Naxos Names Angel Gil-Ordonez Artist of the Week

Classical music leader Naxos published a close-up feature on the Post-Classical Ensemble's musical director, Angel Gil-Ordonez on its website to help celebrate its DVD re-issue of the 1939 classic film The City, with music by Aaron Copland.

Washington Post: Mexican Odyssey review

The Washington Post wrote about the Post-Classical Ensemble:

...The real attractions of the program [were] more contemporary works for chamber ensemble. Mario Lavista's "Three Secular Dances" explored otherworldly sounds of the cello, performed ably by Evelyn Elsing with the sotto voce but frenetic shadowing of pianist Naoko Takao. Ana Lara's "Serenata" was a noise collision for 10 instruments.

Click on The Washington Post logo to read the full article (Saturday, November 8, 2008):

VOA Reviews PCE's 'Memorable' Mexican Odyssey

Post-Classical's Scary Children's Concert: Carnival of Creatures

The Washington Post reports that the Post-Classical Ensemble will help the Strathmore with a performance called "Carnival of Creatures: A Scary Family Concert."

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P-CE helps Strathmore Celebrate with Carnival of Creatures

The Baltimore Sun reported that the Post-Classical Ensemble will help the Strathmore celebrate its silver anniversary with a performance called "Carnival of the Creatures" on October 26, 2008.

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Carnival of the Creatures announced

The Baltimore Sun's Critical Mass blog announced the Post-Classical Ensemble's performance, "Carnival of the Creatures" at the Strathmore on October 26, 2008.

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Financial Times: Post-Classical Ensemble Has "Verve"

The Financial Times reported "The performance under the conductor Angel Gil-Ordóñez had verve" when reviewing the P-CE's performance "Artists in Exile" at the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, Maryland.

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YouTube.com: Post-Classical Ensemble's The Plow That Broke the Plain

Washington Post: "Such Ardor"

The Washington Post reviewed "Free to Sing: The Story of the First African-American Opera Company."

The Post had this to say about the Post-Classical Ensemble:

It was also utterly charming, so lovingly cast and accompanied with such ardor by Angel Gil-Ordonez and the Post-Classical Ensemble that it would have taken a curmudgeon to resist its appeal.

Click on The Washington Post logo to read the full article (Monday, February 18, 2008; Page C01):

Baltimore Sun: Free to Sing "Thoroughly Persuasive, Classy"

The Baltimore Sun reviewed "Free to Sing: The Story of the First African-American Opera Company," saying, "It was a thoroughly persuasive, classy performance that paid fitting tribute to the forgotten Eichberg and the little-known ensemble of black singers that made its bold mark with his music more than a century ago."

The Sun had this to say about the Post-Classical Ensemble:

The orchestra of the Post-Classical Ensemble played with an admirable sheen. Conductor Angel Gil-Ordonez brought to the score delightful rhythmic flexibility and lyrical nuance.

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Washington Times: "Lively... Almost Mischievous"

The Washington Times reviewed "Free to Sing: The Story of the First African-American Opera Company," which featured the first performance of the operetta "The Doctor of Alcantara" in 100 years.

The Times said:

There was fine comic interplay and often superb singing ... But much of the evening's pleasure came from the Post-Classical Ensemble and its expressively kinetic conductor, Angel Gil-Ordonez, who turned in lively, detailed and almost mischievous playing, making this work seem as fresh as it must have more than a century ago — back in the first heady years of freedom.

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Free to Sing at Strathmore

The Carroll County Times reports on the upcoming performance "Free to Sing" at the Strathmore in Bethesda, MD, for which the Post-Classical Ensemble will be performing the score.

"It's one of the most interesting stories reflecting both Washington, D.C.'s and America's cultural heritage," the newspaper says. "It's also one of the most rarely told."

"Free to Sing" is the inspiring story of the Colored American Opera Company, the first black opera troupe in the United States. It includes a performance of Julius Eichberg's American operetta "The Doctor of Alcantara," as well as a recently discovered John Philip Sousa work.

