Constantine Kitsopoulos leads gala fund-raiser
for Queens Symphony Orchestra
Wednesday, May 12th 2010, 4:00 AM
Farriella for News, Christie, M.
Music Director for the Queens Symphony Orchestra, Constantine Kitsopoulos, in
Related News
·
Scandal-mongers trying to make Gov. Paterson quit, says
wife
·
Louis: Wolfe, 95, keeps the NYCHA orchestra humming along
·
Broadway stars toast Sondheim for 80th
·
Michel Camilo and Danny Rivera,
a pair of musical aces
·
Peter Gabriel's quiet thunder rolls into Radio City
·
Broadway stars performing tunes from "Evita," "Man of La Mancha" and Stephen Sondheim's Company provided a sonic call
to arms for the Queens Symphony Orchestra's first gala in
five years.
Constantine Kitsopoulos,
the orchestra's music director, pulled out all the stops for Saturday's
fund-raiser at Terrace on the Park in Flushing.
It was an opportunity to court donors amid a Great
Recession, when many arts groups are feeling the pinch.
"This to me feels like a new beginning," said Kitsopoulos, 51, a veteran of Broadway as well as classical
music recital halls.
The guests included a healthy showing of potential corporate
and individual donors. The 57-year-old orchestra currently relies on public
funds, but is trying to broaden its base and attract more private donors.
"Since we haven't done a gala in five
years. I feel that we've been off the radar of corporations who give every year,"
said Lynda Herndon, the orchestra's executive director.
The gala was a way to remind private donors and community
members that the orchestra still serves the borough as its only professional
orchestra, she said.
The gala was the first since Kitsopoulos
came onboard in 2006 and will continue now as an annual event, officials said.
Herb Chain, the orchestra's board president, said that when
it comes to cutbacks, arts organizations are often the "first to feel the
pain."
One of the orchestra's signature masterwork concerts can
cost $50,000 to $75,000 to produce, Chain said, while generating at best about
$5,000 in ticket sales.
Planning for the 2011-12 season is already underway and Kitsopoulos, known as an innovator, will be commissioning a
work called "A Thousand and One Voices, A Symphony for
"Ultimately, the exploration of all of these elements
can lead to better understanding between people," Kitsopoulos
said.
It is just this kind of creative vision that has earned the
admiration of people such as City
Controller John Liu, the gala's honoree and a former orchestra board
member.
"I just love this organization, it is always looking to
use the universal language of music to bring people together," Liu told
the Daily News.