Delaware County Symphony
Sebastian Grand, Music Director
SOLOISTS
Joseph Lorini trained as an orchestral trumpet player at Ithaca College and the Manhattan School of Music. He has been continuously active performing in regional orchestras, small ensembles, theater orchestras, and jazz groups. “Classical orchestral composing has emerged later in my life after years of composing and arranging in the jazz field. My composing continues to be inspired by the sound possibilities, emotional depth, and musical colors uniquely available from the symphony orchestra.”
His current catalogue includes pieces in a variety of compositional forms including overture, tone poem, dance suite, and theme and variations. Many of these have been performed in the last few years by the Immaculata University Orchestra, Rose Tree Pops Orchestra, Chester County Pops Orchestra, and now the Delaware County Symphony. For this concert, Delaware County Symphony is performing Lorini’s Variations on Ravel’s Piece en Forme de Habanera. This is the world premiere of this piece.
Joseph Lorini
Anna Kislitsyna
Pianist and harpsichordist Anna Kislitsyna made her solo debut at age 10 with the Omsk Symphony Orchestra. She remains in high demand as a soloist, collaborative pianist, and educator. Recent season highlights include five new CD productions with PARMA Recordings and two release concerts in Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall; performing Haydn and Shostakovich Piano Concertos with Helena Symphony, and Beethoven's Triple Concerto with Southeastern Pennsylvania Symphony Orchestra. Additionally, Dr. Kislitsyna has performed at The Kimmel Center, The Academy of Music in Philadelphia, Rachmaninov Hall of Moscow Conservatory, and Alfred Cortot Hall of Paris Conservatory.
As a recording artist, she has completed a piano solo CD of contemporary music (Piano Spectrum) with the premier concert at Carnegie Hall (2022), as well as eight contemporary chamber music CD's (MOTO series) as the pianist of Trio Casals on the PARMA Recordings Label. She has won prizes in multiple international competitions including Global Music Awards (2020 and 2022), the Lautard-Chetchenko Competition in France, International Chamber Music Competition in Finland, the Los Angeles International Liszt Competition, and Chopin International Piano Competition in Connecticut. From 2002-2012 she served as a soloist in residence with the Omsk Symphony Orchestra.
As a collaborative pianist, Anna performs recitals with principal players of the Philadelphia Orchestra, and has worked with the University of Delaware, Haverford College, West Chester University, Temple University, the Primavera Fund, Harmony for Peace Foundation, and PMAY Artists Initiative, Ictus International Music Competition, and National Trumpet Competition. Dr. Kislitsyna is currently on the faculty at Haverford College, the Nelly Berman School of Music, and the Philadelphia International Music Festival. She frequently serves as a jury member at international piano competitions and has given masterclasses internationally. Her students are prize winners of more than 150 international piano competitions.
In recital, Anna Kislitsyna is known for her experimental programs, juxtaposing works by contemporary composers with Baroque music and traditional classical repertoire. She enjoys working with living composers and premieres multiple new works for piano solo and chamber ensemble. As a researcher, Dr. Kislitsyna has published a dissertation on Alfred Schnittke’s Concerto for Piano and Strings, as well as articles on the music of Olivier Messiaen, Sergei Prokofiev, Domenico Scarlatti, J.S. Bach, and Rodion Shchedrin.
In 2018 she completed her D.M.A at Temple University (PA). She is from the studio of Dr. Charles Abramovic on Piano, Dr. Joyce Lindorff on Harpsichord, and Pr. Lambert Orkis on chamber music. Prior to her studies at Temple University, Anna completed her Postgraduate Course-work in Piano Performance at the Novosibirsk State Conservatory in Russia with the dissertation on Olivier Messiaen’s “Vingt regards sur l'Enfant-Jésus,” where she also earned a Master Degree and Bachelor Degree with her primary teachers being Pr. Larisa Smeshko and Pr. Mary Lebenzon. Additionally, she holds a Master Degree from West Chester University (PA) where she studied with Dr. Igor Resnianski.
Jordan Dodson
Jordan Dodson, described by Performance Today as “one of the top young guitarists of his generation,” is a musician and educator. A passionate advocate of contemporary music, Dodson has given the premiere of hundreds of new works. In 2013 he was the first guitarist to graduate from the Curtis Institute of Music’s new guitar program. In the same year he won Astral Artists’ National Auditions and was selected to be Young Artist in Residence on American Public Media.
He recently appeared as soloist with the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia with the premiere of Andrea Clearfield’s new concerto, Glow. He plays in several New York City chamber ensembles including the Metropolis Ensemble and the New York City Guitar Quartet, and frequently collaborates with the International Contemporary Ensemble, Curtis on Tour, the American Modern Opera Company, Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players, and Contemporaneous. He has performed alongside such musicians as Roberto Díaz, Anne Marie-McDermott, and Ransom Wilson.
Dodson has appeared on several commercially available recordings including Jason Eckardt’s Subject. His most recent recordings are Elliot Cole’s Nightflower and Journals, vol. 1. As collaborator with American Modern Opera Company, he has helped create the guitar part for a new arrangement of John Adams’ El Niño, which will receive its premiere in France in 2024.
Originally from Columbus, Ohio, Dodson is on faculty at EzraGuitar and The Smith School in New York City. He has given many masterclasses and lectures and holds degrees from the Curtis Institute of Music, the Manhattan School of Music, and the University of Cincinnati, and his teachers have included Clare Callahan, David Starobin, and Jason Vieaux.
Jordan is endorsed by Oasis strings and plays a Gary Lee guitar.
Kai Freeman
Kai Freeman is a 10th grader at Indiana University High School. He is currently the Assistant Concertmaster of the Philadelphia Youth Orchestra and performs in the Braverman String Quartet as a scholarship recipient in the Settlement Music School’s Advanced Study Program.
As the winner of their Young Artists Competitions, Kai has appeared as soloist with Ambler Symphony, Rowan University’s String Ensemble and Warminster Symphony, and this season he will perform as soloist with the Old York Road Symphony and the Delaware County Symphony. In the 2021-22 season Kai was the concertmaster of the Philadelphia Young Artists Orchestra and won the ensemble’s Eighth Annual Young Artists Solo Competition with his performance of Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto. In previous seasons, he has participated in a number of ensembles including PRYSM and PRYSM Young Artists, the Chamber Players Orchestra at Temple University's Center for Gifted Young Musicians, All South Jersey String Ensemble, and the Settlement Music School’s Trimingham Piano Trio.
In the summer of 2023, Kai was one of the two violinists representing the U.S. in the Verbier Festival Junior Orchestra in Switzerland, where he looks forward to returning this summer. In the past summers Kai has attended Carnegie Hall’s NYO2 program, Boston University’s Tanglewood Institute, Heifetz Program for Exceptionally Gifted, the Mann Center’s All City Orchestra Summer Academy, Point Counterpoint, the Philadelphia International Music Festival, and the inaugural Suzuki Conventions of the Americas in Cancun, Mexico.
In 2023, Kai was named the inaugural Peter Benoliel and Willo Carey Springboard Grant Winner by the Bruce Montgomery Foundation for the Arts. In the past seasons Kai won first prizes in the Junior division of New Jersey Music Teachers Association’s Young Musicians Competition and Triumph Music Festival’s Concerto Competition.
Kai began playing the violin at the age of four under Gerry Rice and currently studies with Amy Oshiro-Morales of The Philadelphia Orchestra. He has also studied with J Freivogel of the Jasper String Quartet and Francesca de Pasquale. Aside from playing the violin, Kai plays trumpet and enjoys reading and watching movies.