Archive: Arts & Entertainment

The Ithaca Community Orchestra, under the direction of Dr. Madeline Schatz-Harris, will present a concert entitled Beethoven and his Influences at 4PM on December 1st at the Lansing Middle School Auditorium. The program will feature Beethoven's Leonora Overture No. 3 and well as his Symphony No. 1. The program will also feature the first two movements of Haydn's Symphony No. 94 under the direction of assistant conductor, Aaron Burgess. The public is invited to attend a reception held directly after the concert. A recommended donation of $7 will be accepted at the door, and children are admitted free of charge.

The Ithaca Community Orchestra's music director, Schatz-Harris, brings to the group a rich experience as music director of professional ensembles, university orchestras, and youth symphonies. She was mentored by Michael Tilson Thomas and Leonard Slatkin and has guest conducted numerous ensembles, including the London (England) Symphony and the Aspen Music Festival Orchestra. As a violinist/violist, she has played in the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, appeared as a soloist with many orchestras, and worked as a Hollywood studio musician. After retiring from her faculty position at the University of Alaska, she moved to relatively balmy upstate New York, where she loves nurturing young musicians at Opus Ithaca.

Burgess is an Ithaca, New York based conductor and music educator. He is artistic director and conductor of the acclaimed Ithaca College Trombone Troupe and is assistant conductor of the Ithaca Community Orchestra. Additionally, he teaches instrumental music in the Trumansburg (NY) Central School District.

Since 2001, the Ithaca Community Orchestra has provided a continuous musical experience for talented players from throughout the Ithaca area. The ICO has collaborated with many groups, including the Ithaca Shakespeare Company, Opera Ithaca, and the Ithaca Community Chorus, and has been a participant in Spring Writes and the First Friday Gallery Night.

v14i45