The Sinfonietta Returns to Wave Hill, Sunday June 23rd.
Sunday, June 23rd, 2024, the Sinfonietta of Riverdale once again returns to Wave Hill’s Armor Hall. In a performance showcasing spectacular musicians in collaboration, such as cellist Sophie Shao and flutist Anna Urrey, the program will feature the lovely Serenade for 11 Instruments by Jewish-German composer Bernhard Sekles and a Fantasia of music from Wagner’s Twilight of the Gods. The concert begins at 2pm. Tickets are currently available on the Wave Hill website www.wavehill.org.
ALSO:
The Sinfonietta will present a FREE FAMILY CONCERT on Saturday, June 22nd at 2pm at Christ Church Riverdale. Introduce those you love to the pleasure of live music through a 1-hour program for children of all ages (esp. 4 – 12) and anyone who is a child at heart. Hosted by conductor Mark Mandarano who will provide educational insights, the concert will feature music by Ravel, Debussy, Beethoven and more! Christ Church Riverdale, 5040 Henry Hudson Parkway East, Bronx, NY 10471.
Sophie Shao
Anna Urrey
This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.
Sinfonietta CDs are available on Albany Records — and on Spotify and Apple Music
American Record Guide
“The playing and conducting here would be hard to match, never mind better. If you’d like over an hour of great string music beautifully played and interpreted in fine sound, look no further…Karel Husa’s Divertimento…is a masterpiece. The piece is a dazzler.”
Fanfare Magazine
Five stars
“Under Mandarano’s direction the Sinfonietta of Riverdale plays with a high degree of technical proficiency, with exact ensemble, incisiveness, energy, and spirit. This CD offers a diverse and entertaining program of works for string orchestra in excellent performances. [Especially] the Husa, Stucky, and Coleridge-Taylor selections, all of which are worth hearing. An unequivocal recommendation.”
Husa: “…Abundant energy in the outer movements and gripping intensity in the middle one …vigorous and thrusting, replete with slashing attacks and frenetic activity. The second… after a brooding opening rises gradually in intensity to a climax that Mandarano aptly characterizes as “shattering” and “desperate.” The dance-like Finale lightens the mood with lively, prancing rhythm.”
Elgar: “The Mandarano recording is at the top [of comparable recordings]…Mandarano’s account excels in transparency, detail, and incisiveness…liveliness and verve…with its singing line and unimpeded forward movement.”
Take Effect (online)
[Elgar’s Serenade] blends the strings with much awe and sophistication in the album’s best selection. {Bruckner’s} Quintet in F Major: Adagio, unfolds with a sublime intimacy that allows the strings to wrap themselves in a dreaminess we won’t soon forget…
[as conductor, Mandarano] shapes this timeless, captivating affair.”
Repertoire includes Divertimento for String Orchestra by Karel Husa; Colburn Variations by Steven Stucky; Novelette in C Major, Op. 52, No. 2 by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor; Serenade for Strings, Op. 20 by Edward Elgar; and Adagio from Quintet in F Major by Anton Bruckner, arranged by Mark Mandarano.
Fanfare Magazine
“The Sinfonietta of Riverdale under the direction of Mark Mandarano brings all of the music off exceedingly well, with stellar playing…Considering the quality of the music, the performances, and the recorded sound, this CD comes highly recommended all around.”
Texas Public Radio
“Every now and then I drop a new classical release in the player and find myself instantly delighted by new music. Such was the case earlier this summer when I lifted the Albany Records release “New World Serenade” off the stack, with its picturesque cover painting of the aurora borealis by 19th Century American landscape painter Frederic Edwin Church.”
Music Web International
“This delightful and splendidly planned disc pulls together music from the younger (Caplan), middle (Adams) and older (Corigliano and Zwilich) generations of living US composers. It then adds an acknowledged 20th century American master who nonetheless seems somewhat in danger of disappearing between the cracks of history… lithe playing and vivid sound. A lovely disc.”
CDs are currently available via Albany Records and Amazon and on all streaming services such as Spotify and Apple Music.
VIDEO — The Sinfonietta performs at Wave Hill House
see also:
Samuel Coleridge Taylor Novelette Op. 52 no.2 in C Major, Larghetto
Astor Piazzolla, La muerte del ángel (arr. for strings by Mark Mandarano)
Elgar, Serenade for Strings
and
Giovanni Spinelli, Sipario (world premiere of string orchestra version)
Theodora Hanslowe joins the Sinfonietta of Riverdale in a performance of two songs from Richard Wagner’s Wesendonck Lieder (in a world-premiere arrangement by Mark Mandarano). And the strings of the Sinfonietta perform Bach’s Ricercar from the Musical Offering (arr. Helmut May) and Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring (arr. Eugene Ormandy).
More music performed by The Sinfonietta of Riverdale is available on iTunes and Amazon. Hear the Sinfonietta perform music by 3 selections by French composers, released by Arabesque Recordings in 2011.
We need your support!
The Sinfonietta of Riverdale is a non-profit organization. Only a part of our operational budget will be covered by ticket sales. We rely on the generosity of our supporters to help us bring this world-class music to our neighborhood. Please consider making a donation.
The Sinfonietta is a federally recognized 501(c)3 non-profit corporation, and contributions are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law. Checks made out to “Sinfonietta of Riverdale” can be mailed to: PO Box 345, Bronx, NY 10471. Credit card donations can be made by clicking the button below.
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About the Sinfonietta
Founded in 2008 by Artistic Director and Conductor Mark Mandarano, The Sinfonietta of Riverdale is a distinctive ensemble—large enough to perform chamber symphonies and small enough that each of its world-class musicians is a featured soloist. With a repertoire that extends from Bach to the present day, its reputation for fine musicianship and stimulating programming has been deemed “Off-the-hook fabulous” by Time Out New York, and as offering “Some Big Music for Little Riverdale” by The New York Daily News. “High culture has flowed northward into the Bronx,” concluded The New Yorker. The ensemble has performed the music of world-renowned composers, most notably Esa-Pekka Salonen, John Corigliano and Ellen Zwillich, who have attended its concerts; it has commissioned works from leading young composers, including Roger Zare, David Bruce, Alan Fletcher, Byron Adams and Oliver Caplan. The Sinfonietta has had two recordings released on Arabesque. Their first CD on Albany Records, New World Serenade features music by several generations of American composers and has received critical praise in the press (“The Sinfonietta of Riverdale under the direction of Mandarano brings all of [the music] off exceedingly well, with stellar playing…Exquisitely beautiful…highly recommended all around.” Fanfare Magazine).
The Sinfonietta seeks to enhance the artistic environment of Riverdale and the surrounding community by presenting great classical and modern music in our own neighborhood. We also serve as an educational resource by presenting children’s concerts and by collaborating with local schools and youth organizations.
