Contact:Gretchen Miller Basso
Public Relations Director
The Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra
Phone: 407/896-6700 x 223
Fax: 407/896-5512
gmiller@orlandophil.org
www.orlandophil.org
(Orlando, FL – June 10, 2011) – Thanks to the generosity of an anonymous donor and the Edyth Bush Charitable Foundation, the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra is proud to present the incomparable violinist Midori in performance with the Minnesota Orchestra. The concert takes place on Friday, March 9, 2012, at 8:00 PM at the Bob Carr Performing Arts Centre, 401 W. Livingston Street, Orlando. The Minnesota Orchestra is sponsored by the aforementioned anonymous donor. Midori and additional programmatic expenses are sponsored by the Edyth Bush Charitable Foundation.
This Minnesota Orchestra concert with Midiori was scheduled to be part of the Festival of Orchestra’s 2011-12 season, but its closing last month left this contracted obligation uncertain.
Orlando Philharmonic Executive Director David Schillhammer noted, “The Orlando Philharmonic is grateful for the generosity of the anonymous donor and the Edyth Bush Charitable Foundation to help this community fulfill its obligations to one of our national colleague organizations. We are very pleased to assume the responsibility of presenting one of America’s great orchestras, the Minnesota Orchestra, and one of the world’s great violinists, Midori.”
Schillhammer continued, “Our generous anonymous donor had a special interest in seeing the Minnesota Orchestra perform in Orlando, and it is this person’s wish that the concert be performed in honor and memory of Dave and Libby Roberts, Minnesota natives who transplanted to Central Florida many decades ago.” Known as generous philanthropists in their own right, Dave Roberts was also founding director of the Edyth Bush Charitable Foundation.
Edyth Bush Charitable Foundation President, CEO and Director David Odahowski expressed his support for this effort. “Over many years, the Edyth Bush Charitable Foundation invested in Festival of Orchestras, and we lament its closing. But with Edyth Bush herself hailing from Minnesota, and with the generosity of an anonymous donor, combined with that person’s grace in wishing to honor Dave and Libby Roberts, it seemed a natural for the Edyth Bush Charitable Foundation to step up and share in the philanthropy required to bring this great orchestra and world renowned violinist to Central Florida.”
Led by Osmo Vänskä, Music Director of the Minnesota Orchestra, the program features Midori performing Concerto for Violin in D minor, op. 47 by Jean Sibelius. The program also features the Minnesota Orchestra performing Johannes Brahms’ Variations on a Theme of Joseph Haydn, op. 56a, and Beethoven’s popular Symphony No. 5 in C minor, op. 67.
Midori was born in Osaka, Japan, in 1971 and began studying the violin with her mother, Setsu Goto, at a very early age. In 1982, when Zubin Mehta first heard her play, he was so impressed that he invited her to be a surprise guest soloist for the New York Philharmonic’s traditional New Year’s Eve concert, on which occasion she received a standing ovation and the impetus to begin a major career. She is recognized not only for the evolution and scope of her 28-year career as one of the most dazzlingly gifted performers before the public, but increasingly for the prescient and innovative community engagement initiatives to which she devotes a substantial amount of her energies and resources worldwide on an ongoing basis. Named a Messenger of Peace by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in 2007, she has created a new model for young artists who seek to balance the joys and demands of a performing career at the highest level with a hands-on investment in the power of music to change lives. Midori’s love of performing is balanced every year with substantial commitments to education and community engagement initiatives. Now in her 7th year as Jascha Heifetz Chair at the University of Southern California’s Thornton School of Music and her 4th year as Chair of its Strings Department, Midori thrives amidst the challenges presented by her full-time career as educator and administrator at a major university. To these commitments she adds ongoing, hands-on involvement in the four community engagement organizations she has founded – Midori & Friends, Partners in Performance, Orchestra Residencies Program, and Music Sharing.
Subscribers to the Orlando Philharmonic’s Super Series and Classics Series can add the Midori with the Minnesota Orchestra concert to their subscription at a 10% discount. Series Subscribers can order their tickets to the Midori with the Minnesota Orchestra concert immediately. Tickets to Midori with the Minnesota Orchestra, and single tickets to the Orlando Philharmonic’s 2011-2012 Super Series concerts go on sale August 22, 2011, and are $14.75, $29, $39, $52 and $70. To order, phone the Orlando Philharmonic Box Office at 407-770-0071 or visit www.OrlandoPhil.org.
