New World webcast this Saturday

This weekend the New World Symphony will be webcasting a concert from the Lincoln Theatre, featuring Richard Strauss' Don Juan and Gil Shaham playing the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto. Here's the press release:

MICHAEL TILSON THOMAS AND VIOLINIST GIL SHAHAM,

LIVE FROM THE LINCOLN THEATRE, MIAMI BEACH

NEW WORLD SYMPHONY TO INCREASE FREQUENCY OF WEBCASTS

AS A MEANS OF ENGAGING AUDIENCES,

MAKING CLASSICAL MUSIC MORE ACCESSIBLE

MIAMI BEACH, FL – New World Symphony, America’s Orchestral Academy (NWS), will webcast the Opening Night performance of its 20^th Anniversary Season, Saturday, October 13 at 7:35 P.M. EST, featuring founding artistic director / conductor Michael Tilson Thomas and violinist Gil Shaham, from the Lincoln Theatre on Miami Beach (541 Lincoln Road).

The webcast will include Richard Strauss’ Don Juan and Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto in E minor, Op. 64.

The vision of the New World Symphony is to be known as the nation’s premier educational laboratory for innovations in the teaching and experience of classical music. NWS is intent on exploring ways to use the internet to distribute contextualized performances and preparing for a time when video and audio playback equipment will provide the highest levels of sight and sound, even at the level of the personal computer.

The October 13th performance will include pre-performance comments from Michael Tilson Thomas. Mr. Tilson Thomas is acutely aware of the value of informing audiences in an effort to enhance their experience of the music. The New World Symphony, under the artistic leadership of MTT, has been experimenting with new forms of audience engagement for the past 10 years. Working with architect Frank Gehry, NWS is designing a 21st century rehearsal/performance/ webcast laboratory to further its efforts.

Those wishing to view the webcast should visit www.nws.edu prior to 7:35 P.M. (Eastern Standard Time), and click the banner on the bottom of the page promoting the webcast. Webcast patrons will be automatically re-directed to the webcast page. Additional information about the New World Symphony may be found at www.nws.edu.

This will be the second live webcast by the New World Symphony - last spring we performed Stravinsky's ballet Petrouchka, and I think it's great that they're continuing the project. I've met a lot of people in Calgary who are curious about the orchestra, and alumni like me who are eager to reconnect, and to see and hear our friends play.