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Press Releases

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 1, 2006

ARLINGTON, TEXAS - Metropolitan Classical Ballet will present its Fall Repertory program, the second production of the 2006 / 2007 season on November 14th at the Nancy Lee and Perry R. Bass Performance Hall in Fort Worth at 8:00 PM. It will be accompanied by the Metropolitan Classical Ballet Orchestra under the direction of guest conductor Lowell Liebermann, considered to be one of America’s most frequently performed and commissioned composers.

Mr. Liebermann will conduct the orchestra for the two Balanchine ballets, Apollo, music by Igor Stravinsky and Square Dance, music by Arcangelo Corelli and Antonio Vivaldi. The third ballet of the evening will be Paul Mejia’s Webern Pieces, music by Anton Webern and it will be accompanied by Mr. Liebermann on piano, Eric Grossman on violin and Mr. Eugene Osadchy on cello.

Lowell Liebermann

Mr. Liebermann was born in New York City in 1961, began piano studies at the age of eight, and formal composition studies at fourteen. He made his performing debut two years later at Carnegie Recital Hall, playing his Piano Sonata, Op.1, which he composed when he was fifteen. He holds bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees from the Juilliard School of Music. Among his many awards is a Charles Ives Fellowship from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters. Orchestras worldwide have championed Mr. Liebermann’s works and he has collaborated with numerous distinguished artists who have performed them. In addition to his recent position as Composer-in-Residence to the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Mr. Liebermann filled the same role for Sapporo’s Pacific Music Festival and for the Saratoga Performing Arts Center.

In 2001 Mr. Liebermann was awarded the first American Composers’ Invitational Award by the 11th Van Cliburn Competition after the majority of finalists chose to perform his Three Impromptus, which were selected from works submitted by forty-two contemporary composers. In an interview with newscaster Sam Donaldson, Van Cliburn himself described Mr. Liebermann as “a wonderful pianist and a fabulous composer.” He performed the world premiere of Ned Rorem’s Pas de Trois for Oboe, Violin and Piano at the Saratoga Chamber Music Festival. In 2002 he made his Berlin debut performing his Piano Quintet with members of the Berlin Philharmonic. He can be heard as pianist on the Arabesque CD Songs of Lowell Liebermann with tenor Robert White. His second full-length opera, Miss Lonelyhearts, commissioned by the Juilliard School to celebrate their hundredth anniversary premiered at Lincoln Center in April of 2006.

Liebermann performed for Metropolitan Classical Ballet last season. In October, when he played his D. Minor Sonata for Mr. Mejia’s ballet titled D. Minor and again in January when he played for Mr. Mejia’s world premiere ballet Album For the Young, the title of which was derived from Mr. Liebermann’s album with the same name.

Fall Repertory tickets are available through Bass Performance Hall Ticket Office at (817) 212-4280; toll free at (877) 212-4280, or on the web at www.basshall.com. Tickets are also available through Metropolitan Classical Ballet's administration office located at 500 West Abram in Arlington, or by calling (817) 275-0598.

Programming and program order are subject to change without notice.

Metropolitan Classical Ballet’s 2006 / 2007 Season is made possible in part by its generous sponsors: the University of Texas at Arlington, American Airlines, and the law firm of Hill Gilstrap.

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Media Note: Further information may be obtained by contacting Deborah Barr at (817) 465-4644. Information can also be found on Metropolitan Classical Ballet's website www.mcballet.org .