Tchaikovsky & Chaminade
Avlana Eisenberg, conductor & Music Director Finalist
Anthony Trionfo, flute
STILL Can’t You Line ‘Em
GRIFFES Poem for Flute and Orchestra
CHAMINADE Concertino for Flute
TCHAIKOVSKY Symphony No. 5
Avlana Eisenberg, conductor
Anthony Trionfo, flute
Benefiting YWCA Cambridge
PLEASE NOTE: This concert will take place at MIT’s Kresge Auditorium in Cambridge, MA.
This concert is graciously sponsored by Judith and James Barr.
About the Community Partner
YWCA Cambridge is a cornerstone for providing safe, affordable accommodations for women and families and an advocate for human rights. With 103 units of single room occupancy (SRO) housing for single women and a 10-room shelter for homeless families, the YWCA is the city’s largest residential housing provider for women.
YWCA Cambridge is dedicated to eliminating racism, empowering women, and promoting peace, justice, freedom and dignity for all. Learn more >>
About the Music Director Finalist
Avlana Eisenberg, conductor
Acclaimed conductor Avlana Eisenberg is a passionately committed advocate for emerging and underrepresented American composers, new works, and making symphonic music accessible for all. Hailed as “an imaginative and enterprising conductor,” she is Music Director of the Boston Chamber Symphony and has led orchestras throughout the United States, Europe, and the United Kingdom.
Eisenberg’s discography includes recordings with the Budapest Symphony Orchestra MAV and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. This May, Naxos released her world premiere recording, William Grant Still: Summerland, with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. Praised as “stunning” by The New York Times and selected as Album of the Week by SiriusXM, the recording includes 13 world premieres of orchestral music by Still, who was known as the “Dean of Afro-American Composers” during his lifetime but largely neglected since his death in 1978. ClassicalCDs.com notes, “This composer could not have better advocates than what we have here. The playing of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra is superbly accomplished and musically involving, and they are expertly led by Avlana Eisenberg.” Eisenberg’s earlier recording of violin concertos of Sibelius and Barber and the world premiere recording of Ben-Haim’s Three Songs Without Words with the Budapest Symphony Orchestra MAV and violinist Zina Schiff was hailed as “persuasive” and “finely balanced” by Gramophone Magazine, and “strongly recommended” by Fanfare. Her upcoming releases include an all-Hovhaness album with the Salzburg Chamber Soloists and a recording of works by Ravel and Ben-Haim with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra.
As Music Director of the Boston Chamber Symphony, Eisenberg has been credited with extending and deepening their impact in the community by making symphonic music accessible and riveting for audiences of all ages and backgrounds. In addition to mainstage and educational concerts, she has brought music to the community in non-traditional venues, including WBUR Radio-sponsored concerts in a local brewery, and the Boston Chamber Symphony’s Healing Arts Initiative in collaboration with Harvard’s Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center to bring symphonic music to hospital staff, patients, and families. Committed to amplifying diverse compositional voices, Eisenberg and the Boston Chamber Symphony developed the “Sounds of America” series to showcase the life and music of underrepresented American composers. Their debut video, released in 2021, features a multimedia performance of “Can’t You Line ‘Em” by William Grant Still. In demand as a guest conductor, Eisenberg has also performed with ensembles at noted summer festivals including the Edinburgh Festival, the Aspen Music Festival, and the Festival at Sandpoint, and in such venues as the Mozarteum, the Hungarian Radio Hall, and the Granada Theater.
Eisenberg regularly champions the work of contemporary composers, such as Kevin Puts, Faye Chiao, and David Biedenbender. She has conducted dozens of world premieres and served as conductor for the Juventas New Music Ensemble—a group that exclusively performs works by young composers. Eisenberg has also commissioned new works, including Banding Together, an operatic adaptation of Musicians of Bremen, the popular Brothers Grimm fairytale, which was premiered by the Boston Chamber Symphony at a sold-out family concert.
