This preview has been provided by The Chamber Orchestra of the Triangle.
Carolina Theatre of Durham, present an intriguing concert entitled “Tragedy and Hope.” Equally intriguing will be the role of the Muti family, long an important dimension in the musical heritage of the Triangle. This concert will be led by the Music Director of the orchestra for over 25 years, Maestro Lorenzo Muti. Muti was a professor of music and conductor of the Duke University Orchestra for many years. Jill Muti, a respected professional flutist, former Director of Fine Arts and Acting Headmaster of Ravenscroft school in Raleigh and current Headmistress of Ashley Hall in Charleston will be performing with the orchestra. Their violinist son, Niccolo, will be both playing with the orchestra as usual and performing the solo in “The Lark Ascending” by Ralph Vaughn Williams.
Other stirring music in this program will include Beethoven’s “Leonora Overture III, opus 72” and Franz Schubert’s great “Symphony no. 4 in c, The Tragic”. This is a program to both plumb the depths of human emotion as well as soar with hope and joy.
Musical families are far from rare, but this family has been unique in the Triangle in the breadth of their musical and educational contributions. Niccolo began his serious violin studies with the renowned Claudia Warburg, current Concert Master of The COT. Claudia has sent students all over the world to the finest musical conservatories as well as personally performing regionally, nationally and internationally over the course of her exceptional career.
Young Mr. Muti recently completed his Master’s Degree at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music, where he was awarded the Vicki West Prize to study with Kathleen Winkler. He received his Bachelor’s degree in Violin Performance from Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music, studying on a merit scholarship. His former teachers include Lee Chin Siow, Mimi Zweig, and, of course, Claudia Warburg.
Mr. Muti has participated in several prestigious summer music festivals and masterclasses including the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, California, Valdres Sommersymfoni in Valdres, Norway, Litomysl International Violin Masterlclasses in Litomysl, Czech Republic, and Margess International Music Festival in Zuoz, Switzerland. Niccoló has won numerous competitions and awards, among them the Senior Division of South Carolina’s MTNA Competition in 2006 and the Charleston Symphony League Scholarship in 2007. He made his solo debut in January 2007 playing Saint-Saens’ “Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso” with the State Philarmonic Orchestra of Romania in Spoleto, Italy. Five months later, Niccoló made his American solo debut playing Dvorak’s “Romance in F minor” with the Chamber Orchestra of the Triangle.
In 2012, Mr. Muti founded Incontri Musicali, an annual summer music festival that brings classical music’s most promising young musicians to Spoleto, Italy for three weeks of chamber music performances. Additionally, he co-founded The Cordova Quartet in the Fall of 2013 at Rice University in Houston, TX where they were coached primarily by Desmond Hoebig and Norman Fischer. They are currently the Graduate String Quartet in Residence at the University of Texas, studying with the Miró Quartet. Their travels throughout the United States and their work in education, conducting master classes and coaching young chamber groups is bringing them well deserved attention and acclaim.
It is particularly fitting that this family of musicians is featured together again performing with The COT, as Maestro Muti has led a sure and steady course of giving the orchestra a unique role among American orchestras, bringing three or more internationally acclaimed young soloists to play annually with the orchestra. Each has won major musical competitions throughout the world. Additionally, the orchestra has developed a financial basis that allows every student from primary school through graduate school to attend every concert for free. Maestro Muti and the orchestra have spent generous amounts of time coaching students in the Triangle region and Maestro also leads programs in Italy for young musicians.
“The Chamber Orchestra of the Triangle is one of the area’s finest musical treasures.” — William Thomas Walker, CVNC 2015
