About the Artists

David Chan, Music Director

As a conductor, Mr. Chan is the Music Director of Camerata Notturna, a role he also serves in for The Montclair Orchestra, a New Jersey-based ensemble noted for its innovative and diverse programming.  He has also directed l'Orchestre Dijon Bourgogne in France, and the festival orchestra of Musique et Vin, which consists of musicians from the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Berlin Philharmonic, and top orchestras in Paris.  As conductor and educator, Mr. Chan works frequently with student orchestras at Juilliard and Mannes conservatories in New York, as well as the Pacific Music Festival in Sapporo, Japan.  Mr. Chan's 2018-19 conducting schedule includes his Carnegie Hall debut, his debut with l'Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège in Belgium, a return engagement with l'Orchestre Dijon Bourgogne, and various concerts in South America and Eastern Europe.

In 2008, combining his love of wine with his passion for music, Mr. Chan co-founded the Musique et Vin au Clos Vougeot festival in the Burgundy region of France. As artistic director of the festival, which pairs wine tastings with musical offerings, Mr. Chan has overseen its growth from a small, intimate gathering to a two-week extravaganza that now attracts icons of classical music as its collaborators, including Yo-Yo Ma, Joyce DiDonato, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Emmanuel Pahud, Menahem Pressler, and Cho-Liang Lin.

A native of San Diego, Mr. Chan began his musical education at the age of four. He made his New York debut in 1995 at Avery Fisher Hall, and his Carnegie Hall debut in 2003.  Mr. Chan received his bachelor's degree from Harvard University, and his master's degree from The Juilliard School.  He is now on faculty at The Juilliard School and the Mannes School of Music, and resides in the New York City area with his wife, violinist Catherine Ro, and their children Annalise, Micah, and Arianna.

David Chan is the concertmaster of the MET Orchestra in New York, a position he has held since 2000 as leader of that renowned ensemble. Widely recognized as a brilliant violinist and one of the leading musicians of his generation, Mr. Chan enjoys a diverse career as conductor, soloist, chamber musician, and teacher. His concerts have taken him to leading stages in North America, Europe, and Asia, appearing as soloist under the baton of such conductors as James Levine and Fabio Luisi. He is highly sought after as a chamber musician, performing regularly at the most prestigious summer festivals as well as throughout the New York City area.

Official Website: davidchanmusic.com

ORION WEISS, PIANO

One of the most sought-after soloists in his generation of young American musicians, the pianist Orion Weiss has performed with the major American orchestras, including the Chicago Symphony, Boston Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, and New York Philharmonic. His deeply felt and exceptionally crafted performances go far beyond his technical mastery and have won him worldwide acclaim.

His 2018-19 season sees him beginning that season with the Lucerne Festival and ending with the Minnesota Orchestra, with performances for the Denver Friends of Chamber Music, the University of Iowa, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the Albany Symphony, the Kennedy Center's Fortas Series, the 92nd Street Y, and the Broad Stage in between. In 2017-18 Orion performed Beethoven's Triple Concerto with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, toured with James Ehnes, and soloed with twelve orchestras around the United States. Other highlights of recent seasons include his third performance with the Chicago Symphony, a North American tour with the world-famous Salzburg Marionette Theater in a performance of Debussy's La Boîte à Joujoux, the release of his recording of Christopher Rouse's Seeing, and recordings of the complete Gershwin works for piano and orchestra with his longtime collaborators the Buffalo Philharmonic and JoAnn Falletta.

Named the Classical Recording Foundation's Young Artist of the Year in September 2010, in the summer of 2011 Weiss made his debut with the Boston Symphony Orchestra at Tanglewood as a last-minute replacement for Leon Fleisher. In recent seasons, he has also performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, National Arts Centre Orchestra, and Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, and in duo summer concerts with the New York Philharmonic at both Lincoln Center and the Bravo! Vail Valley Festival. In 2005, he toured Israel with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Itzhak Perlman.

