New Amsterdam Symphony Orchestra

Midwinter Majesties

The New Amsterdam Symphony Orchestra welcomes Guest Conductor Claire Lewis for the second concert in its 50th-anniversary season. The program opens with Sibelius' rousing Finlandia, followed by Rachmaninoff's captivating Second Piano Concerto featuring soloist William Wolfram. The concert concludes with Dvorak's stirring Seventh Symphony, considered by many critics to be his best.

Claire Lewis is a conductor and pianist based in Baltimore, Maryland. She is the recent awardee of the Harmony Fellowship for Underrepresented Conductors, assisting and conducting the New Haven Symphony Orchestra. She joins the Richmond Symphony this season as their Conducting Apprentice, working closely with the Richmond Symphony, Virginia Opera, and the Richmond Ballet. Claire was also selected for the Taki-Alsop Conducting Fellowship Mentoring Program, where she will work with the world’s leading women conductors.

William Wolfram was a silver medalist at both the William Kapell and the Naumburg International Piano Competitions and a bronze medalist at the prestigious Tchaikovsky Piano Competition in Moscow. He has appeared with many of the greatest orchestras of the world and has developed a special reputation as the rare concerto soloist who is also equally versatile and adept as a recitalist, accompanist and chamber musician. In all of these genres, he is highly sought after for his special focus on the music of Franz Liszt and Beethoven and is a special champion for the music of modernist 20th century American composers. Wolfram serves as a member of the piano faculty at the Manhattan School of Music, where he also coaches chamber music.