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New Position for Andrew Mogrelia at SF Conservatory of Music Complements Current SF Ballet Directorship Duties
SAN FRANCISCO, March 6, 2005: San Francisco Ballet Music Director and Principal Conductor Andrew Mogrelia has accepted the position of music director for the San Francisco Conservatory of Music Orchestra, which he will hold in addition to his current position at San Francisco Ballet. Mogrelia's new post will become effective this summer and his duties will include conducting three or four concerts per season; arranging guest conductors and workshops; and serving as a liaison to the arts community. Alasdair Neale, Conservatory music director since 1999, will maintain his connection to the student orchestra as principal guest conductor.
"I am grateful for the opportunity to hold dual music directorships at these two esteemed institutions. I remain committed to San Francisco Ballet and look forward to working further with the Conservatory," said Mogrelia.
Mogrelia has received critical praise for his conducting since joining San Francisco Ballet as music director and principal conductor in July 2003. In May 2004, the Wall Street Journal noted, "under the confident control of Andrew Mogrelia's expert conducting, Delibes' music…move[s] the spirit as much as the visual elements please the eyes." With San Francisco Ballet, he has conducted for the Company on tour, as well as leading the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra throughout each repertory season. Most recent tour engagements with San Francisco Ballet, include conducting the English Chamber Orchestra at London's Sadler's Wells Theatre in 2004.
Prior to San Francisco Ballet, Mogrelia worked as conductor-in-residence at Birmingham Conservatoire, from 1992 to 2002, where he led the orchestra in public concerts each season. Mogrelia has conducted many leading orchestras in England including the BBC National Orchestra, BBC Scottish Symphony, BBC Symphony, Philharmonia, Royal Philharmonic, among others. Internationally, he has conducted orchestras including the Brno Philharmonic, Dutch Radio Symphony, the Hong Kong Philharmonic, Kosice Philharmonic, Prague Chamber Soloists, Residentie Orchestra, the Slovak Philharmonic, the Slovak Radio Symphony, the Virtuosi di Praga, and the Queensland and West Australian Symphony Orchestras. He has also worked with numerous dance companies, including American Ballet Theatre, Australian Ballet, Birmingham Royal Ballet, Den Norske Ballet, English National Ballet, Finnish National Ballet, Netherlands Dance Theatre, and Norwegian National Ballet, among others.
Mogrelia also has an extensive discography for Naxos and Marco Polo, including orchestra works by Fibich, Handel, Novák, and Suk, as well as numerous, critically acclaimed complete ballets by Adam, Delibes, Prokofiev, and Tchaikovsky. His recording of Tchaikovsky's complete Sleeping Beauty was named "a clear first choice among current recordings of the score." Notably, Mogrelia will conduct the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra in a special concert on April 24, honoring its 30th anniversary. Mogrelia studied at London's Royal College of Music and Tanglewood in Massachusetts.
About the San Francisco Conservatory of Music
The San Francisco Conservatory is one of the leading music schools in the world. Each year, the Conservatory serves more than 1,300 students through its Collegiate, Preparatory, and Adult Extension Divisions and its summer programs. Its students and faculty also present more than 1,600 public performances - most of them free - to more than 24,000 Bay Area residents and visitors annually. In September 2003, the Conservatory began construction on its new $80 million teaching, performance, rehearsal and practice facility in San Francisco's Civic Center that will essentially double the Conservatory's size from its current 37,000-square-foot facility in the Sunset District. Scheduled to open in 2006, the new San Francisco Conservatory of Music at Civic Center provides dramatic improvements in classroom, studio and practice spaces as well as several new venues for public performances, including a 450-seat state-of-the-art Concert Hall. For more information, please call 415.759.3465 or visit www.sfcm.edu
Brief History of San Francisco Ballet
As America's first professional ballet company, San Francisco Ballet has enjoyed a long and rich tradition of artistic "firsts" since its founding in 1933, performing the first American productions of Swan Lake and Nutcracker, as well as the first twentieth-century American Coppélia. A lively, vital ensemble, San Francisco Ballet is one of the three largest ballet companies in the United States with its current sixty-nine member roster. Since its early years under the direction ofAmerican dance pioneers and brothers Lew, Willam and Harold Christensen, San
Francisco Ballet now presents more than one hundred performances annually, both locally and internationally. Under the direction of Helgi Tomasson since 1985, the Company has achieved an international reputation as one of the preeminent ballet companies in America. By commissioning new works by some of today's most sought-after choreographers, giving rise to young talent, acquiring existing works by master choreographers and introducing new interpretations of classic full-length productions, Tomasson has created a sophisticated, diverse international repertory that offers powerful entertainment for all audiences.
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Press Contact:
Lisa Petrie
PR and Marketing Manager
San Francisco Conservatory of Music
415.759.3465
lep@sfcm.edu
Kyra Jablonsky
415.553.4667
kjablonsky@sfballet.org
Meredith Nonnenberg
415.865.4783
mnonnenberg@sfballet.org
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