Oberlin

Participants in Los Angeles

Bridget-Michaele Reischl, conductor

Bridget-Michaele Reischl is music director of the Oberlin Orchestras and associate professor of conducting at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. In 2005-06, she led the Oberlin Conservatory Symphony Orchestra on a concert tour of China. A recording from that tour, The Oberlin Orchestra in China, was released in 2007 on the Oberlin Music label.

Angela Cheng, piano

Consistently cited for her brilliant technique, tonal beauty, and superb musicianship, Angela Cheng is one of Canada’s brightest stars. She has appeared as soloist with virtually every orchestra in Canada, and many in the United States including the Alabama, Colorado, San Diego, and Utah symphony orchestras, to name a few. She is associate professor of piano at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music.

Huang Ruo ’00, composer

Hailed by the Wall Street Journal as “strikingly assured,” the music of Huang Ruo has been performed by many groups including the Philadelphia Orchestra under Wolfgang Sawallisch, the New York Philharmonic under Xian Zhang, the Juilliard Symphony under James Conlon, and others. Ruo is the 2008 first-prize laureate of the International Composition Prize, sponsored by the Luxembourg Society for Contemporary Music. He is currently a member of the composition faculty at SUNY Purchase.

eighth blackbird

Tim Munro ’02, flutes
Michael J. Maccaferri ’95, clarinets
Matt Albert ’96, violin & piano
Nicholas Photinos ’96, cello
Matthew Duvall ’95, percussion
Lisa Kaplan ’96, piano

Described by the New Yorker as “friendly, unpretentious, idealistic, and highly skilled,” eighth blackbird delivers provocative and engaging performances to its ever-growing audiences. Combining bracing virtuosity with a fresh and alluring sense of irreverence and panache, the sextet debunks the myth that contemporary music is only for a cerebral few.

Anastasia Dedik ’06, piano
David Bogorad ’09, violin and viola
Boris Allakhverdyan ’08, clarinet

The Prima Trio swept the top awards in the prestigious Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition in 2007, winning the grand prize and gold medal only three years after their genesis at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music.

Members of the
Contemporary Music Ensemble

Winner of an award for adventurous programming from the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) and the American Symphony Orchestra League in 2002, the Oberlin Contemporary Music Ensemble (CME) is considered one of the premier new music ensembles in higher education in the United States.

Oberlin Conservatory Symphony Orchestra

The Oberlin Conservatory Symphony Orchestra has been the pride of the Conservatory since 1896. Recent appearances by the orchestra include a performance at Cleveland’s Severance Hall and a 13-day tour of China, under the baton of music director and conductor Bridget-Michaele Reischl, and a critically acclaimed performance at Carnegie Hall in January 2007, conducted by Robert Spano '83.

meet the musicians »

The Orchestra: A Brief History

Back in 1896, very few people were violin or cello majors in, and no one majored in any of the wind instruments. Professors Fred and Charles Doolittle taught violin and cello; Professor J. Arthur Demuth taught violin, cornet, horn, trombone, oboe, and clarinet; and Charles Doolittle, taught flute. Their valiant efforts made possible the formation that year of a Conservatory Orchestra with Professor George W. Andrews as conductor.