Also known for his affinity and enthusiasm for chamber music, Weiss performs regularly with the violinists Augustin Hadelich, William Hagen, Benjamin Beilman, James Ehnes, and Arnaud Sussman; the pianist Shai Wosner; and the cellist Julie Albers; and the Ariel, Parker, and Pacifica Quartets. As a recitalist and chamber musician, Weiss has appeared across the U.S. at venues and festivals including Lincoln Center, the Ravinia Festival, Sheldon Concert Hall, the Seattle Chamber Music Festival, La Jolla Music Society SummerFest, Chamber Music Northwest, the Bard Music Festival, the Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival, the Kennedy Center, and Spivey Hall. He won the 2005 William Petschek Recital Award at Juilliard, and made his New York recital debut at Alice Tully Hall that April. Also in 2005 he made his European debut in a recital at the Musée du Louvre in Paris. He was a member of the Chamber Music Society Two program of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center from 2002-2004, which included his appearance in the opening concert of the Society's 2002-2003 season at Alice Tully Hall performing Ravel's La Valse with Shai Wosner.

Weiss's impressive list of awards includesthe Gilmore Young Artist Award, an Avery Fisher Career Grant, the Gina Bachauer Scholarship at the Juilliard School and the Mieczyslaw Munz Scholarship. A native of Lyndhurst, OH, Weiss attended the Cleveland Institute of Music, where he studied with Paul Schenly, Daniel Shapiro, Sergei Babayan, Kathryn Brown, and Edith Reed. In February of 1999, Weiss made his Cleveland Orchestra debut performing Liszt's Piano Concerto No. 1. In March 1999, with less than 24 hours' notice, Weiss stepped in to replace André Watts for a performance of Shostakovich's Piano Concerto No. 2 with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. He was immediately invited to return to the Orchestra for a performance of the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto in October 1999. In 2004, he graduated from the Juilliard School, where he studied with Emanuel Ax.

Kyle Ritenauer, conductor

Acclaimed New York-based conductor Kyle Ritenauer is establishing himself as one of classical and contemporary music’s singular artistic leaders. As founder and artistic director of the Uptown Philharmonic, Ritenauer has earned renown for his detailed and imaginative musicality, and has found further success leading ensembles across North America, Europe, and Asia.

Ritenauer’s 2021 schedule includes regular engagements as guest conductor at the Manhattan School of Music. This summer, he will attend the Aspen Music Festival and School’s Conducting Academy as a Fellow.

An accomplished orchestral percussionist, Ritenauer brings patience and precision to the podium—wisdom gained, perhaps, through meditative contemplation while counting dozens of rests. Appearances as guest conductor include Carnegie Hall’s Ensemble Connect, the Norwalk Symphony, Symphony New Hampshire, and the Juilliard Orchestra. Formerly an apprentice for the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Ritenauer has also served the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra and New Jersey Symphony Orchestra as cover conductor.

Ritenauer has led orchestras in myriad genres, including a collaborations with Broadway superstars Kelli O’Hara and Matthew Morrison, and giants of contemporary music such as Claire Chase and Richard Danielpour. He was particularly honored to conduct a Juilliard School workshop of American Symphony by Jon Batiste, bandleader of the Late Show. Through the Bridge Arts Ensemble which he founded in 2015, Ritenauer curated interactive, grade-specific concerts and workshops for 50,000 students across the Adirondack region of New York state.

As founder and artistic director of the Uptown Philharmonic, Ritenauer captures performances of new and undiscovered works in high quality video, ensuring online visibility beyond their premieres. In one of its more visible collaborations, the ensemble gave the world premiere of Richard Danielpour’s new ballet, Cassandra’s Curse. The work’s performance premiere came in a four-show run at NYC’s Joyce Theater in collaboration with RIOULT Dance NY, while its studio recording was developed with Grammy®-winning sound engineer John Kilgore.

Ritenauer holds a deep fondness for contemporary music, reflected by a performance résumé that includes over 75 world premieres. In 2013, Ritenauer collaborated with the Manhattan School of Music to create a new master’s degree in Contemporary Conducting. Working with the MSM composition department, he led an unprecedented number of premiere performances in collaboration with its students.

A student of Maestro David Robertson, Ritenauer is a recent graduate of The Juilliard School’s Bruno Walter Conducting Program, where he received the Charles Schiff Conducting Prize. He owes much of his development as a musician to the Pierre Monteux School for Conductors, where he studied for nine summers with Michael Jinbo. Other cherished pedagogues include Kurt Masur, Leonard Slatkin, Robert Spano, and Tito Muñoz.