Phoenix Symphony’s Enemy Slayer Set For Major Label Release

Naxos to Record World Premiere Performances

PHOENIX (February 7, 2008) – The Phoenix Symphony announced today that Naxos will record the world premiere performances of Enemy Slayer: A Navajo Oratorio on February 7 and 9, 2008 at Symphony Hall. Naxos, a prominent classical recording label, will release the live recording commercially in 2008. Created by Music Alive Composer-in-Residence Mark Grey, Enemy Slayer is an adaptation of a traditional Navajo epic featuring an English and Navajo libretto written by Navajo poet Laura Tohe.  Virginia G. Piper Music Director Michael Christie will lead The Phoenix Symphony, Phoenix Symphony Chorus and baritone soloist Scott Hendricks in the world premiere performances in downtown Phoenix. Enemy Slayer: A Navajo Oratorio represents a tremendous collaboration between The Phoenix Symphony, the contributing artists and the Navajo community.  This recording will be The Phoenix Symphony’s first under Virginia G. Piper Music Director Michael Christie.

“This recording is an excellent representation of The Phoenix Symphony’s devotion to new music and the Symphony’s desire to present works that reflect the heritage of the Southwest,” says Christie.  We are pleased that Naxos shares our vision in presenting this monumental work fusing Navajo culture and symphonic music.”

Previous Phoenix Symphony recordings include releases on the Koch International Classics Label recorded under the direction of former Music Director James Sedares.  The three recordings released between 1991 and 1994 include discs devoted to Aaron Copland, American composers Bernard Herrmann and William Schuman, as well as the Grammy-nominated recording of Elmer Bernstein’s score, The Magnificent Seven.  An additional recording in 1993 under the New World Records label in collaboration with the Meet the Composer Orchestra Residency Series featured former Music Director James Sedares conducting the Second and Third Symphonies of American composer Daniel Asia. 

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About Music Director Michael Christie: Michael Christie begins his third season as the Virginia G. Piper Music Director of The Phoenix Symphony with the 2007-08 season. He also serves as Music Director of the Colorado Music Festival and of the Brooklyn Philharmonic. He has appeared with orchestras across the United States, Europe, and Canada, as well as with the Finnish National Opera, Queensland Opera and Zürich Opera. In 1995, Mr. Christie was awarded a special prize at the First International Sibelius Conductor's Competition. Following the competition, he became an apprentice conductor with the Chicago Symphony. Michael Christie graduated from the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music with a bachelor's degree in trumpet performance. His conducting teachers have included Daniel Barenboim, Robert Spano, Eiji Oue and Peter Jaffe.

About The Phoenix Symphony:  Celebrating its 60th Anniversary Season, The Phoenix Symphony has been proudly serving the citizens of the Phoenix metropolitan area and Arizona since 1947.  What began as an occasional group of musicians performing a handful of concerts each year (in a city of fewer than 100,000 people) today serves more than 300,000 people annually, with 275 concerts and presentations throughout the greater Phoenix area and beyond. 

Under the artistic leadership of Michael Christie as the Virginia G. Piper Music Director and administrative leadership of President Maryellen H. Gleason, the orchestra is overseen by the non-profit Phoenix Symphony Association under Board Chairman Ed Wolf.

The 76-member Phoenix Symphony presents an annual season from September through the beginning of June, featuring full-length classical and pops concerts at Sym­phony Hall in downtown Phoenix, in Scottsdale, in Prescott and throughout central Arizona.  The Symphony performs for more than 50,000 students and children, helping to introduce music to new generations through a variety of education and youth-engagement programs.