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2016 Zarin Mehta Fellows from Music Academy of the West Named

New York Philharmonic Global Academy Zarin Mehta Fellows Music Academy of the West

They came, they played, they conquered.

Ten students from Santa Barbara’s Music Academy of the West have been selected to participate in the second year of the New York Philharmonic Global Academy Fellowship Program as Zarin Mehta Fellows in January 2016.

They will travel to New York for a ten-day training program, including rehearsing and playing alongside Philharmonic musicians, conducted by Music Director Alan Gilbert. Described by Alan Gilbert as “a window into the real life of the orchestral musician,” the Fellowship allows students to learn directly from Philharmonic musicians, a once-in-a-lifetime experience that will immerse them in all aspects of an orchestral player’s life, from audition to performance.

The lucky ten: Carl Anderson (20), double bass; Benjamin Hoffman (25), violin; Maki Kubota (23), cello; Nikolette LaBonte (20), horn; Rainer Saville (23), trumpet; José Martínez (30), tuba; Rebecca Reale (22), violin; Samuel Sparrow (20), clarinet; Mark Teplitsky (23), flute; and Naho Zhu (22), bassoon.

(Photo: Chris Lee)

PHOTOS: Music Academy of the West Inaugural Performance Residency

This week the New York Philharmonic completed its first performance residency at Santa Barbara’s Music Academy of the West, the first American partner in the New York Philharmonic Global Academy, which couples concerts with instruction to train the next generation of orchestral musicians. The residency began with Music Academy students and Philharmonic musicians working together in a side-by-side reading of Mahler's Fifth, continued with lessons and master classes, and closed with the Philharmonic’s Santa Barbara Bowl debut with an all-American program led by Music Director Alan Gilbert. 

PHOTOS: The Philharmonic Arrives in Santa Barbara

A full summer of performance and education residencies continues for the New York Philharmonic! First Shanghai, then Vail, and now Santa Barbara, where the Orchestra arrived on Saturday for several days of activities with Music Academy of the West.

On Sunday evening, at the Santa Barbara Bowl, Music Director Alan Gilbert and the Orchestra rehearsed Mahler's Fifth side-by-side with Music Academy students — just the kind of intensive training in the life of an orchestral musician the New York Philharmonic Global Academy program is all about.

Here are some photos from Sunday evening:

New York Philharmonic Global Academy: Music Academy of the West

New York Philharmonic President Matthew VanBesien and Music Academy of the West President and CEO Scott Reed.

New York Philharmonic Global Academy: Music Academy of the West

Gilbert leads the combined musicians during the side-by-side rehearsal, the lovely Southern-California sunset in the background.

New York Philharmonic Global Academy: Music Academy of the West

Acting Concertmaster Sheryl Staples (right) uses a moment in rehearsal to impart some wisdom to Music Academy violinists.

New York Philharmonic Global Academy: Music Academy of the West

The winds, with clarinets and oboes horizontal, rise to the occasion of Mahler's Fifth, a mighty challenge even in rehearsal.

New York Philharmonic Global Academy: Music Academy of the West

Gilbert chats with a Music Academy violinist during the rehearsal.

New York Philharmonic Global Academy: Music Academy of the West

Principal Harp Nancy Allen shares a teaching moment with a Music Academy harpist.

(Photos: Chris Lee)

PHOTOS: Shanghai First Annual Performance Residency Kicks Off

Where in the world is the New York Philharmonic? In Shanghai, for the first annual performance residency of the four-year Shanghai Orchestra Academy and Residency Partnership. So far the Orchestra has performed three concerts: Alan Gilbert led two all-American concerts, one on the Fourth of July, with violinist Joshua Bell as soloist, and Charles Dutoit led Brahms, Stravinsky, and Ravel with pianist Emanuel Ax as soloist. This collaboration, part of the New York Philharmonic Global Academy, also involves extensive education activities, in which Philharmonic musicians are teaching and coaching Shanghai Orchestra Academy students.

Serenading Shanghai

The New York Philharmonic is just settling into Shanghai — adjusting to the time change and the hot weather before beginning the Orchestra’s inaugural performance residency on July 4 — but in the meantime, one musician is already at work. Principal Trombone Joseph Alessi arrived early to teach and conduct at the Trombone Festival of the Shanghai Orchestra Academy (SOA), one result of the partnership between the Philharmonic and the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, with collaboration from the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, that has brought the Orchestra here for this five-concert, multi-education-event residency that runs through July 10. 

