About the Orchestra

MISSION STATEMENT

Chamber Orchestra of New York is a premier ensemble that features a seasoned roster of our city’s most flourishing musicians. The orchestra is internationally distinguished for championing unique repertoire that bridges the classical and modern traditions, including iconic film music, through premieres and world premiere recordings of rediscovered masterworks. Through all-embracing approaches with its distinct programs – from performances to educational outreach – the orchestra aims to cultivate a broader audience across generations for the future of classical music. 

BIOGRAPHY

Chamber Orchestra of New York had its triumphant debut on October 11, 2007 at Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall. Following the Inaugural Season 2007/08 finale concert, Vivien Schweitzer of The New York Times wrote: “The musicians played producing a polished, rich sound…a stirring performance [of Mahler’s Adagietto and]…a voluptuous rendition of Tchaikovsky’s Souvenir….”

The orchestra’s founding Advisory Board included film composer Ennio Morricone, conductor Alan Gilbert, and soloists Lynn Harrell, Cho-Liang Lin and Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg. Honorary Board members have included Ottorino Respighi family descendants Elsa and Gloria Pizzoli, Respighi archive curator/cataloger Potito Pedarra, and musicologist Luigi Verdi.

The orchestra currently performs its Concert Series at Carnegie Hall (in Weill and Zankel halls). It has been commissioned by The Morgan Library & Museum, Dolce & Gabbana at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, the United Nations, and Star Wars under Disney, among others.

In 2008, Ottorino Respighi’s great nieces Elsa and Gloria Pizzoli, and archive curator/cataloger Potito Pedarra, entrusted Music Director and Composer Salvatore Di Vittorio with the task of editing, orchestrating, and completing several of Respighi’s early orchestral works – such as the first Violin Concerto (in A) – in their first printed, published editions (now) distributed by Casa Ricordi in Milan. In championing Respighi’s music, the Chamber Orchestra then established The Respighi Prize music competition in 2010 in collaboration with Bologna, Italy (Respighi’s birthplace), and also received a prestigious ongoing Google Grant for online marketing.

With permission to premiere and record the early Respighi works, the orchestra released its first albums of Respighi’s and Di Vittorio’s music on Naxos Records in 2011, which (along with later albums) have been airing internationally from BBC London, RAI throughout Italy, and WQXR NY, to much critical acclaim. Additional early Respighi editions were published, and the ensemble became the first orchestra on Naxos Records with such masterworks as Respighi’s Trittico Botticelliano and The Birds. The orchestra has also championed restorations of works by Claudio Monteverdi and Alessandro Scarlatti. News of the orchestra’s work led to grants from the Vaughan Williams Trust, for various U.S. Premieres of early Vaughan Williams, projects which inspired yet another Naxos recording.

In 2016, the Morgan Library showcased the orchestra in collaboration with an exhibition on Rome, and invited Maestro Di Vittorio to compose a free transcription based on Liszt’s Fountains of Villa d’Este for piano. Di Vittorio’s own La Villa d’Este a Tivoli received much attention at the premiere, and was then entered into The Morgan’s music archive.

In 2017, the orchestra founded the New York Conducting Workshop and Competition, and the program now includes staff conductors Maestros John Farrer, Dirk Brossé and Toshiyuki Shimada.

In the 2018/2019 Season, the orchestra launched its Maestro Juniors Education Program for New York City Public Schools. During its 12th Season 2019/2020, the orchestra made its Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) Opera House debut in collaboration with St. Petersburg Ballet (Russia) for Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake. In 2020/2021 the orchestra was honored to perform at the 130th anniversary of the Village of Larchmont (Westchester).

For the 14th Season 2021/2022, the orchestra video recorded music from John Williams’ Star Wars Main Title for the Star Wars™ | Kith 2021 Collection, which went viral on its release date. In April 2022, the orchestra completed recording sessions for its seventh album on Naxos Records, which will be released in 2024. Chamber Orchestra of New York celebrates its 15th anniversary season in 2022/2023, and on April 14th at Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall features a program titled Voyages: Star Wars & Respighi’s Fountains, shedding light on the influence of Respighi on the film scores of John Williams.