Sean Shepherd Previews New Composition for St. Luke's Chamber Ensemble in OSL@DMC Series Today

Orchestra of St. Luke's (OSL) next free OSL@DMC event at The DiMenna Center for Classical Music will feature American composer Sean Shepherd previewing his new commission for St. Luke's Chamber Ensemble. Mr. Shepherd will share his thoughts, insights and inspirations, and members of OSL will play excerpts from his new composition. The world premiere of Mr. Shepherd's Quintet will take place at OSL's next chamber series program, entitled Spin Paris, March 3 - 8, 2013. This is his first composition for OSL.

In a program note for his new commission, Shepherd wrote that his Quintet-written for oboe, clarinet, violin, viola and contrabass-takes as its inspiration a piece by Sergei Prokofiev. Prokofiev lived in Paris during the 1920s and, as Shepherd wrote, "he both absorbed and influenced the work of those, both French and foreign-born, around him. He embraced, for example, both the high restraint of Neoclassicism and the fascination with machines and mechanical environments so thick in the air at the time...As someone who revels in feeling as a close as possible to one's idols, I jumped at the chance to work with this quirky, colorful, versatile group of instruments."

Since opening The DiMenna Center in March 2011, OSL has used its state-of-the-art home to expand community programs. Through its ongoing OSL@DMC series, OSL presents free events that connect audiences to the artistic process of composers and musicians. The series will continue on March 27, 2013 when Maestro Iván Fischer returns to The DiMenna Center for an OSL@DMC open rehearsal of J.S. Bach's St. Matthew Passion to preview his concert with OSL the following evening at Carnegie Hall. The 2012/2013 OSL@DMC series will conclude on April 26, 2013 with a virtual open rehearsal of St. Luke's Chamber Ensemble's Three Part Inventions program hosted by WQXR's Terrance McKnight.

Sean Shepherd: New Work Preview and Q&A is set for tonight, February 28, 2013 at 7:30pm, featuring Orchestra of St. Luke's performers, Alan Kay, clarinet and Krista Bennion Feeney, violin. The concert will take place at The DiMenna Center for Classical Music, Norman S. Benzaquen Hall (first floor), 450 West 37th Street. First-come, first-served seats available 30 minutes before the performance.

Now in its 38th season, Orchestra of St. Luke's (OSL) is one of America's foremost and most versatile ensembles. Dedicated to engaging audiences throughout New York City and beyond, OSL performs approximately 70 orchestral, chamber and educational concerts each year-including an annual orchestra series at Carnegie Hall, an annual chamber music series at The Morgan Library & Museum and Brooklyn Museum, and summer concerts as Orchestra-in-Residence at Caramoor International Music Festival. OSL's Principal Conductor is Pablo Heras-Casado.

OSL collaborates regularly with the world's great artists, such as Renée Fleming, Yo-Yo Ma, Jessye Norman, Anna Netrebko, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Mark Morris Dance Group, Peter Gabriel, Sting, Elton John and many more. In March 2011, OSL opened The DiMenna Center for Classical Music-its first permanent home, and New York City's first rehearsal and recording facility dedicated to classical music. Committed to community-building, OSL produces free concerts in each of the five boroughs as part of its Subway Series, free events devoted to the artistic process as part of its OSL@DMC series at The DiMenna Center and has engaged more than one million people in its Community & Education programs.