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| Great Performances: Keeping Score: MTT on Music: Press Release |
Michael Tilson Thomas and The San Francisco Symphony
Make Classical Music Accessible to the Nation
with the Launch of Major Multimedia Project:
Keeping Score: MTT On Music
National Great Performances Telecast on PBS Set for June 16, 2004
Two One-Hour Telecasts Bring Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 4 To Life
Companion Web Site to Launch June 2
SAN FRANCISCO (April 21, 2004) -- Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas (MTT) and the San Francisco Symphony (SFS) launch a new five-year multimedia project Keeping Score: MTT on Music with two national telecasts on Wednesday, June 16 at 8:00 p.m. (PT) on KQED-TV presented by Thirteen/WNET New York's GREAT PERFORMANCES on PBS in association with KQED Public Television.
Keeping Score: MTT on Music is a major initiative aimed at providing audiences of today with a connection to classical music and the powerful emotions it conveys. The June 16 telecasts feature MTT and the SFS in a two-part exploration of Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 4. The first part, subtitled The Making of a Performance, is an engrossing documentary that demystifies how a performance of a great piece of classical music is created. It is a viewer's "behind-the-scenes" pass to witness firsthand how a performance unfolds and the preparation it takes to play this music.
Along the way, MTT explores the symphony's four movements, providing commentary on the powerful emotions embodied in the music and how it speaks to audiences today. MTT also introduces many of the members of the orchestra. If viewers ever wondered what an orchestra's librarian does or how much a piccolo player might agonize over a brief solo, Keeping Score provides answers.
The second part, Tchaikovsky's 4th Symphony in Performance, features a complete concert performance by SFS and MTT at the orchestra's home base, Davies Symphony Hall. Written in 1877 and 1878, the work is the first of the composer's beloved "late" symphonies -- Nos. 4, 5 and 6. The two-part series will be available on DVD for $19.98 through www.shopsfsymphony.org or at the Symphony Store located in Davies Symphony Hall.
The companion website will launch June 2, and will be accessible either via www.pbs.org in the GREAT PERFORMANCES site for Keeping Score: MTT on Music (www.pbs.org/wnet/gperf/shows/tchaikovsky4/) or through www.keepingscore.org which will link directly to this site on www.pbs.org. Topics and themes introduced in Keeping Score: MTT on Music will be further explored at www.keepingscore.org. Visitors to the site will be treated to in-depth information about the life and times of Tchaikovsky and the story behind his 4th Symphony. In addition, the site will feature MTT introducing the broader themes of music, including: cultural roots, emotional roots and historical perspective. These narrative elements will be further enhanced on the site through the use of video, music and highly interactive activities designed to engross visitors in the rich world of symphonic music.
"Tchaikovsky's understanding of music's primal moves makes his work incredibly emotional," Thomas says. "There are mammoth themes here, spread across an enormous canvas. It's the story of any soul who's experienced being an outcast, and is seeking to understand why he should be singled out, and where he can possibly escape to find solace, relief, joy."
The Keeping Score telecast introduces a multi-year, multimedia project that is currently in development at the San Francisco Symphony. The project is designed to harness the power of media in all its forms to reach millions of homes and schools across the country -- via television, radio, the Internet and other forms of media. Keeping Score: MTT on Music will roll out three television series nationally with tentative launch dates of fall 2005, the spring of 2007 and the fall of 2008. The first radio series is slated to air the summer of 2005. The national education and outreach programs for high school music and humanities is slated to launch in the fall of 2005.
"We look forward to energizing not just committed classical music lovers. We also look forward to convincing a new generation that music is part of their human heritage and essential to everyone," Tilson Thomas explains.
"This is one of the most exciting projects that the San Francisco Symphony has ever undertaken," said SFS President John D. Goldman. "In creating Keeping Score: MTT on Music, we seek to stimulate audiences and provoke a wider understanding of this great art form. We see this project as a unique opportunity for one of America's great musical collaborations -- MTT and the SFS -- to engage listeners and viewers of all ages, all around the country."
