PostClassical: April 5 - 'Music from Paradise' - Part 1

William McGlaughlin’s introduction to music came late; he was fourteen before he took his first piano lessons. "Happily, I understood immediately what a wonderful thing I’d stumbled into. I can remember thinking as I walked away from my second piano lesson — "Well, that’s it. I’ll be a musician. Of course, I had no idea what that decision meant exactly."

Joseph Horowitz is an author, concert producer, and teacher. He is one of the most prominent and widely published writers on topics in American music. As an orchestral administrator and advisor, he has been a pioneering force in the development of thematic programming and new concert formats.

Music Director PostClassical Ensemble The former Associate Conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra of Spain, PostClassical Ensemble Music Director Angel Gil-Ordóñez has conducted symphonic music, opera and ballet throughout Europe, the United States and Latin America.In the United States, he has appeared with the American Composers Orchestra, Opera Colorado, the Pacific Symphony, the Hartford Symphony, the Brooklyn Philharmonic, the Orchestra of St. Luke’s and the National Gallery Orchestra in Washington. Abroad, he has been heard with the Munich Philharmonic, the Solistes de Berne, at the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival and at the Bellas Artes National Theatre in Mexico City. In the summer of 2000, he toured the major music festivals of Spain with the Valencia Symphony Orchestra in the Spanish premiere of Leonard Bernstein’s Mass. Born in Madrid and an American citizen since 2009, he worked closely with Sergiu Celibidache in Germany for more than six years. He also studied with Pierre Boulez and Iannis Xenakis in France. Currently the Music Director of Post-Classical Ensemble in Washington, D.C.. He also serves as advisor for education and programming for Trinitate Philharmonia, a program in León, Mexico, modeled on Venezuela’s El Sistema, conducting its youth orchestra and choir several weeks per year. A specialist in the Spanish repertoire, Mr. Gil-Ordóñez has recorded four CDs devoted to Spanish composers, in addition to Post-Classical Ensemble’s Virgil Thomson and Copland CD/DVDs on Naxos (Artist of the Week for both releases). In 2006, the King of Spain awarded Mr. Gil-Ordóñez the country’s highest civilian decoration, the Royal Order of Queen Isabella, for his work in advancing Spanish culture around the world, in particular for performing and teaching Spanish music in its cultural context. Mr. Gil-Ordóñez received a WAMMIE award in 2011 from the Washington DC association of professional musicians in the category of best conductor. Currently, Mr. Gil-Ordóñez also holds the positions of Principal Guest Conductor of New York’s Perspectives Ensemble, and Music Director of the Georgetown University Orchestra in DC.