Wednesday, May 3, 2023 | 8 PM
VIP Ticket includes exclusive access to observe Orpheus rehearse a new work by a prominent film composer.
“Performed with edge-of-the-seat intensity.”
—The New York Times
The special relationship between the Morris Museum and the famed Orpheus Chamber Orchestra continues with a program featuring Mendelssohn’s beloved Violin Concerto in E minor (with critically acclaimed violinist, Chad Hoopes) as well as Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition.
VIP tickets include exclusive access to hear Orpheus rehearse a new work by a prominent film composer at 6:30 followed by a pre-performance reception.
Members of Orpheus first performed at the Morris Museum in October 2020 as part of the inaugural Lot of Strings Music Festival. The relationship continued in the spring of 2021, bringing in-person performances back to our outdoor venue. Now Orpheus regularly performs with their full ensemble in the intimacy of the Bickford Theatre to sold-out audiences.
The Program
- 6:30 PM exclusive access to an Orpheus rehearsal of a new work followed by a pre-performance reception (VIP level only)
- 8:00 PM Concert: Mendelssohn (arr. David Walter) Violin Concerto in E minor, op. 64
- Chad Hoopes, violin
- Mussorgsky (arr. Jannina Norpoth)
- Pictures at an Exhibition
The Morris Museum thanks Will and Mary Leland, and F. Gary Knapp for their leadership support for this season’s presentations of Orpheus Chamber Orchestra.
About Chad Hoopes (Violin Soloist)
Acclaimed by critics worldwide for his exceptional talent and magnificent tone, American violinist Chad Hoopes has remained an impressive, consistent, and versatile performer with many of the world’s leading orchestras since winning First Prize at the Young Artists Division of the Yehudi Menuhin International Violin Competition. Hoopes is a 2017 recipient of Lincoln Center’s Avery Fischer Career Grant. Former winners include Kirill Gerstein, Yuja Wang, Leila Josefowicz, Joshua Bell and Hilary Hahn.
Highlights of past and present seasons include performances with The Philadelphia Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris, Konzerthausorchester Berlin, Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse for the premiere of Qigang Chen’s concerto “La joie de la souffrance.” He has performed with leading orchestras including San Francisco, Pittsburgh, Houston and National Symphony, as well as Minnesota Orchestra, Colorado Music Festival Orchestra, and the National Arts Centre Orchestra. Hoopes frequently performs with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. Additionally, he has performed recitals at the Ravinia Festival, Tonhalle Zürich, the Louvre, and at Lincoln Center’s Great Performers series in New York City.
About Orpheus
Orpheus Chamber Orchestra is a radical experiment in musical democracy, proving for fifty years what happens when exceptional artists gather with total trust in each other and faith in the creative process. Orpheus began in 1972 when cellist Julian Fifer assembled a group of New York freelancers in their early twenties to play orchestral repertoire as if it were chamber music. In that age of co-ops and communes, the idealistic Orpheans snubbed the “corporate” path of symphony orchestras and learned how to play, plan and promote concerts as a true collective, with leadership roles rotating from the very first performance.
It’s one thing for the four players of a string quartet to lean in to the group sound and react spontaneously, but with 20 or 30 musicians together, the complexities and payoffs get magnified exponentially. Within its first decade, Orpheus made Carnegie Hall its home and became a global sensation through its tours of Europe and Asia. Its catalog of recordings for Deutsche Grammophon, Nonesuch and other labels grew to include more that 70 albums that still stand as benchmarks of the chamber orchestra repertoire, including Haydn symphonies, Mozart concertos, and twentieth-century gems by Stravinsky, Schoenberg, Ravel, and Bartók.
Ticket & Visitor Information
The Morris Museum has adopted a dynamic mask policy for upcoming events in the Bickford Theatre. Face masks are currently optional in the CENTER and HOUSE RIGHT sections (indicated in blue) and are required in the HOUSE LEFT section (indicated in red). Face masks are currently optional for Children’s Theatre performances. This policy is subject to change at any time. Please check back on our website or call the box office for our current policy before your scheduled performance date. For assistance, call the box office at 973-971-3706.
Orpheus photo by Jack Grassa. Chad Hoopes photo by Jiyang Chen.
