March 3, 2003
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Portland, Ore … On the advice of his doctors, Murry Sidlin is unable to conduct the Oregon Symphony’s March 7 “Beware the Ives of March and Beware the Marches of Ives” Nerve Endings concert. Sidlin was recently involved in a pedestrian accident in Washington, D.C., and while he is expected to recover completely, his doctors have strongly advised against travel at the present time.
“Plus, I just can't work my shoulder right now for conducting,” said Sidlin Friday.
Emil De Cou, who will be elevated from Assistant to Associate Conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra in the fall, will replace Sidlin for the March 7 concert, said Symphony Artistic Administrator Charles Calmer. De Cou is a former conductor of the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra and has guest conducted the Philadelphia, Detroit Symphony and Boston Pops Orchestras, among many others. In 1982 he was chosen from 200 candidates to study in a Leonard Bernstein master class.
“We are very fortunate to secure a conductor of Emil’s caliber on such short notice,” said Calmer. “There are very few conductors who are conversant in the music of Charles Ives, the focus of this Nerve Endings concert, and Emil is definitely one of them. In addition, he is an engaging and witty speaker who will draw the audience into the sound world of the great Americanist Charles Ives.”
De Cou began his tenure with the National Symphony this season. From 1993 to 2001 he served as a primary conductor of the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra, considered one of the finest ballet orchestras in the world. He also has served as principal conductor of the San Francisco Symphony Pops and has edited and performed several unpublished works by American composer Charles T. Griffes.
The charismatic young American, Emil de Cou, epitomizes the versatility and skill sought after in the field of symphonic concerts.
Maestro de Cou commences his duties as Assistant Conductor with the National Symphony Orchestra in the 2002-03 season and will accompany the Orchestra on its American and European tours as well as conducting its summer concerts at Wolf Trap, Carter Barron, a Labor Day performance on the steps of the Capitol, special Concerts in both Constitution Hall and in the National Cathedral as well as a number of family concerts throughout the season.
In the summer of 2002, de Cou guest conducted the Pacific Symphony and Sun Valley Symphony. In the 2001-02 season, in addition to his work with the NSO and prior to his appointment as assistant conductor, he guest conducted the Milwaukee Symphony in a Hitchcock Symphonic Night at the Movies, and he guested also with the Hartford Symphony, Mobile Symphony and the Waterbury Symphony.
In the 2000-2001 season, Maestro de Cou conducted the Detroit Symphony, the Florida Philharmonic and the Queens (NY) Symphony, in addition to the National Symphony. His debut with the Montreal Symphony during the opening of its 1998-1999 season resulted in a re-engagement to conduct an all-Tchaikovsky program during the orchestra’s opening week in 1999-2000. That season also included concerts with the Boston Pops in Symphony Hall as well as concerts with the Philadelphia Orchestra at both the Mann Center for the Performing Arts in Philadelphia and at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center; the Houston Symphony in Bayou Place; and the St. Louis Symphony at Queeny Park. He also conducted the closing outdoor concert at the Spoleto Festival in June 1999 and the San Francisco Symphony on July 4th.
Among the orchestras Maestro de Cou has conducted in the United States are the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Minnesota Orchestra, Utah Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony, Columbus (Ohio) Symphony, Kennedy Center Orchestra, the Orchestra of Chicago's Lyric Opera, San Antonio Symphony, Chattanooga Symphony, the New World Symphony, San Jose Symphony, Oakland Symphony, Louisiana Philharmonic and the Alabama Symphony. In November 1993 he conducted New York's Cosmopolitan Symphony's Tchaikovsky Centennial Concert in Town Hall. Maestro de Cou was Principal Pops Conductor of the San Francisco Symphony for the 1995 and 1996 seasons.
Maestro de Cou was conductor of the San Francisco Ballet from 1993 until 2001 and Acting Music Director since 1998. In February 2000, Arabesque Recordings released Debussy Rediscovered, a recording of Maestro de Cou and the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra performing previously unrecorded works by Claude Debussy, including de Cou’s reconstruction of the original 1887 version of Printemps – Suite Symphonique, for wordless chorus and orchestra (published by Carl Fischer). Billboard lauded it as a “recording that could win many hearts.” De Cou also recorded the Suite from the ballet Othello with the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra. It was composed by Elliot Goldenthal and released on the Varese Sarabande label. In 1998, Maestro de Cou conducted performances of the jointly commissioned work with the San Francisco Ballet and the American Ballet Theatre, which he conducted from 1985 to 1993. In March 2002, he conducted live TV Tapings of Othello with the San Francisco Ballet to be shown on Public Television’s Great Performances in the 2002 –03 television season.
In his ballet capacity, he has conducted orchestras all over the world, including the English Chamber Orchestra, Ulster Orchestra, Scottish National Orchestra, the Tokyo Philharmonic, Polish Radio Orchestra, Royal Danish Opera Orchestra, Palermo Opera Orchestra, Mexico City Symphony and the national orchestras of Argentina, Holland and Romania. During the 1999-2000 season, he conducted the San Francisco Ballet on tour to the Kennedy Center, Orange County (CA), as well as in London and Belfast. And in the 2000-2001 season, he conducted them on another tour to the Kennedy Center and also at the Palais Garnier in Paris in May 2001.
In 1981, Maestro de Cou assumed the post of Assistant Conductor of the Young Musician's Foundation Debut Orchestra in Los Angeles and entered the graduate program of the University of Southern California. In 1982 he was the subject of a documentary on National Public Radio and in that summer, he was chosen from 200 candidates to study in Leonard Bernstein's master class at the Hollywood Bowl.
A champion of American music, Maestro de Cou has edited and performed several unpublished works by Charles T. Griffes that have also been recorded by Koch International and entitled The Kairn of Koridwen.
Emil de Cou was born in Los Angeles. His early training in horn and piano led to studies at age seventeen with Herbert Blomstedt after which he entered the Music Academy of Vienna. There, along with his studies in conducting and composition, he served as Principal Horn of the Baden State Theatre and of the Mozart Opera of Salzburg on its European tour.