Members of Orchestra of St. Luke's will give concert, three workshops

Members of the Orchestra of St. Luke's will perform Nov. 11.

Musicians from New York City's Orchestra of St. Luke's, whose inaugural Cornell Concert Series concert last April was enthusiastically received, return Nov. 11 for a program that showcases the core members of the orchestra. Soprano Heidi Grant Murphy and conductor Richard Westerfield are the guest artists for the concert, which will be at 8 p.m. in Bailey Hall.

Tickets for the concert range from $13 to $26 for adults and $8 to $16 for students. Tickets are on sale at the Willard Straight Hall ticket office (M-F, 9 a.m.-5 p.m.; Sat., noon-5 p.m.; 255-3430), the ticket center at the Clinton House, 116 N. Cayuga St. (M-Sat., 10 a.m.-5 p.m.; 273-4497) and on the concert series web site at www.arts.cornell.edu/ccs.

The concert opens with chamber works and selected songs by Haydn, featuring soprano Murphy, who has appeared with many of the world's finest opera companies and symphony orchestras. A highlight of the program will be a rare performance of Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 4, as arranged by Erwin Stein for 14 musicians.

Elizabeth Ostrow, director of artistic planning for St. Luke's, explained that Mahler and his colleagues arranged several of his larger orchestral works for mixed chamber ensembles, including Symphony No. 4. "This particular transcription offers a fascinating look into the mind of the creator and the compositional process," she said.

This is the second concert to be presented in the multiyear programming and educational partnership between the Orchestra of St. Luke's and the Cornell Concert Series. Central to this ongoing relationship are master classes, open rehearsals and workshops given by orchestra members and guests of the orchestra.

This year three educational events, all free and open to the public, will be presented Friday, Nov. 10: From 4:30 to 6:30 p.m., Murphy will work with Cornell students Rebecca Marques, Calvin Warren, Jason Wang and Joseph Gregorio in a voice master class in B21 Lincoln Hall; from 4:45 to 6:30 p.m., oboist Melanie Feld will meet with the five oboists of Cornell's Wind Symphony in B11 Lincoln Hall; and from 5 to 6:30 p.m., conductor Westerfield will conduct a rehearsal of the Cornell Chamber Orchestra in Barnes Hall.