About Dave and Libby Roberts:
Dave and Libby Roberts were both born in Duluth, Minnesota. After graduating summa cum laude from Harvard College, class of 1942, serving in the U.S. Navy and U.S Air Force, and graduating cum laude from Harvard Law School, Mr. Roberts led an active life in business and volunteer activities in Minneapolis, eventually becoming an attorney for Archibald Bush, a founder of the 3M Company. Mrs. Bush appointed him head of the newly-founded Edyth Bush Foundation in Winter Park, Florida in August, 1973, and he served as President until November 1985, when he was named President Emeritus. He remained a Founding Board Member until his death in February, 1999.
Libby Roberts earned a BS degree in speech pathology from Rockford College, Rockford, Illinois, following the death of her first husband, John Paris, and worked in that field until her marriage to Mr. Roberts in 1962. The two settled in Winter Park, where she was active at All Saints Episcopal Church, serving on the Vestry and responsible for several committees. She died in 2011 at age 94.
About the Edyth Bush Charitable Foundation:
The Edyth Bush Charitable Foundation’s Mission is to “create innovative civic solutions helping people help themselves.” For 38 years the Foundation has carried on the trust imparted to it by its namesake, Mrs. Edyth Bush, a woman who dedicated her life to promoting philanthropy throughout the community.
Since its inception in 1973, the foundation has “helped people to help themselves” in bettering their lives and strengthening their capacity to serve the community’s interest. Through a strong philanthropic commitment, financial support, governance, and nonprofit leadership, the Edyth Bush Charitable Foundation has enhanced the Florida nonprofit community. The history of the foundation chronicles a legacy of leadership evolved from the professionalism and ethical commitment of Edyth Bush Charitable Foundation and the founding directors, and continues today through its current board of directors, officers, and staff. It is an account of an evolutionary journey from the roots of a traditional foundation built upon long-standing Minnesota philanthropic values to a contemporary champion for the nonprofit sector. From its inception as an institution limited solely to making grants to its emergence as a Central Florida philanthropic community leader, it has managed to retain its original fundamental professionalism and adherence to a traditional “best practices” ethical standard.
Prior to her death in 1972, Mrs. Bush and her husband individually contributed many millions of dollars to charitable and educational organizations in Florida and Minnesota where Mr. Bush was a director, officer, and stockholder of the 3M Company prior to his death in early 1966.
The Edyth Bush Charitable Foundation began as a traditional independent foundation shortly after Mrs. Bush’s death with a natural reliance on members of the family and close personal advisors to maintain the stated charitable aims of the institution. From its inception, it has been the role and responsibility of the Board of Directors to faithfully fulfill the foundation’s charter and to carry out the foundation’s charitable aims.
About the Minnesota Orchestra:
The Minnesota Orchestra, now in its second century and led by Music Director Osmo Vänskä, ranks among America’s top symphonic ensembles, with a distinguished history of acclaimed performances in its home state and around the world; award-winning recordings, radio broadcasts and educational outreach programs; and a visionary commitment to building the orchestral repertoire of tomorrow. Founded as the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra, the ensemble gave its inaugural performance on November 5, 1903, shortly after baseball’s first World Series and exactly six weeks before the Wright brothers made their unprecedented airplane flight. The Orchestra played its first regional tour in 1907 and made its New York City debut in 1912 at Carnegie Hall, where it has performed regularly ever since. Outside the United States, the Orchestra has played concerts in Australia, Canada, Europe, the Far East, Latin America and the Middle East. Since 1968 it has been known as the Minnesota Orchestra.
The 98-member ensemble now presents nearly 200 programs each year, primarily at its home venue of Orchestra Hall in downtown Minneapolis, and its concerts are heard by live audiences of 400,000 annually.
About the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra:
The Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra is Central Florida’s resident professional orchestra, appearing in more than 125 performances each season. The Philharmonic’s mission is to foster and promote symphonic music through excellence in performance, education and cultural leadership. The Orlando Philharmonic proudly enters its 19th anniversary in the 2011-2012 season, led by Christopher Wilkins in his sixth season as Music Director.
