Pioneer Valley Symphony and Chorus offers World Premiere of Rodríguez’s Christmas Realness Extravaganza
The Pioneer Valley Symphony Orchestra and Chorus launched their 84rd season for 2022-2023. As part of the season’s Holiday Pops concert, the Pioneer Valley Symphony commissioned Rodríguez he’s first ever holiday celebration piece Christmas Realness Extravaganza for orchestra and choir. This bombastic, energetic, and, without a doubt, celebratory work will be premiered on the 17th of December at 4pm.
“More than 180 musicians of the PVS Orchestra, Chorus, and Youth Orchestra bring you an evening full of holiday spirit, featuring singalong favorites and a mischievous new commission Christmas Realness Extravaganza from Puerto Rican composer Iván Enrique Rodríguez.”
As one of the country’s most established community orchestras, the PVS has been bringing exceptional live symphonic and choral music to the Pioneer Valley for over 80 years. Founded in Greenfield in 1939, the PVS ensembles perform high-quality symphonic and choral music in Greenfield, Northampton, and Amherst, drawing its audience from the wider Pioneer Valley and southern Vermont.
PVS provides professional-level musical direction for nearly 200 volunteer instrumentalists and vocalists; hundreds of children each year are introduced to choral and orchestral music through free educational concerts and materials. The PVS has performed a number of U.S. and world premieres and gained national recognition for its programming of contemporary music, earning three ASCAP awards for adventurous programming in 1997, 2011, and 2014.
The Pioneer Valley Symphony is comprised of three collaborative yet distinct ensembles. The PVS Orchestra, under the expert musical director of Tianhui Ng, typically performs five concerts a year. The PVS Chorus and Chamber Choir, under the direction of Chorus Director E. Wayne Abercrombie, usually perform seasonally with the PVS Orchestra, as well as presenting independent subscription concerts and community performances . The PVS Youth Orchestra, directed by Steven Bathory-Peeler, which has just completed its 9th year of programming, typically performs two independent community concerts each year, five concerts for elementary and middle school students, and joins the adult symphony orchestra on stage for the annual Holiday concert.
There are many exciting plans in the works for our 83rd season: full symphonic concerts and charming chamber programs, familiar concert halls and new venues, virtual presentations and live performances. Concerts will be live-recorded with small audiences and broadcast widely on public access television in Northampton, Greenfield, and via our streaming platforms. We will increase the size of the in-person audience as local venues reopen to us and safety guidelines allow.
Music Director Tuin Hui Ng
The American Prize-winning conductor Tianhui Ng has been the Music Director of the Pioneer Valley Symphony Orchestra since the 2018-2019 season. Tian is also the Music Director of Mount Holyoke Symphony Orchestra (USA) and the Victory Players (USA). His innovative programming has been acknowledged with grants from institutions such as the Massachusetts Cultural Council, National Arts Council of Singapore, Singapore International Foundation, Women’s Philharmonic, and WomenArts, in addition to other awards from the Oregon Bach Festival, the Dartington International Music Festival, the Yale School of Music, and the Singapore Government Public Service Commission.
An advocate of new music, he is especially trusted for his work in introducing audiences to new and less familiar music. He has assisted in and premiered new works by Pulitzer and Rome Prize winners such as Curt Cacioppo, Aaron Jay Kernis, Robert Kyr, David Sanford, and Joan Tower, and many young composers. He is particularly proud of his commissioning work, which has helped composers like Chen Zhangyi garner international prizes such as the London Symphony Orchestra Prize. His 2001 direction of Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress was praised by the Birmingham Post (UK) for its “high orchestral quality” while his 2014 premiere of Mary D. Watkins’s Civil Rights era opera, Dark River, was critically acclaimed in the United States.