Recipient of a Fulbright Fellowship to work at the Paris National Opera, Eisenberg received her undergraduate degree at Yale University, where she founded and conducted the Silliman Symphony and was named one of Glamour Magazine’s Top Ten College Women for her stellar academic record and strong leadership skills. She earned graduate degrees in Orchestral Conducting from the University of Michigan and the Peabody Institute, and has participated in masterclasses by such renowned conductor-pedagogues as Michael Tilson Thomas, David Zinman, Gerard Schwarz, Marin Alsop, and Larry Rachleff. A violinist by training, Eisenberg’s primary teacher was Heifetz protégé Erick Friedman.
About the Soloist
Photo by Matt Dine
Anthony Trionfo, flute
Anthony (Toney) Trionfo has performed as a soloist with the Edmonton Symphony, ProMusica Chamber Orchestra, the “President’s Own” Marine Band, McCall Festival Orchestra, and the Stockton Symphony. Recently, he has given recitals at the Morgan Library and Museum in New York, Festival de Ibagué in Colombia, Colgate University, and the Brownville Concert Series. He also frequently appears with the Jupiter Chamber Players in New York City. This season, Anthony makes his concerto debuts with the Grant Park Festival Orchestra, Riverside Symphony, and Gulf Coast Symphony Orchestra, in addition to providing educational residencies for the Juilliard School, Artists Series Concerts of Sarasota, Ithaca College, Clarion Concerts, and Abbey Church Events.
Anthony won First Prize at the 2016 Young Concert Artists International Auditions. In 2018, he debuted in the YCA Series at New York’s Merkin Concert Hall and Washington DC’s Kennedy Center along with pianist Albert Cano Smit, premiering a new work by YCA Composer-in-Residence Katherine Balch.
Anthony began studying the flute at age eleven before appearing as a concerto soloist for the first time when he was fourteen, performing with the Las Vegas Philharmonic. He is a recipient of the Jack Kent Cooke Young Artist Award, and won the Alexander & Buono International Flute and National YoungArts Foundation Competitions. Additional recitals include performances at Chamber on the Mountain, Iowa State University, Florida State University, Southern Adventist University, Saint Vincent College, the Levine School of Music, and Port Washington Library.
Committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion work within the field of classical music, Anthony has made a purpose of bringing music to all. In 2020, Anthony co-curated “Learning to Listen: A discussion addressing the nuances of the Black experience within classical music” in addition to the Sphinx Organization’s “Illuminate!” series along with Steven Banks and Randall Goosby. Anthony is also a creator of the Umoja Flute Institute, a non-profit organization dedicated to providing flutists of African descent with the tools needed to succeed and thrive at all levels of music making. He is a faculty member with MusicAlly, an international virtual learning platform that provides musical instruction to all interested students, regardless of their financial needs, and serves on the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee for the Aspen Music Festival and School.
Anthony completed both his master’s and bachelor’s degrees from the Colburn School Conservatory of Music in Los Angeles, California under the tutelage of James Walker, former principal flute of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. While at Colburn, he was named a Teaching Fellow and studied the art of pedagogy under Dr. Robert Duke. He completed his high school studies at the Interlochen Arts Academy in Interlochen, Michigan as a student of Nancy Stagnitta. He has had additional studies with Nadine Asin, Timothy Day, Dr. Megan Lanz, Emmanuel Pahud, and Mark Sparks.
You can learn more about Anthony by visiting him at his website, Trionfoflute.com or on Instagram @Toneyflute
Audience Health and Safety
Longwood Symphony, at its core, is deeply committed to the health and safety of our audience, musicians and staff.
Guests must be fully vaccinated again COVID-19. Masks are recommended.
All audience members must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 (including a BOOSTER for all who are eligible). Ushers will no longer be checking for vaccination proof upon arrival. Please visit our Health & Safety Guidelines page for more details and to review additional protocols.
Exchanges and ticket donations can be made up to 24 hours in advance of the originally ticketed concert date by emailing info@longwoodsymphony.org or calling 617-987-0100. We cannot guarantee the same seats will be available for the exchanged concert. Refunds will be offered if you are unable to exchange or donate. Subject to availability.
Discounts for groups of 10 or more are available. Please contact info@longwoodsymphony.org or call 617-987-0100 to arrange.
All programs are subject to change.