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Washington Post: Best Bets - Free to Sing

The Washington Post has listed "Free to Sing" on its Best Bets list -- see article.

Washington Examiner: Free to Sing

The Washington Examiner reports on "Free to Sing" at the Strathmore - read article.

Washington Post: Save the Date - Free to Sing

The Washington Post has listed "Free to Sing" on its "Save the Date" list -- read the article.

Smithsonian Looks at Free to Sing

The Smithsonian's magazine looks at the upcoming production "Free to Sing" -- read article.

Washington Post: P-CE "liberated Copland's score"

The Washington Post sings praise for the Post-Classical Ensemble's live musical performance of Aaron Copland's score during the screening of The City (Sunday, October 14, 2007, at UMD's Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center):

The live performance liberated Copland's score from the film's low-fidelity recording and made the music an equal partner with the film's images and words, presenting dated propaganda but with considerable dramatic power. The Post-Classical Ensemble synced precisely with the film (a challenge Gil-Ordonez likened to "conducting an opera where the singers are robots") and vividly rendered Copland's striking music.

Click on The Washington Post logo to read the full article (Tuesday, October 16, 2007; Page C03):

Washington Post: No Coats, Ties or Stuffed Shirts

Watch out, Washington, warns The Washington Post -- as it piles on pre-performance praise for the Post-Classical Ensemble's live musical performance of Aaron Copeland's score during the screening of The City (Sunday, October 14, 2007, at UMD's Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center):

"We insist on moving outside the parameters of classical music." The result: unpredictable, idea-rich concerts designed to challenge the audience. Post-Classical is still well off the beaten path, but audiences are starting to grow -- and they're as diverse, says [Joseph] Horowitz, as the music itself...

[Angel] Gil-Ordonez... [i]s a kinetic performer onstage, using his entire body to guide the ensemble. His conversation is just as animated... He says, classical music needs to recover the freewheeling atmosphere it had before it became, well, classical. "When you went to a concert 200 years ago, it was the event of the week. You were there to meet your friends, to talk -- even during performances! At the premiere of Beethoven's Ninth, people jumped up shouting in the second movement: Aarrgghhhh! Like Mick Jagger!

"And this is the key: We have to recover this sense of spontaneity. I am still hoping somebody in the audience will just sing aloud some of the music while I'm conducting."

Click on The Washington Post logo to read the full article (Friday, October 12, 2007; Page M05):

Baltimore Sun: Bringing 'The City' back to life

The Baltimore Sun's music critic Tim Smith heralded the P-CE's live performance of Aaron Copland's score alongside the 1939 World's Fair film documentary The City.

Smith notes:

That's still not all. After the presentation, the audience will get to step, you might say, directly into the film itself. The movie's last sequence, promoting a new kind of model city built from scratch, includes footage of one such place - Greenbelt, which this year celebrates the 70th anniversary of its creation under the guidance of the Resettlement Administration during the era of the New Deal. After the screening of The City, there will be a field trip by bus to Greenbelt for a panel discussion and dessert reception.

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Naxos: Artist of the Week: Angel Gil-Ordonez

Classical music leader Naxos published a close-up feature on the Post-Classical Ensemble's musical director, Angel Gil-Ordonez on its website.

Naxos notes:

Angel Gil-Ordóñez has attained an outstanding reputation among Spain’s new generation of conductors as he carries on the tradition of his teacher and mentor, Sergiu Celibidache...

In 2006, the King of Spain awarded Mr. Gil-Ordóñez the country’s highest civilian decoration, the Royal Order of Queen Isabella, which is equivalent to a knighthood, for his work in advancing Spanish culture in the world, in particular for performing and teaching Spanish music in its cultural context.

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Angel Gil-Ordonez Among WDC Chefs

Super Chef online magazine cited P-CE musical director Angel Gil-Ordonez among those important to Washington, DC-based chef and restaurateur Jose Andres.

Chef Andres had been listed among this year's Power 150 in the October issue of Washingtonian Magazine.