NY Philharmonic Joseph Alessi Trombone Shanghai NY Philharmonic Joseph Alessi Trombone Shanghai NY Philharmonic Joseph Alessi Trombone Shanghai NY Philharmonic Joseph Alessi Trombone Shanghai

Philharmonic Announces Partnership with Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music

Houston, we have a partner. 

We are thrilled that Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music will be the third partner in the New York Philharmonic Global Academy, collaborations with institutions worldwide to train the orchestra musicians of tomorrow. 

Under the partnership, taking place next season, a group of Rice string students will travel to New York in May 2016 to train and play with the Philharmonic as Fellows in the New York Philharmonic Global Academy Fellowship Program, and Philharmonic musicians will travel to Houston to present master classes at The Shepherd School of Music in fall 2015.

New York Philharmonic Global Academy Summer Highlights: Shanghai & Music Academy of the West

Sheryl Staples New York Philharmonic Global Academy Shangai Orchestra Academy

The mercury just cracked 60 here in New York, and our summer travel plans are already in motion! Today, the Philharmonic announced details of the Orchestra’s two performance residencies this summer: in Shanghai and Santa Barbara.

Global Academy Summer Highlights

Shanghai Orchestra Academy and Residency Partnership (July 4–10)
Alan Gilbert will bring Philharmonic flair to Shanghai this summer in the first of four annual performance residencies in Shanghai. The Orchestra will perform two all-American music concerts (one on the Fourth of July, no less!), a Young People’s Concert featuring New York City–centric music (July 9), and a concert of Mozart and Mahler (July 10). Charles Dutoit will also conduct the Orchestra in a concert of Philharmonic greatest hits: Brahms’s Piano Concerto No. 2 with Emanuel Ax, Stravinsky’s Petrushka, and Ravel’s La Valse (July 5). In between performances and rehearsals the New York Philharmonic musicians will fan the musical fires of students in the Shanghai Orchestra Academy, leading masterclasses, coaching chamber groups, and teaching lessons.

Music Academy of the West Partnership (August 1–8)
Coming directly from the mountains of Vail, Colorado, the Orchestra will take root in sunny Santa Barbara at the renowned Music Academy of the West. The New York Philharmonic will start off its residency with a side-by-side reading with the Academy Festival Orchestra. Alan Gilbert will then lead the Philharmonic in its debut at the Santa Barbara Bowl performing works by Barber, Copland, Bernstein, Gershwin, and Sousa. Philharmonic Acting Concertmaster Sheryl Staples, Principal Cello Carter Brey, Principal Clarinet Anthony McGill, Principal Tuba Alan Baer, and Associate Principal Percussion Daniel Druckman will perform in a chamber music concert on August 4. They will also be Music Academy of the West guest faculty for a week, giving private lessons, lectures, master classes, and chamber music coachings.

(Above, Acting Concertmaster Sheryl Staples in a master class at Shanghai Orchestra Academy in September 2014. Photo: Eunice Hoo)

Zarin Mehta Fellows: In Concert, In the News, in the Archive

Mehta Fellows Zarin Mehta NY Philharmonic

On Sunday the inaugural Zarin Mehta Fellows from Music Academy of the West met their "namesake," former New York Philharmonic President and Executive Director Zarin Mehta. It was at a private chamber concert for donors in Lincoln Center's Stanley H. Kaplan Penthouse, where the Fellows performed with Philharmonic musicians. 

Mehta Fellows Chamber Concert NY Philharmonic

The purest example of immersion in the real life of an orchestral musician, the goal of the Fellowship itself, began on Thursday night, when the Fellows performed in the subscription concert alongside Orchestra members. (They are performing in the entire run, which ends tonight.) Here are cellist Genevieve Tabby and percussionist Charlie Rosmarin during that concert's performance of Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake Suite:

Genevieve Tabby NY Philharmonic

 Charlie Rosmarin NY Philharmonic

The Fellows were also featured in a New York Times article titled "Cultivating a More Youthful Orchestra":

Michael Cooper Snip NY Philharmonic

This just in! Today the Fellows are visiting the New York Philharmonic Archives. Here they are, looking at an archival score with New York Philharmonic Historian/Archivist Barbara Haws:

Zarin Mehta Fellows NY Philharmonic Archives

Photos: Chris Lee