Classical Music is Dying – or is it?

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This webinar will be a discussion focused on the plight of classical music and its decline in popular culture. While it may seem that classical music is “dying,” there are programs and individuals that are seeking to revitalize the orchestral world. Join us as leaders of several innovative programs from around the country discuss how they are making in impact in their communities.

Charles Peltz
Maestro Charles Peltz enters his 13th season with the Glens Falls Symphony Orchestra. He has led the Symphony in new repertoire and presented world-renowned guest artists. He has greatly increased the number of diverse musical offerings to include family and summer pops programs. He led the Symphony in its first music festival, MUSICBRIDGE 2005, for which, along with the world première of Joan Tower’s Made in America, the Symphony gained national attention. Maestro Peltz reaches out to the community by working with students in the schools, speaking to area service organizations and the Marcella Sembrich Opera Museum, and also through the Adirondack Community College continuing education program. He has positioned himself in the Glens Falls region as a musician, an educator, and a friend.

In addition to his duties with the GFSO, Maestro Peltz is director of the internationally acclaimed Wind Ensembles at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, where in 2009 he was given the Krasner Excellence in Teaching Award.  He was a regular guest conductor of the Orquestra Nacional de Colombia in Bogotá where the press has said, “this maestro is a fiesta for the eyes and ears.”  Summer 2006 saw his first engagement with the Cross Border Orchestra of Ireland. In previous summers, he has been Music Director for the Luzerne Music Center. His work in the Boston theater community (including the America Repertory Theater) has garnered him three IRNE nominations for Best Music Director. He has held positions as staff conductor of the Syracuse Symphony principally acting as music director of the Syracuse Symphony Youth Orchestra, and as resident conductor of the Greater Buffalo Opera Company.  In past seasons his guest conducting has included both orchestra and opera at the Hartt School and appearances with the Merrick Symphony, Pacific Symphony, Hamilton Philharmonic, Buffalo Philharmonic, New Jersey Ballet, and Delaware Valley Philharmonic.  His award winning recordings are on the MODE label.

Maestro Peltz holds a Master of Music degree from the New England Conservatory of Music from which he graduated with distinction in performance and highest academic honors, and a Bachelor of Music degree from Ithaca College where he studied with marimba virtuoso Gordon Stout.  His teachers include Murry Sidlin, Frank Battisti, Pamela Gearhart, Richard Woitach, and Donald Hunsberger.

Maestro Peltz and his wife, Kirstin, an accomplished cellist and music educator, and their daughter Ellie divide their time between Glens Falls and Boston.

Dantes Rameau
Dantes Rameau is the Co-Founder, Executive Director and Bassoon Teaching Artist of the Atlanta Music Project.
Born in Ottawa, Canada, bassoonist Dantes Rameau is of Haitian and Cameroonian descent. In 2010 he graduated as a member of the first class of Sistema Fellows at the New England Conservatory. As a Sistema Fellow Dantes spent one year studying El Sistema including two months in Venezuela where he taught, performed and observed. During the Sistema Fellows Program he co-founded the Atlanta Music Project.
Dantes holds a Bachelor of Music in Bassoon Performance from McGill University where he studied with Stéphane Lévesque and Mathieu Harel of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra. He graduated from McGill in 2005, receiving the award for “Outstanding Performance in Bassoon.” He then earned a Master of Music in Bassoon Performance from the Yale University School of Music, studying with Frank Morelli and graduating in 2007. In 2009 he completed a Performance Certificate at Carnegie Mellon University, studying with Nancy Goeres of the Pittsburgh Symphony.
Festivals he has attended include Orford Arts Center, Banff Festival and Aspen Music Festival. He has performed at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, as well as with the Charleston Symphony, Wallingford Symphony and Aspen Chamber Symphony. He was a finalist for African-American Fellowships with both the Detroit Symphony and Pittsburgh Symphony.
His teaching credits include the El Sistema Nucleo Acarigua-Araure in Venezuela and the Yale School of Music Outreach program.
In November 2010 Dantes was one of 25 artists from over 9000 applicants to be awarded $25,000 from AOL’s 25For25 grant program. In November 2010, Dantes was a presenter at TEDxPeachtree where he spoke about music as a vehicle to foster social change. In November 2011, Dantes appeared alongside the Atlanta Music Project Teaching Artists at TEDxPeachtree in a performance that garnered the event’s only standing ovation. Dantes is a 2012 graduate of LEAD Atlanta, a leadership development and community education program targeted at promising young Atlanta professionals.
Dantes has lectured at the New England Conservatory of Music and Mercer University.

Carlos Javier

Carlos Javier is a cellist originally from Las Vegas, NV. He recently graduated from the Cleveland Institute of Music where he was a student of Stephen Geber. He previously attended school at Colorado University where he studied with Judith Glyde and Andras Fejer.
Carlos has worked with Classical Revolution Cleveland since Fall 2011. Besides his role as a regular performer and Marketing Manager, he designs all print and online promotional materials for CRC. Classical Revolution currently has two residencies in Cleveland and maintains a performer roster that includes current students, faculty, and graduates from the Cleveland Institute of Music as well as members of the Cleveland Orchestra. Carlos has also helped create and manage the Hudson Chamber Players- a nonprofit chamber music series in Hudson, OH.
Dedicated to outreach, Carlos is also the Director of Music in the community music project the musCLE house. Currently anticipating a Winter 2013 start date, the organization seeks to provide music lessons to the students of the Cleveland Metropolitan School District, a school district that recently cut its music performance programs.
As a cellist, Carlos has been featured on NPR’s Performance Today and on WCLV. He has performed with members of the Takacs, Juilliard, and Cavani String Quartets. Carlos is currently on the cello staff at Baldwin Wallace University and a faculty member at the Chamber Music Connection in Columbus, OH. In his off time, Carlos enjoys graphic designing, riding his bike, and playing pick-up basketball.

Christopher Thibdeau

Christopher Thibdeau has been recently appointed as the conductor of the Georgia Youth Symphony Philharmonia Orchestra. Previously, Christopher has served as the associate conductor of the Brighton Symphony Orchestra, the assistant conductor of the Central Kentucky Youth Orchestra, the cover conductor of the Lexington Philharmonic Orchestra and the cover conductor of the Firelands Symphony Orchestra. As an educator, Christopher has presented workshops and educational concerts in New York, Connecticut, Maine, Vermont, Kentucky, Florida, Texas, California and other areas across the US. He holds a Bachelor of Music degree in Cello Performance from the Eastman School of Music where he studied with Alan Harris and a Master of Music degree in Orchestral Conducting from the Cleveland Institute of Music where he studied with Carl Topilow.