Conductor Michael Christie
Leads the Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra in Romantic Rachmaninoff program as Music Director candidate
With piano soloist William Wolfram performing Rachmaninoff???s Piano Concerto No. 2
Saturday, February 17, 2018 at 8pm
The VETS | 1 Avenue of the Arts | Providence, RI
Tickets: $39-$89 available at http://tickets.riphil.org or 401.248.7000
“His conducting . . . revealed total emotional conviction, natural long-line phrasing, and mastery of orchestral color.” – Musical America
Michael Christie: www.michaelchristieonline.com
Providence, RI ??? On Saturday, February 17, 2018 at 8pm, Music Director candidate Michael Christie will lead the Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra in a program entitled Romantic Rachmaninoff at The VETS (1 Avenue of the Arts). The repertoire includes Schrecker???s Intermezzo for strings, Stravinsky???s Firebird Suite, and Rachmanioff???s Piano Concerto No. 2 featuring soloist William Wolfram.
Christie is making a return appearance as guest conductor of the Rhode Island Philharmonic, and as a Music Director candidate this time around, he explains, ???This concert program says a great deal about my priorities as a Music Director; featuring guest artists that are profound musical communicators, looking at the standard repertory in an expansive way and satisfying an unending curiosity about the legions of composers whose music deserves a place on the concert platform. I can???t wait to work with my colleagues in Providence again, soon!???
Michael Christie is a thoughtfully innovative conductor, equally at home in the symphonic and opera worlds, who is focused on making the audience experience at his performances entertaining, enlightening, and enriching. The New York Times reports, ???Michael Christie is a director open to adventure and challenge,??? and the Cincinnati Enquirer declares, ???If Michael Christie represents the future of music in this country, the future looks promising indeed.?????
Christie, who was featured in Opera News in August 2012 as one of 25 people believed to ???break out and become major forces in the field in the coming decade,??? began his tenure as the first-ever Music Director of the Minnesota Opera with the 2012-13 season.
Performance highlights for the 2017-18 season include the world premiere of An American Soldier, a two-act opera by Huang Ruo, with Opera Theatre of St. Louis and engagements with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, Rhode Island Philharmonic, and Santa Rosa Symphony.?? At the Minnesota Opera, he will lead productions of Mozart???s The Marriage of Figaro, Jake Heggie???s Dead Man Walking, and Verdi???s Rigoletto.
Deeply committed to bringing new works to life, Michael Christie has championed commissions by leading and emerging composers alike, including Mark Adamo, Mason Bates, Michael Daugherty, Osvaldo Golijov, Mark Grey, Daron Hagen, Matthew Hindson, Marjan Mozetich, Stephen Paulus, Kevin Puts, and more.?? In 2017, Christie led the world premiere performances of The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs by Mason Bates with Santa Fe Opera ???with suave assurance??? as praised by the San Francisco Chronicle, with ???precision and pizzazz??? by the Santa Fe New Mexican, and ???preside[d] over an expertly executed performance,??? according to The Financial Times.
In 2011, Christie led the Minnesota Opera in the world premiere performances of Kevin Puts??? Silent Night, which was awarded the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for Music. Anthony Tommasini praised his ???supple pacing and vitality??? in The New York Times when Christie led the work in 2013 with Opera Company of Philadelphia. He conducted the European premiere of the opera in October 2014 at the Wexford Festival Opera in Ireland, and led the opera again in May 2015 with the Op??ra de Montr??al.
Other recent highlights include Christie???s San Francisco Opera debut in the world premiere performances of Mark Adamo???s The Gospel of Mary Magdalene; the world premiere of Twenty-Seven, a new opera by Ricky Ian Gordon commissioned by Opera Theatre of St. Louis; and the world premieres of Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Paul Moravec???s opera The Shining, based on the novel by Stephen King, and Kevin Puts and Mark Campbell???s new opera, The Manchurian Candidate, at the Minnesota Opera. Notable past performances include highly praised productions of Corigliano???s The Ghosts of Versailles and John Adams???s The Death of Klinghoffer, and the North American premiere of Unsuk Chin???s Alice in Wonderland, all with Opera Theatre of St. Louis; the European premieres of The Ghosts of Versailles at the Wexford Festival Opera; as well as various performances at Opernhaus Z??rich, Finnish National Opera, Scottish Opera, and Lyric Opera of Chicago.
Christie???s nearly 20-year symphonic conducting career has included serving as Music Director of the Phoenix Symphony (2005-2013) and Brooklyn Philharmonic (2005-2010), and as Chief Conductor of the Queensland Orchestra (2001-2004) in Australia, as well as guest appearances leading the Los Angeles Philharmonic, National Symphony Orchestra, Civic Orchestra of Chicago, and the Symphonies of Dallas, St. Louis, Atlanta, Houston, Minnesota, Oregon, Indianapolis, and Cincinnati. Christie???s many European engagements have included leading the Rotterdam Philharmonic, DSO Berlin, Orchestre National de Lille, Swedish and Netherlands Radio Symphony, City of Birmingham Symphony, NDR Hannover Orchestra and the Czech Philharmonic. In addition, Christie enjoys a strong profile in Australia, where he has conducted the Sydney Symphony, Tasmanian Symphony, Opera Queensland, and the Western Australian Symphony in Perth.
Christie???s New York Philharmonic debut came in 2007 when he stepped in on short notice for an ailing Riccardo Muti, and his Carnegie Hall debut came in 2014 when he led the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra as part of the Spring for Music festival. Christie also served as the Music Director of the Colorado Music Festival from 2000-2013, where he was highly praised for his innovative programming and where audiences are now at an all-time high, resulting in him being named ???Musician of the Year??? by??The Denver Post??in 2010.
Michael Christie first came to international attention in 1995 when he was awarded a special prize for ???Outstanding Potential??? at the First International Sibelius Conductors??? Competition in Helsinki. Following the competition, he was invited to become an apprentice conductor with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra where he subsequently worked with Daniel Barenboim as well as at the Berlin State Opera during the 1996-1997 season. Christie graduated from the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music with a bachelor’s degree in trumpet performance.
Christie lives in the Twin Cities with his wife, Alexis, a physician, and their two children. A licensed pilot for over 15 years, Christie often flies his Mooney Airplane Company single engine aircraft to his conducting engagements across the U.S. He volunteers for Angel Flight Central, flying people in need with serious medical issues to receive care.
For more information, visit www.michaelchristieonline.com
The RI Philharmonic Orchestra & Music School???s mission is to enrich and transform Rhode Island and our region through great music performance and education. During the past four seasons, audiences for the Orchestra???s TACO Classical and Amica Rush Hour series have increased by 42 percent.??
Throughout the same period, the Philharmonic Music School???s enrollment has grown by 39 percent, and the School???s education and engagement programs have doubled, serving more than 20,000 children annually.
In addition, the Orchestra and Music School???s combined community impact has grown exponentially, and it has become the largest symphony orchestra in the nation to devote more than 50 percent of its programmatic budget to music education and engagement.
For more information, visit www.riphil.org