September 3, 2001 Library of Congress Presents Premiere of New Work by Augusta Read Thomas

Leonard Slatkin will conduct the world premiere of Blizzard in Paradise by Augusta Read Thomas on Wednesday, October 3, at 8 p.m., in the Coolidge Auditorium of the Library's Thomas Jefferson Building. The work, written for members of the cello section of the National Symphony Orchestra, was commissioned by the Kindler Foundation in the Library of Congress.

On the evening of the concert, Ms. Thomas will give a pre-concert talk about her new work at 6 p.m. in the Library's Whittall Pavilion. No tickets are required for this pre-concert event, but tickets are required for the concert, available through TicketMaster.

The cello ensemble will also perform Alexandr Abramovich's Lyrical Fragments; Pierre Boulez's Messagequisse; Igor Stravinsky's Suite Italienne; Richard Klemm's Concert Waltz; and Pastoral-Aria by Bach-Schulman. Soprano Linda Hohenfeld will be featured as soloist in Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5 by Villa-Lobos.

Leonard Slatkin has been the Music Director of the National Symphony Orchestra since 1996; he is internationally acclaimed as one of today's leading conductors and is recognized for his imaginative programming and his interpretations of both the standard and 20th century orchestral and operatic repertoires. Mr. Slatkin has made regular appearances over the last two decades with the major orchestras and opera companies of the world and has made more than 100 recordings with the National Symphony Orchestra, the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, the London Philharmonic and others.

Hans Kindler was the founder, music director and conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra in 1931. His many solo cello performances included the premieres of works by such composers as Ravel and Schoenberg. Established in his honor, the Kindler Foundation has commissioned 49 works over the past 48 years, including Bohuslav Martinu's Sonata No. 3 for Violoncello and Piano, Ralph Shapey's String Trio, and Betsy Jolas's Quatuor III.

At the age of 36, Augusta Read Thomas has produced more than 400 compositions that have been performed by some of the world's finest orchestras and musicians, including the Berlin Philharmonic, the Boston Symphony, the Cleveland Orchestra and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, where she has been composer in residence for three years. She is currently professor of composition at the Eastman School of Music.

Ms. Thomas studied at Northwestern University, Yale University and at the Royal Academy of Music. The list of her awards and prizes includes the Siemens Prize and a recent commission from the Koussevitzky Music Foundation in the Library of Congress. She has been the recipient of honors from ASCAP, BMI, the National Endowment for the Arts, the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, and the Guggenheim Foundation.

Tickets for the October 3 concert can be obtained through TicketMaster by calling (301) 808-6900, (410) 752-1200 or (202) 432-SEAT, with a maximum of two tickets per person. Each ticket will carry a nominal service charge of $2, with additional charges for phone orders and handling. Tickets are also available at TicketMaster outlets; for a complete list, visit the TicketMaster site at www.ticketmaster.com. Although the supply of tickets for some concerts may be exhausted, there are often empty seats at concert time. Interested patrons are encouraged to come to the Library by 6:30 p.m. on concert night to wait in the standby line for no-show tickets.