Greek-American Conductor and Producer Peter Tiboris marks 35 years in a Global Career

From the main stage of historic Carnegie Hall, to prestigious international concert halls in Macao, Beijing, and Hong Kong, China, Paris, Vienna, Lisbon, Florence and Hermoupolis, Syros, Greece, MidAmerica Productions has presented more than 1350 concerts in 35 years. In Carnegie Hall alone, MidAmerica Productions has produced 576 concerts, making it the most prolific independent presenter of choral music in the history of the iconic concert hall since the opening of the hall on May 5, 1891 when Tchaikovsky conducted.

Peter Tiboris, general director and music director of MidAmerica Productions, said: “We are very pleased to have reached this milestone season of choral and instrumental and symphonic concerts. We attribute our longevity to the care we take with each presentation and the attention we pay to every conductor, director, soloist, and ensemble that appears with us. We are looking forward to the 2018 season of concerts, which begins in February 2018, with great anticipation.”

MidAmerica Productions and MidAm International

MidAmerica’s history speaks for itself. In addition to 1034 concerts produced in New York at Carnegie Hall, Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center, and Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center, MidAmerica and its international producing partner, MidAm International, have also presented 171 concerts in 13 years at the Festival of the Aegean in Syros, Greece, and 70 concerts in Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Russia, and France.

The companies have presented 87 world premieres, 21 U.S. premieres, and 99 New York premieres, and hosted 3560 choral ensembles, 826 guest conductors, 1342 guest soloists, 173 youth and collegiate orchestras, and 145 youth and collegiate bands, jazz bands, and wind ensembles.

Founded by Peter Tiboris in 1983, MidAmerica Productions presented its first concert on January 7, 1984, at Lincoln Center with Peter Tiboris conducting the American Symphony Orchestra, soloists, and three choruses, the Louisiana Chorale of Acadiana, Camerata Singers of Baton Rouge, and Collegiate Chorale of New York.

Using that first concert as its model, MidAmerica Productions subsequently brought together conductors, soloists, choral and instrumental ensembles to perform at New York’s top venues and abroad. MidAmerica’s concerts have featured choral societies singing major oratorios with orchestra, talented conductors, and world-class soloists; instrumental and choral ensembles appearing in the Ensemble Spotlight Series; and solo recitals. In the late 1980s, MidAmerica Productions began its association with the New England Symphonic Ensemble under the leadership of the late Virginia-Gene Rittenhouse and now Preston Hawes; NESE accompanies all of the large choral works heard in Carnegie Hall. Over the last few years, the Pan-European Philharmonia, which Mr. Tiboris founded in 2008 with Executive Manager Jakub Fiebig, has accompanied programs at the Festival of the Aegean.

Diverse programs have included Madrigal Festivals, Vocal Jazz Festivals, the National Wind Ensemble, the National Festival Youth Orchestra, among many others. Renowned guest conductors who have led MidAmerica’s concerts include John Rutter, Sherrill Milnes, Lukas Foss, Helmuth Rilling, H. Robert Reynolds, JoAnne Falletta, Francis Bardot, Sir David Willcocks, Giovanni Pacor, Michael Morgan, and Jonathan Willcocks, to name only a few.

Over the years, MidAmerica has commissioned new works and presented numerous premieres in Carnegie Hall and David Geffen Hall. World premieres have included Dinos Constantinides’ Byron’s Greece, Hymn to the Human Spirit, and Midnight Fantasy II for wind ensemble; John Rutter’s Cantate Domino, Distant Land, Magnificat, and Mass of the Children; and John Leavitt’s A Christmas Garland. U.S. premieres have featured new and older works such as Mozart’s Die Schüldigkeit des Ersten Gebots, Reimann’s Concerto for Violin and Cello, Tchaikovsky’s Ode to Joy, Mikis Theodorakis’ Electra and Rhapsody for Cello and Orchestra, and René Clausen’s Hellas: In the Name of Freedom. In 2015, John Rutter conducted the New York Premiere of his work, Canticles of Creation.

