UNIVERSITY PARK — Experience new music and a familiar favorite during The Pennsylvania Chamber Orchestra’s second season concert, “Resilience,” on Jan. 29.
Maestro Yaniv Attar presents a piece originally commissioned by him for the Bellingham Symphony Orchestra and re-imagined for the PCO by composer Jonathan Leshnoff. PCO’s principal cellist, Jonathan Dexter, then steps into the soloist role for the U.S. premiere of Fazil Say’s Concerto for Cello and Orchestra “Never Give Up.” Beethoven’s much beloved Symphony No. 1 closes out the concert on an exuberant note. A livestream of the performance is also available.
The presentation will be at 3 p.m. at the Penn State Recital Hall, Music Building 1, Allen Road. Tickets range from $10 to $30 and can be purchased in advance or at the door. Full ticket and livestream information can be found at PAChamberOrchestra.org.
Dexter has been featured in recordings and performances with multiple Grammy Award winning artists and producers in classical, rock, pop and country music. Performance highlights include appearances on the “Jimmy Fallon Show,” “The View,” VH1, Billboard Music Online, “Fox and Friends” and “Rachel Ray.”
In 2022, Dexter was a featured cellist with the Lorelei Ensemble, a Boston-based chamber choir, in its recording “Antigone,” available from New Focus Recordings. Gramophone Magazine reviewed the recording as “stunning precision of harmony, intonation, and … spectacular virtuosity.”
In 2015, Dexter was the cellist in the recording “Irving Berlin: This Is the Life” with the Paragon Ragtime Orchestra produced by three-time Grammy award winner for Best Classical Music Producer, Judith Sherman. Working from his home studio, Dexter records strings for projects around the world.
Customers have included SONY Masterworks, Columbia Records, Castlerock Entertainment and multiple classical labels. He contributed strings produced in his home studio for the 2011-2013 seasons of Steven Spielberg’s TV series “Smash” on NBC.
Dexter also composed, performed and recorded the original score to the short film “Recess,” an official selection at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival. Recently and more locally, he has been engineering audio recordings for Penn State faculty.
Dexter joined the Pennsylvania Chamber Orchestra in 2012, the same year he moved to State College with his wife, flutist Naomi Seidman. As the Jano Duo, they have performed around the country for more than a decade and are headed to Bangkok in April to perform at the Thailand Flute Festival 2023.
The Pennsylvania Chamber Orchestra is central Pennsylvania’s all-professional chamber orchestra. For the past 30 years, the PCO has performed both rare and well-known music by the greatest composers from the Baroque period to the present day. Their season features world-class soloists and includes a series of three orchestral concerts, an annual holiday concert, a family concert and several chamber music concerts under the direction of music director Maestro Yaniv Attar.
More information may be found at pachamberorchestra.org.
