GoStats web counter MidAmerica Productions & MidAm International Celebrate 35 Years of Global Music-Making – NEO Magazine

MidAmerica Productions & MidAm International Celebrate 35 Years of Global Music-Making

By on January 14, 2018

From the main stage of historic Carnegie Hall, to prestigious international concert halls in Macao, Beijing, and Hong Kong, China, Paris, Vienna, Lisbon, Florence and Hermoupolis, Syros, Greece, MidAmerica Productions has presented more than 1350 concerts in 35 years. In Carnegie Hall alone, MidAmerica Productions has produced 576 concerts, making it the most prolific independent presenter of choral music in the history of the iconic concert hall since the opening of the hall on May 5, 1891 when Tchaikovsky conducted.

Peter Tiboris, general director and music director of MidAmerica Productions, said: “We are very pleased to have reached this milestone season of choral and instrumental and symphonic concerts. We attribute our longevity to the care we take with each presentation and the attention we pay to every conductor, director, soloist, and ensemble that appears with us. We are looking forward to the 2018 season of concerts with great anticipation.”

MidAmerica Productions’ 2018 season, which will launch on February 18, 2018 in Carnegie Hall, features MidAmerica’s highly successful mix of choral and instrumental music along with guest artists and Ensemble Spotlight performances. The season features such modern classics as Dan Forrest’s Requiem for the Living and Ola Gjeilo’s Sunrise Mass, as well as staples that include Handel’s Messiah, Mozart’s Solemn Vespers and Requiem, Rutter’s Magnificat and Requiem, Orff’s Carmina Burana, Bach’s Magnificat, and Fauré’s Requiem, to name only a few. Most importantly, British composer and conductor John Rutter will return to Carnegie Hall and present the New York premiere of his new work, Visions, while Candace Wicke will conduct Stephen Edwards’ Requiem for My Mother in a collaboration of her company Continuo Arts with MidAmerica Productions.

Michael Allard conducts the Harmony Magnet Academy Symphony Orchestra in the Isaac Stern Auditorium as part of MidAmerica’s 2017 season of concerts at Carnegie Hall – June 18, 2017

Michael Allard conducts the Harmony Magnet Academy Symphony Orchestra in the Isaac Stern Auditorium as part of MidAmerica’s 2017 season of concerts at Carnegie Hall – June 18, 2017

Founded by Peter Tiboris in 1983, MidAmerica Productions presented its first concert on January 7, 1984, at Lincoln Center with Peter Tiboris conducting the American Symphony Orchestra, soloists, and three choruses, the Louisiana Chorale of Acadiana, Camerata Singers of Baton Rouge, and Collegiate Chorale of New York.

Using that first concert as its model, MidAmerica Productions subsequently brought together conductors, soloists, choral and instrumental ensembles to perform at New York’s top venues and abroad. MidAmerica’s concerts have featured choral societies singing major oratorios with orchestra, talented conductors, and world-class soloists; instrumental and choral ensembles appearing in the Ensemble Spotlight Series; and solo recitals. In the late 1980s, MidAmerica Productions began its association with the New England Symphonic Ensemble under the leadership of the late Virginia-Gene Rittenhouse and now Preston Hawes; NESE accompanies all of the large choral works heard in Carnegie Hall. Over the last few years, the Pan-European Philharmonia, which Mr. Tiboris founded in 2008 with Executive Manager Jakub Fiebig, has accompanied programs at the Festival of the Aegean.

The International Festival of the Aegean, which takes place annually on the Island of Syros, Greece, was founded in 2005 by Peter Tiboris. Now entering its fourteenth season (July 15 – 29 this year), the Festival attracts world-class artists from dozens of countries, and has become a summer destination for lovers of the arts from Europe and beyond. In 2011, the Festival was named “Best cultural organization operating in the wider region of Greece” by the Awards Committee of Music Critics of the Union of Greek Theatre and Music Critics, based in Athens, Greece. In December 2014, the Festival was awarded the Gina Bachauer Award as Festival of the Year.

Diverse programs have included Madrigal Festivals, Vocal Jazz Festivals, the National Wind Ensemble, the National Festival Youth Orchestra, among many others. Renowned guest conductors who have led MidAmerica’s concerts include John Rutter, Sherrill Milnes, Lukas Foss, Helmuth Rilling, H. Robert Reynolds, JoAnne Falletta, Francis Bardot, Sir David Willcocks, Giovanni Pacor, Michael Morgan, and Jonathan Willcocks, to name only a few.

Over the years, MidAmerica has commissioned new works and presented numerous premieres in Carnegie Hall and David Geffen Hall. World premieres have included Dinos Constantinides’ Byron’s Greece, Hymn to the Human Spirit, and Midnight Fantasy II for wind ensemble; John Rutter’s Cantate Domino, Distant Land, Magnificat, and Mass of the Children; and John Leavitt’s A Christmas Garland. U.S. premieres have featured new and older works such as Mozart’s Die Schüldigkeit des Ersten Gebots, Reimann’s Concerto for Violin and Cello, Tchaikovsky’s Ode to Joy, Mikis Theodorakis’ Electra and Rhapsody for Cello and Orchestra, and René Clausen’s Hellas: In the Name of Freedom. In 2015, John Rutter conducted the New York Premiere of his work, Canticles of Creation.

Maestro Peter Tiboris

Maestro Peter Tiboris

Peter Tiboris, Greek American conductor, music director, and producer, has enjoyed a worldwide career for more than forty-five years of which the past thirty-five have been in New York City. In addition to his role as the founder and general director of MidAmerica Productions, the Manhattan Philharmonic, Elysium Recordings, and MidAm International, Peter Tiboris has served as music director and conductor of the Pan-European Philharmonia in Warsaw, Poland; general music director and conductor of the Symphonisches Orchestra Wien in Vienna, Austria; and Principal Guest Conductor of the Orchestra da Camera Fiorentina, in Florence, Italy.

For more information about MidAmerica Productions and its performance opportunities, visit www.midamerica- music.com or call 212-239-0205.

About NEO Magazine

NEO Magazine. Established 2005. NEO Magazine is published monthly in New York by Neocorp Media Inc.