Elysium Recordings

Another enterprise created by Peter Tiboris is a recording label, Elysium Recordings, Inc. Thirty CDs, ranging in style from classical to jazz, to cabaret, operas, oratorios, symphonies, and solo recitals have been released on the Elysium label. For these recordings, MidAmerica has gathered some of the finest talent on the scene today, including Stanley Drucker, principal clarinet (now retired) of the New York Philharmonic for 60 years; David Chan and Rafael Figueroa, concert master and principal cellist of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra; soprano Eilana Lappalainen; pianist Dimitri Sgouros; mezzo-soprano Jennifer Larmore; pianist Dimitri Sokolov; and the late Lukas Foss, eminent composer, pianist, and conductor. Of the 31 releases of Elysium Recordings, Mr Tiboris has led 11 of them including the premieres of the “Mahler Retuschen” of the symphonies of Beethoven, Mozart and Schubert.  The full catalog of recordings is available on MidAmerica’s website at http://midamerica-music.com/elysium-2/.

Peter Tiboris

Peter Tiboris, Greek American conductor, music director, and producer, has enjoyed a worldwide career for more than forty-five years of which the past thirty-five have been in New York City. In addition to his role as the founder and general director of MidAmerica Productions, the Manhattan Philharmonic, Elysium Recordings, and MidAm International, Peter Tiboris has served as music director and conductor of the Pan-European Philharmonia in Warsaw, Poland; general music director and conductor of the Symphonisches Orchestra Wien in Vienna, Austria; and Principal Guest Conductor of the Orchestra da Camera Fiorentina, in Florence, Italy.

He made his European conducting debut on July 1, 1983, in Dubrovnik, Yugoslavia, with the Moscow Philharmonia as part of the Dubrovnik Festival; and his New York conducting debut on January 7, 1984, with the American Symphony Orchestra at Lincoln Center. He has conducted in 26 countries, among them Mexico; Russia, in St. Petersburg and Moscow at Column Hall, Tchaikovsky Hall, and Shostakovich Hall; Great Britain, in London at the Barbican and Royal Festival Hall; Austria, at Vienna’s Konzerthaus; Poland, in 11 cities including Warsaw; Czech Republic, in Prague’s Rudolfinium and Smetana Hall with Virtuosi di Praga and the North Czech Philharmonic; Italy, at Teatro di Roma, Teatro Filarmonica di Verona, Regio di Parma, and 20 other locations; Portugal; Turkey; and in Egypt, at Cairo’s National Opera House. Mr. Tiboris has conducted such renowned orchestras as the Royal Philharmonic, London Philharmonia, Oxford’s Philomusica, Niedersächsische Orchester Hannover, the Prague and Brno philharmonics, National Opera Orchestra of Cairo, American Symphony Orchestra, Moscow Radio and Television Symphony Orchestra, Société Philharmonique de Montreal, Israel Symphony Orchestra Rishon Le-Zion, Orchestra del Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, and Orchestra di Siciliana di Palermo. In March 2016, he made his Asian conducting debut with the Macao Orchestra and Taipei Philharmonic Chorus in Macao, China. Additionally, he has conducted nearly every major choral work as well as countless symphonic works, selected operas, and ballet. He has recorded on the Albany and Bridge labels, and appears on 11 CDs on the Elysium label.

Peter Tiboris studied music at the University of Wisconsin and received a doctorate from the University of Illinois, but he credits his move to New York City some thirty-five years ago as the most important event in his musical and professional life. He is married to the soprano Eilana Lappalainen, and they reside in Germany, Greece, and the U.S.

2018 Season in Carnegie Hall

MidAmerica Productions’ 2018 season, which will launch on February 18, 2018 in Carnegie Hall, features MidAmerica’s highly successful mix of choral and instrumental music along with guest artists and Ensemble Spotlight performances. The season features such modern classics as Dan Forrest’s Requiem for the Living and Ola Gjeilo’s Sunrise Mass, as well as staples that include Handel’s Messiah, Mozart’s Solemn Vespers and Requiem, Rutter’s Magnificat and Requiem, Orff’s Carmina Burana, Bach’s Magnificat, and Fauré’s Requiem, to name only a few. Most importantly, British composer and conductor John Rutter will return to Carnegie Hall and present the New York premiere of his new work, Visions, while Candace Wicke will conduct Stephen Edwards’ Requiem for My Mother in a collaboration of her company Continuo Arts with MidAmerica Productions.

For more information about MidAmerica Productions and its performance opportunities, visit www.midamerica-music.com or call 212-239-0205.