Athenaeum Pops Orchestra concert program

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he Athenaeum Pops Orchestra
with Music Director Jose Valencia
Circle Center - Artsgarden
September 22, 2007, 1:00 p.m.
Brigadoon Frederick Loewe
arr. Victor Lamont
Pizzicato Polka from Ballet Sylvia Leo. Delibes
arr. Chas. J. Roberts
Emperor Waltz Joh. Strauss
Autumn Leaves J. Mercer, J. Prevert, J. Kosma
arr. Alfred Reed
Flower Drum Song Richard Rodgers
arr. Robert Russell Bennett
The King and I Richard Rodgers
arr. Robert Russell Bennett
Beer Barrel Polka L. Brown, J. Vejvoda
arr. A. Grill
History of The Athenaeum Pops Orchestra
The original Athenaeum Orchestra was organized as a zither
ensemble in the 1870's. About 1875 Emil Wulschner organized
the group as an orchestra first known as The Musicverien. All the
members were the finest German musicians in the city and
spoke only German. From 1897 to 1918 this group was
considered the finest orchestra in Indianapolis. Due to anti-
German sentiment, The Musicverien was disbanded in 1918. In
1930 when the Indianapolis Symphony was organized, several
members of the old Musicverien became its charter members.
Constantine G. Borshoff organized the Athenaeum Turners
Orchestra in 1940. Former conductors of the Turners Orchestra
include David W. Hughes, Jackson Whiley, Edward Staubach
and Dr. Charles Conrad.
The orchestra was reorganized in 1995 as the Athenaeum
Pops Orchestra under the direction of Benjamin Winkler. It was
later conducted by Richard Marcus, Peter Heins, and Richard
Moon.
Jose Valencia, Music Director
Jose Valencia is the current Music Director!
of the Athenaeum Pops Orchestra of Indianapolis. He also conducts Orkestra Projekt and was
recently appointed as Music Director of the
Kokomo Symphony Orchestra. He has been Assistant Conductor of the Marion Philharmonic
Orchestra in Marion, Indiana and coached the
Indianapolis Opera chorus in its first Russian
language production of Tchaikovsky's opera, Eugene Onegin.
In 2000, Jose was one of eight international conductors who
competed in the 2000 Fourth International Karelia-Sochi Conducting Competition and Masterclass held in Russia. The competition was juried by Oleg Proskurnya, Konstantin Saltikov,
Oleg Soldatov and Andrei Danilov, all students of the great Russian maestro llya Musin of the St. Petersburg Conservatory. As
grand prizewinner, Mr. Valencia returned to the Sochi Philharmonic Symphony as Principal Guest Conductor for four concerts
in the 2001 - 2002 season.
He has earned two Masters Degrees in Music at Butler University, one in violin performance and the other in orchestral conducting. His teachers at Butler University included Stanley
DeRusha and Janna Hymes-Bianchi, the Assistant Conductor
with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. Since then, he has
been guest conductor of the Butler Symphony Orchestra, Jordan
Sinfonia, and has conducted the American String Teacher's Association All-Region Festival Orchestra in central Indiana.
His conducting studies have also included such experiences
as:
• the American Symphony Orchestra League Conducting
Workshop where he conducted the San Francisco Youth
Symphony and was evaluated by David Loebel, Raymond
Harvey, Alisdair Neal, Apo Hsu, and Gustav Meier,
• the Conductor's Institute at Hartt School of Music, under the
tutelage of conductors Harold Farberman and Jeffrey
Schindier,
• and the Conductor's Retreat at Medomak with Kenneth
Keisier, Gunther Schuller, David Epstein, and Loren Hollander.