The concert is on for tonight, however, there is a chance for some popup thunderstorms. Summertime in Wisconsin!
Concert Highlights:
GERSHWIN | Strike Up the Band Overture
TCHEREPNIN | Harmonica Concerto
ARR. CUSTER | Themes from 007
GERSHWIN (ARR. KNIGHT) | Suite George
Robert Bonfiglio Biography
Called "the Paganini of the Harmonica" by The Los Angeles Times, ROBERT BONFIGLIO has dazzled audiences at Carnegie Hall, the Hollywood Bowl, the Gewandhaus, Teatro Colón, Teatro Massimo, Teatro Amazonas, Kennedy Center, Boston Symphony Hall, Lincoln Center and throughout the world with his ability to play : Harmonica Concertos and turn right around and “sizzle” on the 'Blues’.
Robert has appeared on “CBS Sunday Morning,” “CBS Morning Show,” “Live with Regis and Kathy Lee,” “Larry King,” "The Jim Bohannon Show" and Garrison Keillor’s “American Radio Show.” He has had feature stories and reviews in the New York Times, the Boston Globe, the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post and the Chicago Tribune.
BONFIGLIO performed recent debuts with the Pittsburgh Symphony, the National Symphony at Kennedy Center, and the Louisville Orchestra. This season includes the Villa-Lobos Harmonica Concerto with the Galicia Symphony under Enrique Diemecke plus a tour with Musica Vitae in Sweden and the Rockford Symphony in the USA.
This season also includes a Lincoln Center performance of the Henry Cowell Harmonica Concerto with the American Symphony Orchestra under Maestro Leon Botstein. He performed the world premiere of the Henry Cowell Harmonica Concerto with the Brooklyn Philharmonic under the great Lucas Foss and the West Coast premiere with David Alan Miller and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. He has also premiered works by Rodrigo, Arnold Black, Richard Einhorn, Eric Knight and Sir George Martin.
Robert Bonfiglio has appeared as a soloist with Skitch Henderson and the New York Pops at Carnegie Hall, John Williams and the Boston Pops on PBS, John Mauceri and the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, with Fabio Luisi and the MDR Orchestra at the Leipzig Gewandhaus and Theo Alcantara and the Buenos Aires Philharmonic at the Teatro Colón.
At City Center he performed Vilem Tausky's "Concertino" for Harmonica and Chamber Orchestra while ballet stars Cynthia Gregory and Fernando Bujones danced the pas de deux choreographed by Lynne Taylor-Corbett.
BONFIGLIO has been a concerto soloist with leading orchestras around the world including the Minnesota Orchestra, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, the Orchestra of the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, the Luxembourg Philharmonic, the Leipzig M D R-Radio Symphony, the Hong Kong Philharmonic, Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, the Madrid Radio Television Española Orchestra, Real Orquesta Sinfónica de Sevilla, the Estonia National Symphony, Edmonton Symphony, the Mexico City Philharmonic, as well as the Milwaukee Symphony, the Indianapolis Symphony, Oregon Symphony, Utah Symphony and the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
He has worked under such great conductors as Fabio Luisi, Fabio Mechetti, Giancarlo Guerrero, Lucas Foss, Eri Klas and Pinchas Steinberg, Gerard Schwarz, Lucas Vis, Jorge Mester, Theo Alcantara, Robert Bernhardt, JoAnn Falletta, Maximiano Valdes, Andrew Sewell, Bruce Ferden, Giséle Ben-dor, Christopher Wilkins, Enrique García Ascensio, Andrea Quinn, Kirk Trevor, Juan José García Caffi, Peter Jaffe, Arthur Fagen, David Alan Miller and Marvin Hamlisch.
His first RCA recording, with Gerard Schwarz and the New York Chamber Orchestra, featuring the Villa-Lobos Harmonica Concerto, was released to critical acclaim; he has performed this Concerto over 350 times with major orchestras worldwide. Bonfiglio has recorded on the RCA, Arista, CBS, Sina Qua Non, High Harmony, and QVC Labels. He performed on the Grammy winning recording, "Ragitme."
Robert has played chamber music with Ani Kavafian, Jeffrey Solow, Milton Thomas, Colin Carr, Kenneth Cooper, Benny Kim, Evan Wilson, Nathaniel Rosen, Clare Hoffman, the Mendelssohn, Lark and Miaimi String Quartets.
ROBERT BONFIGLIO is playing contemporary music as well with American Composer, Paul Moravec, who just won the Pulitzer Prize for Composition, writing an American Harmonica Concerto for him. Lowell Liebermann is also writing a Harmonica Concerto to premiere in with the Minnesota Orchestra.
Robert Bonfiglio got his Masters degree in composition from Manhattan School of Music. He studied harmonica with Cham-ber Huang and was coached for 12 years by Andrew Lolya, the first flute of the New York City Ballet, during which time he studied the major works for harmonica and orchestra. Robert studied composition with Charles Wuorinen and Aaron Copland.
ROBERT BONFIGLIO is the Founding Director of the GRAND CANYON MUSIC FESTIVAL.
