The search continues for a permanent conductor of the Greenwich Symphony Orchestra. Joshua Gersen will be the guest conductor in two concerts with the fantastic musicians of the GSO.
The concerts will take place in Greenwich High School’s beautiful Performing Arts Center on Saturday, Feb 26 at 7:30pm an Sunday Feb 27 at 3:00pm.
In addition to candidates Melisse Brunet, Martin Majkut, Stuart Malina and Ransom Wilson, Gersen is vying for the position of permanent conductor.
“These concerts are extra special for me as I grew up in Fairfield County, not far from Greenwich and I remember going to see the Greenwich Symphony Orchestra perform as a student several years ago,” Gersen said in an interview.
The program will open with “The Golden Palace,” a celebratory, lively and joyful work from “Sun Warrior” by Eleanor Alberga.
That will be followed Serge Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2, which Gersen described as one of Rachmaninoff’s most famous and popular pieces, and features what he described as a fiendishly difficult piano part.
“We’re very lucky to be joined by pianist Sara Davis Buechner, one of the great American pianists of the day,” Gersen said.
Following intermission, the final piece of the program will be Edward Elgar’s Enigma Variations.
“In this piece, Elgar took a simple melody he wrote while improvising on the piano one day, and wrote a series of variations of this tune,” Gersen said, adding, “Each variation was inspired or meant to depict one of his friends and colleagues. It’s a very charming, personal and beautiful piece of music. But there’s also a bit of mystery to it.”
Click here to purchase tickets. Tickets are valid at either performance; seats are unreserved. Proof of vaccination will be required at the door. Adult tickets are $40, student tickets are $10.
Gersen has been Music Director of the New York Youth Symphony for the past five years and recently concluded his tenure as the Assistant Conductor of the New York Philharmonic.
A respected composer as well as conductor, Gersen is a champion of contemporary music and was Principal Conductor of the Ojai Music Festival in 2013, where he led numerous performances by celebrated American composers such as Lou Harrison and John Luther Adams. He also remains passionate about the core classical repertoire, in particular the German and Russian masters, as well as the classic American composers, including Copland, Gershwin, Barber and Bernstein.
Gersen has enjoyed a very successful relationship with the New World Symphony and since his conducting debut with the San Francisco Symphony has been invited back numerous times to conduct a variety of concerts.
He earned his undergraduate degree in composition from the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston and received his degree in conducting from the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia.
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Also, Gersen will speak at the Greenwich Retired Men’s Association on Feb 23 in a conversation format with the RMA’s Gerald Pollack. The talk is free and open to the public (Proof of vaccination and booster required. Masks required). The talk and starts promptly at 11:00am at First Presbyterian Church at One West Putnam Ave. Alternately, watch the talk via Zoom.