A nationally acclaimed and respected creative team has been assembled for the project. Thirteen/WNET New York's GREAT PERFORMANCES will broadcast both programs June 16 on PBS (check local listings). InCA Productions, the worldwide non-fiction production company led by David Kennard and Joan Saffa, is producing the documentary television shows. InCA is known for such award-winning documentaries as Carl Sagan's Cosmos, The Heart of Healing and We the People with Peter Jennings. Director Gary Halvorson, director of the hit TV show "Friends," and Producer Michael Bronson capture the live performance events. San Francisco's KQED Public Broadcasting is the presenting station for the national television series and partners with the SFS to help with marketing, syndication and all education and outreach components. Minnesota Public Radio and producer Tom Voegeli are partnering with the SFS to produce three 13-part radio miniseries. MPR and the SFS has previously collaborated on the Peabody Award-winning radio and web project American Mavericks (www.musicmavericks.org). Interactive agency Rolling Orange has been working with the SFS for more than a year to develop the companion website.
Lead funding for Keeping Score: MTT on Music is provided by the Evelyn & Walter Haas, Jr. Fund, with generous support from Nan Tucker McEvoy, with additional funding from the National Endowment for the Arts.
About the San Francisco Symphony
Founded in 1911, the San Francisco Symphony has a long and distinguished history marked by artistic excellence, educational initiatives, international tours, acclaimed recordings and innovative programming. Now in their ninth season together, Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas and the SFS have formed a musical partnership hailed for its revitalization of the classical music experience. The first orchestra to feature national symphonic radio broadcasts in 1926, the SFS remains a leader in the field of electronic media with endeavors such as the Grammy Award-winning Mahler recording cycle for the Orchestra's own SFS Media label, the Emmy Award-winning PBS/KQED Public Television production of the SFS's Sweeney Todd in Concert, and Minnesota Public Radio's Peabody Award-winning American Mavericks radio series and website, inspired by and produced in association with MTT and the SFS. The Orchestra's commitment to education and the community, begun in 1919 with the development of Concerts for Kids, is today recognized nationally and internationally for programs including Adventures in Music, the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra, Music for Families, and www.sfskids.com. For additional information, visit www.sfsymphony.org.
Media interested in covering San Francisco Symphony's Keeping Score: MTT on Music should contact Katherine Madariaga at 415/561-0888 x2318 or at Katherine@landispr.com. Images and telecast clip reels are available.
Contacts:
Katherine Madariaga
Landis Communications Inc.
(415) 561-0888 x2318
Katherine@landispr.com
Gretchen Krueger
Landis Communications Inc.
(415) 561-0888 x2315
Gretchen@landispr.com
Angela Duryea
Shuman Associates
(212) 315-1300
Angeladuryea@cs.com
CALENDAR EDITORS, PLEASE NOTE:
Michael Tilson Thomas and The San Francisco Symphony
Make Classical Music Accessible to the Nation
with the Launch of Major Multimedia Project:
Keeping Score: MTT On Music
National Great Performances Telecast on PBS Set for June 16, 2004
What: Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas (MTT) and the San Francisco Symphony (SFS) launch a new five-year multimedia project Keeping Score: MTT on Music with two national telecasts. The telecasts feature MTT and the SFS in a two-part exploration of Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 4.
The first part, The Making of a Performance, is a documentary that explains how a performance of a great piece of classical music is created.
The second part, Tchaikovsky's 4th Symphony in Performance, features the concert performance at the orchestra’s home base, Davies Symphony Hall.
When: Keeping Score: MTT on Music
The Making of a Performance, Tchaikovsky's 4th Symphony
Wednesday, June 16 at 8:00 p.m. (PT) on KQED-TV presented by Thirteen/WNET New York's GREAT PERFORMANCES on PBS
Keeping Score: MTT on Music
Tchaikovsky 4th Symphony in Performance; The San Francisco Symphony and Michael Tilson Thomas
Wednesday, June 16 at 9:00 p.m. (PT) on KQED-TV presented by Thirteen/WNET New York's GREAT PERFORMANCES on PBS
Where: KQED-TV
Who: Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas
San Francisco Symphony
Why: Keeping Score: MTT on Music is a major initiative aimed at making classical music more accessible to modern audiences.
Funded by: Lead funding for Keeping Score: MTT on Music is provided by the Evelyn & Walter Haas, Jr. Fund, with generous support from Nan Tucker McEvoy, with additional funding from the National Endowment for the Arts.
For more Visit, www.pbs.org, www.sfsymphony.org or www.keepingscore.org (which
Information: launches June 2)
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