he began learning the mandolin at the age of eight and soon joined the flourishing mandolin youth orchestra founded and directed by his charismatic teacher, Russian-born violinist Simcha Nathanson. He later graduated from the Jerusalem Music Academy and the Conservatorio Cesare Pollini in Padova, Italy where he studied the original mandolin repertoire with Ugo Orlandi.

Tickets for the performance are $35 for adults, $28 for seniors 62+, $25 for youth 18 and under, $25 for Bucknell employees and retirees (limit 2), $10 for Bucknell students (limit 2), and $25 for non-Bucknell college students (limit 2).

Tickets can be purchased online at Bucknell.edu/BoxOffice or by calling 570-577-1000.

Tickets are also available in person from several locations including the Weis Center lobby (weekdays 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.) and the CAP Center Box Office, located on the ground floor of the Elaine Langone Center (weekdays 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.).

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