kuss piece to be premiered

Mon., Apr 05

The work of Music Professor Mark Kuss (left), composer-in-residence for New Haven's Orchestra New England (ONE), will be featured at an April 10, 2010, concert at United Church on the Green in New Haven. Violist Marlene Segelstein and ONE will premiere Kuss' Viola Concerto. The program will also include a performance of Stravinsky's l'Histoire du soldat.

Kuss has received awards from the American Academy and the Institute of Arts and Letters, the N.E.A., the Jerome Foundation, Meet the Composer, A.S.C.A.P., the Copland Foundation and others. His work has been performed by the 20/21st Century Consort, the Folger Consort, the New Hampshire Symphony Orchestra, at Merkin Hall, the 92nd Street Y, the MacDowell Colony, the Swannanoa Music Festival, the Monadnock Music Festival, Composers Inc., Vancouver Chamber Music Festival, and throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe.

His recent projects include a Soprano Saxophone Concerto written for and premiered by Branford Marsalis and the New Haven Symphony Orchestra, music for the Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra of Boston, jazz vocalist Nnenna Freelon, cellist Fred Raimi, and for Hesperus -- ensemble-in-residence at the Smithsonian Museum of American History.    

The ONE concert, sponsored by SCSU, will take place at 8 p.m.

Since its founding in 1974, Orchestra New England has presented over 700 concerts, most at ONE's home base at Yale's Battell Chapel, with other engagements taking place in concert halls throughout New England and along the Eastern seaboard. Maestro James Sinclair has served as the music director of ONE since its founding. His versatility in delivering superb performances in a variety of styles -- from the Baroque to pop literature -- drives the remarkable success of ONE.

Read more about Kuss and Segelstein in the New Haven Register: Debut Duo: Orchestra New England reaps benefits of collaboration (by Donna Doherty, published Monday, April 5, 2010)

To order tickets for the April 10 concert, visit http://www.orchestranewengland.org/