New York Philharmonic Principal Clarinetist Anthony McGill will perform with members of the Bronx Arts Ensemble on Sunday, February 12 at 2 pm, in the historic Riverdale home of Paula Luria and Bill Caplan, 761 West 231st Street.
The special concert, a benefit for the Bronx Arts Ensemble (BAE), provides listeners with a rare opportunity to hear Mr. McGill in a notable private home and chat with him after the performance. BAE pianist Adrienne Kim, violinist Jorge Avila, and cellist Eliana Mendoza will join McGill in a performance of Beethoven’s Trio for Clarinet, Cello and Piano in B flat, Opus 11, Bernstein’s Sonata for Clarinet and Piano, and Fauré’s Piano Trio, Opus 120. Refreshments and champagne will be served. Tickets to the benefit concert are $90 and can be purchased in advance at bronxartsensemble.org.
Before joining the New York Philharmonic, Anthony McGill was Principal Clarinetist of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Associate Principal of the Cincinnati Symphony. He has been a soloist with the American Symphony, New York String Orchestra, and the orchestras of Baltimore, Kansas City, New Jersey, and San Diego. He has appeared with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, and at the Tanglewood, Marlboro, Mainly Mozart, and Santa Fe Festivals. McGill performed with Itzhak Perlman, Yo-Yo Ma, and Gabriela Montero at the 2009 inauguration of President Barack Obama. A graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music, he serves on the faculties of the Juilliard School of Music, Peabody Conservatory, Bard College Conservatory, and Manhattan School of Music.
Bronx Arts Ensemble is a Bronx-based cultural institution with a long trajectory performing high-quality chamber and symphonic music, and providing educational music and arts programs from grade school to college.
Founded in 1972, the Bronx Arts Ensemble is the premier professional music organization serving the borough. With a Local 802, AFM contract the BAE employs some of New York’s finest freelance musicians. BAE commands the respect of the music world for its high artistic standards, innovative programming, acclaimed arts-in-education programs and extensive recordings, as well as its demonstrated commitment and service to the Bronx community. BAE comprises all instruments of the standard orchestra, performing as a small group or full symphony and it presents over 100 concerts each season, reaching an annual audience of over 50,000.
BAE serves its community with programs that include a repertoire of many cultures, educational services for children and traditional chamber and orchestra concerts. Featuring notable guest artists and conductors of varied backgrounds, concerts frequently include new works, commissions or rarely performed music of all periods.
Since 1979 the BAE has been in Residence at Fordham University (Bronx Rose Hill Campus) presenting free summer concerts, performances with the University Chorus at both Rose Hill and Lincoln Center campuses, and free chamber concerts for students and the adjacent community. Popular family concerts including “Peter and the Wolf”, “The Three Little Pigs”, “Hansel and Gretel”, “The Emperor’s New Clothes” are given each season at New York Botanical Garden, Whitehall Club Ballroom and Lehman College.
BAE’s customized Arts Education programs have served over 100,000 Bronx students since the 1980s through multi-disciplinary artist residencies during school hours, after-school and through summer activities that culminate in original auditorium programs and in-school art exhibits. BAE’s more than 60 teaching artists work in 44 K-12 Bronx public schools. At many of these schools, BAE is the only arts education provider.
This year marks the loss of Founding Artistic Director, Bill Scribner. BAE continues his work of over 40 years which brought the organization to its present status as the preeminent live music and arts in education group in the Bronx.