SYMPHONIC POETRY: MAGIC, FIRE & LIGHT
Knife of Dawn. He has also conducted Kurt Weill’ s Lost in the Stars with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, and the world premiere of Giorgio Battistelli’ s opera, Wake for the Birmingham Opera Company.
Born in Charleston, South Carolina, Jonathon studied conducting at the Boston Conservatory of Music and London’ s Royal Academy of Music. In 2023, he was named a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music; an honour reserved for Academy alumni.
George Li
Praised by The Washington Post for combining“ staggering technical prowess, a sense of command and depth of expression,” pianist George Li possesses an effortless grace, poised authority, and brilliant virtuosity far beyond his years. Since winning the Silver Medal at the 2015 International Tchaikovsky Competition, Li has established a major international reputation and performs regularly with some of the world’ s leading orchestras and conductors.
The 2025 – 26 season starts with an extensive tour with the Asian Youth Orchestra performing Rachmaninoff’ s Third Piano Concerto across China, Japan, and Hong Kong followed by returns to the Baltimore Symphony, Kansas City Symphony, Buffalo Philharmonic, Florida Orchestra, Prague Philharmonia and debuts with Omaha, Hawaii, Shanghai, and Guangzhou symphonies.
Li is an exclusive Warner Classics recording artist, releasing his most recent
George Li
Simon Fowler
University of Maryland Concert Choir
album with the label, Movements, in the summer of 2024 to critical acclaim.
Li gave his first public performance at Boston’ s Steinway Hall at age ten, and in 2011 performed for President Obama at the White House in an evening honoring Chancellor Angela Merkel. Among Li’ s many prizes, he was the recipient of the 2016 Avery Fisher Career Grant, a recipient of the 2012 Gilmore Young Artist Award, and the First Prize winner of the 2010 Young Concert Artists International Auditions. In 2019, Li completed the Harvard / New England Conservatory dual degree program, with a Bachelor’ s degree in English Literature and a Master’ s degree in Music studying with Wha Kyung Byun. He subsequently graduated with an Artist Diploma at New England Conservatory in 2022.
University of Maryland Concert Choir
The UMD Concert Choir is a distinguished 100-voice symphonic ensemble, recognized as the choir of choice for both the National Symphony Orchestra( NSO) and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra( BSO). The choir has collaborated with these esteemed institutions on major choral-orchestral repertoire, including Mendelssohn’ s Elijah, Brahms’ s Ein deutsches Requiem, Bach’ s St. Matthew Passion, Stravinsky’ s Symphony of Psalms, Britten’ s War Requiem, Bernstein’ s Kaddish Symphony, and Orff’ s Carmina Burana.
The ensemble has performed under the baton of renowned conductors such as Marin Alsop, Helmuth Rilling, Donald Runnicles, Masaaki Suzuki, James Conlon, Markus Stenz, and Laurence Equilbey, among many others.
In 2018, the UMD Concert Choir delivered acclaimed performances of John Adams’ s The Gospel According to the Other Mary with Gianandrea Noseda and the NSO. The following year, in May 2019, the choir appeared at Carnegie Hall with Noseda and the NSO in a program featuring Rossini’ s Stabat Mater and Liszt’ s Dante Symphony. Critics praised the choir as“ outstanding throughout, beautifully controlled and responsive,” noting its“ full range of dynamics,”“ perfectly tuned chromatic lines,” and“ crisply unified staccato attacks.”
Most recently, the ensemble performed with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Jonathon Heyward, receiving accolades for their skilled and expressive singing. Looking ahead to the 2025 – 26 season, the UMD Concert Choir will prepare for engagements with both the NSO and the BSO.
On campus at The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, the choir has presented major works including Bach’ s Magnificat and Weihnachtsoratorium, Mahler’ s Symphony No. 2, Verdi’ s Requiem, and Schumann’ s Das Paradies und die Peri. This coming season, they will present Beethoven’ s Ninth Symphony and Dett’ s Chariot Jubilee in collaboration with the University of Maryland Symphony Orchestra.
Dylan Singleton
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