The Reno Chamber Orchestra is searching for our next Music Director! Out of over 150 applicants from around the world, six finalists were chosen:
Robert Franz
Donato Cabrera
Martin Majkut
Nicholas Carthy
Kelly Kuo
Conner Gray Covington
With diverse backgrounds and experience leading with some of the world’s biggest orchestras, these Music Director finalists bring extraordinary performances to Northern Nevada. Experience their vision as each finalist brings a unique program of old and new musical selections to Reno. From somber to lighthearted, subtle to bombastic, these concerts take you in exciting new directions.
Who will lead the orchestra’s next chapter? Subscribe to the new season, share feedback through audience surveys, and meet the finalists after each concert!
Con moto (adverb MUSIC) : with movemen; in a spirited manner, with movement
Candidate 5: Kelly Kuo
Concert rescheduled for Nov. 21-22, 2020
Maestro Kuo’s program, originally scheduled for March, will take you on a journey back in time, from recent compositions to a Beethoven symphony. The concert opens with composer Kevin Lau’s cinematic Artemis, driven by the power of percussion. This sense of energy and motion forms a bridge to the second work from the early 20th Century, as Bion Tsang takes the stage for Shostakovich’s demanding first concerto for cello. The program closes with Beethoven’s Second Symphony, which was challenging and revolutionary in its time, but is now a pillar of classical music.
LAU, KEVIN: Artemis
SHOSTAKOVICH: Cello Concerto No. 1
EETHOVEN: Symphony No. 2
Bion Tsang, cello
Candidate 6: Conner Gray Covington
Concert rescheduled for Oct. 17-18, 2020
Dynamic young conductor Conner Gray Covington was scheduled to bring the 2019-20 season to a close. His concert juxtaposing new works with traditional classics is rescheduled for October 17-18. Ligeti’s Romanian Concerto sets the tone for the program, followed by a collaboration with acclaimed pianist (and Nevada Chamber Music Festival favorite) Jon Kimura Parker. Death of a Poet spotlights the talents of a young composer with an old heart. The concert concludes with a perfectly crafted symphony by Josef Haydn.
LIGETI: Romanian Concerto
BEETHOVEN: Piano Concerto No. 4
E, T.J.: Death of the Poet
HAYDEN: Symphony No. 88 in G major
Jon Kumura Parker, piano
– Previous Performances –
Candidate 1: Robert Franz
March 30-31, 2019 (2018-19 Season Finale)
BEETHOVEN: Symphony No. 7
BEETHOVEN: Overture to the Creatures of Prometheus
RAVEL: Le Tombbeau de Couperin
FRANK: Symphonic Variations
BRAHMS: Variations on a Theme by Haydn
BEETHOVEN: Choral Fantasy in C minor
Steven Vanhauwaert, piano
Candidate 2: Donato Cabrera
October 19-20, 2019
Donato Cabrera kicked off the 2019-20 season with a program opening with Wagner’s lush Siegfried Idyll, and anchored by Beethoven’s triumphant Seventh Symphony. As a native of Reno, Cabrera developed a local reputation for his varied programming and energizing performances. Another Reno-native, esteemed violinist Helen Kim, performed the West Coast premiere of Samuel Adams’ Chamber Concerto for Violin.
WAGNER: Siegfried Idyll
S. ADAMS: Chamber Concerto for Violin
BEETHOVEN: Symphony No. 7
Helen Kim, violin
Candidate 3: Martin Majkut
November 23-24, 2019
Slovakian-born conductor Martin Majkut made his Reno debut with a concert spanning continents and centuries. The concert opened with a Baroque Italian gem before moving into an energetic work for chamber orchestra by Argentinean composer Alberto Ginastera. For the second half of the program, soloist Bella Hristova performed a lovely work from Majkut’s home country, and concluded with Beethoven’s transcendent Violin Concerto.
CIMAROSA: Overture from Il Maestro di Cappella
GINASTERA: Variciones Concertantes
ZELJENKA: Musica Slovaca
BEETHOVEN: Violin Concerto
Bella Hristova, violin
Candidate 4: Nick Carthy
January 25 & 26, 2020
Maestro Nicholas Carthy warmed up our winter with a program of rhythm and dance! After a light-hearted Schumann opening, soprano Hope Briggs joined the RCO for a rare Beethoven concert aria, Ah Perfido. The concert concluded with soundscapes and rhythms of the Andes in Frank’s Leyendas, and the pure delight of Kodaly’s Dances of Galanta.
SCHUMANN: Introduction, Scherzo & Finale
BEETHOVEN: Ah Perfido
FRANK, GABRIELA LENA: Leyendas: An Andean Walkabout
KODALY: Dances of Galanta
Hope Briggs, soprano
