About Us
Founded in the fall of 2006, the Camerata Notturna is a chamber orchestra comprised of an accomplished and eclectic mix of amateur and professional musicians. Among the professional members' diverse experiences are solo appearances with the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Baden-Baden Philharmonic, serving as concertmaster of the Curtis Symphony Orchestra, the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, and the Yale Philharmonia, and performances and recordings with artists such as Jay-Z, Kanye West, Lenny Kravitz, and Sufjan Stevens. The professional members have also won top prizes in international competitions such as Irving M. Klein, Concert Artists Guild, and Fischoff; serve on the faculties of the Yellow Barn Music Festival, the Bloomingdale School of Music, the Kinhaven Music School, and the Opus 118 Harlem Violin Program; and have performed as members of the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Symphonica Toscanini, the BBC Scottish Symphony, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, the Hong Kong Philharmonic, and the Berlin Philharmonic. The Camerata Notturna also welcomes as guest members leading professional musicians, including members of the Cleveland Orchestra, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and the Daedalus and Johannes String Quartets.
The amateur members boast a wide range of musical accomplishments as well, having appeared as soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Tchaikovsky Chamber Orchestra, the Jupiter Symphony, the Juilliard Pre-College Symphony, the Brandywine Ballet, the Harvard Bach and Mozart Society Orchestras, the Musica Bella Orchestra, and the symphony orchestras of Allentown, Oregon, Reading (PA), and Willamette Falls. They have also won prizes in national and international competitions, including NFAA ARTS, Seventeen Magazine-General Motors, and Koussevitsky, and have served as concertmaster or as section leader of the Jupiter Symphony, the Juilliard Pre-College Orchestra and Symphony, the World Youth Symphony at Interlochen, and the university orchestras of Amherst, Columbia, Cornell, Harvard, Oxford, Princeton, and Yale. Furthermore, they enjoy success in such diverse fields as academia, arts administration, consulting, finance, law, medicine, and software, with organizations such as Accenture, Calvin Klein, Carnegie Hall, Citigroup, Coach, Columbia University Medical Center, Fordham University, Lehman Brothers, Lincoln Center, and Rockefeller University.
Their shared bond is their commitment to music and their impassioned zeal for the chamber orchestra repertoire -- both traditional and contemporary. In its short history, the Camerata Notturna has already performed or committed to perform premieres of works by Kurt Atterberg, Dan Coleman, Chen Yi, Chester Biscardi, Huang Ruo, Adam Silverman, Augusta Read Thomas, and Dalit Warshaw. Among the many eminent artists the group has collaborated or is scheduled to perform with are the pianist Gilbert Kalish, cellist Colin Carr, clarinetist Anthony McGill, violinist Stefan Jackiw, and members of the Silk Road Ensemble.
Jonathan Yates, Music Director
Jonathan Yates has earned high praise as a conductor, solo pianist and collaborative artist for his musicianship, intellect and the remarkable variety of his musical endeavors. He made his professional orchestral conducting debut at 23, leading the National Symphony Orchestra in a Millennium Stages Concert. The following year he made his Carnegie Hall debut as a participant in the Isaac Stern Chamber Music Workshop. He has also been heard as a chamber musician at the 92nd Street Y, Miller Theater, Bargemusic and Merkin Hall, as well as at the Caramoor Festival and on the Ravinia Festival Rising Stars Series. He has performed as a concerto soloist with orchestras in North America, Europe and Asia, and has given solo recitals for the La Jolla Music Society, at the National Museum of American History (on fortepiano), and on the University of Chicago Concert Series. He served as Apprentice Conductor of the Chicago Youth Symphony, and for two years as Music Director of the Harvard University Bach Society Orchestra. As a past and founding member of the Amelia Piano Trio, he was presented by Isaac Stern in Weill Recital Hall and at Hill Auditorium at the University of Michigan, and was a finalist for the Walter F. Naumburg Chamber Music Prize. He can be heard in chamber music of Hindemith on Cedille Records.
Jonathan is becoming increasingly sought after for his operatic work. He conducted the world premiere of Michael Webster's Hell at Performance Space 122, and Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice and Paride ed Elena at the California Music Festival. He also led the world premiere of the first act of Adam Silverman's Korczak's Orphans at the Austrian Cultural Forum. He teaches French, German and Italian vocal diction at Sarah Lawrence College, and worked for two years as an accompanist at the Lyric Opera Center for American Artists. As an ardent devotee of new music, he has been involved in numerous premieres, was the recipient of an ASCAP award for adventurous programming, and participated as a pianist and conductor in Yo-Yo Ma's Silk Road Ensemble Tanglewood Workshops. Yates received his Graduate Diploma in conducting from the Juilliard School, where he studied with James DePreist and Otto-Werner Mueller, and was the holder of the Bruno Walter Memorial Scholarship. He received his Masters. of Music from State University of New York, where he worked with Gilbert Kalish, and his Bachelor of Arts from Harvard University, where he studied with Robert Levin. He currently serves as conductor of the Sarah Lawrence College Orchestra.