Press Release

January 16, 2024

For Immediate Release

On January 20, 2024 at 7:30 pm, Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra performs the world premiere of Anne Frank's Tree by Victoria Bond. Passages from the journal kept by Anne Frank as a youngster hiding from the Nazis in 1940's Amsterdam are narrated by the award-winning teenage actor Sadie Cohen. Performance is conducted by Matthew Kraemer, ICO Music Director. Details are below.

"The Diary of Anne Frank has been an important book to me since I read it as a teenager," said composer Victoria Bond. "I was struck by the important role the tree that grew outside Anne’s window played in her emotional life: it represented nature, beauty, freedom and hope. When I learned that a sapling from the very same tree had been planted in the garden of the Indianapolis Children’s Museum, I resolved to write a piece of music about Anne Frank and this tree."

Victoria Bond and Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra have had a long history of collaboration. Over the past two decades, ICO commissioned Bond's piano concerto, “Ancient Keys,” and three works for storyteller and chamber ensemble.

The program also includes music by Felix Mendelssohn, Erich Korngold and Franz Schrecker. The concert is on January 20, 7:30 pm at the Schrott Center for the Arts at Butler University in Indianapolis (610 W 46th St). Tickets: Children/students free with reservation. Adults $20-$45; available at ICOMusic.org or by calling 317-940-9607.

Photos from top: Victoria Bond; Anne Frank

Calendar Listing

Anne Frank's Tree

World premiere by Victoria Bond

Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra

Matthew Kraemer, conductor

Sadie Cohen, Narrator

January 20, 2024 at 7:30 pm

Schrott Center for the Arts at Butler University

(610 W 46th St, Indianapolis, IN)

Tickets: Children/students free with reservation. Adults $20-$45

Available at ICOMusic.org

PROGRAM

Victoria Bond: Anne Frank’s Tree (with Sadie Cohen, narrator)*

Franz Schreker: Kammersymphonie

Erich Wolfgang Korngold: Straussiana

Felix Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto (with Julian Rhee, violin)

*world premiere performance

A major force in 21st century music, composer Victoria Bond is known for her melodic gift and dramatic flair. Her works for orchestra, chamber ensemble and opera have been lauded by The New York Times as "powerful, stylistically varied and technically demanding."



Victoria Bond's discography includes Blue and Green Music featuring the Cassatt Quartet (2022), Illumination (2021),  The Voices of Air (2020), Soul of a Nation (2018), and Peculiar Plants (2010), all on the Albany label, and Instruments of Revelation (Naxos, 2019). Victoria Bond’s compositions have been performed by the New York City Opera, Shanghai, Dallas and Houston Symphonies, members of the Chicago Symphony and New York Philharmonic, American Ballet Theater and the Cassatt and Audubon Quartets.  

The New York Times praised Victoria Bond's conducting as "full of energy and fervor." She is principal guest conductor of Chamber Opera Chicago, and has held conducting positions with Pittsburgh Symphony, New York City Opera, Roanoke Symphony, and Bel Canto and Harrisburg Operas. Ms. Bond is Artistic Director of Cutting Edge Concerts New Music Festival in New York, which she founded in 1998.

Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra (ICO) advances and promotes music composed for the small orchestra through professional concert performances and educational programs. Comprised of 34 professional musicians, the ICO presents an annual concert series and provides orchestral accompaniment for key local arts and education groups. Led by Matthew Kraemer as Music Director and Conductor, the ICO proudly serves as professional orchestra-in-residence at the Schrott Center for the Arts, Butler Arts Center. Joshua Thompson currently serves as the ICO’s Creative Partner-in-Residence. A weekly ICO radio broadcast airs on WFYI 90.1 FM. The ICO offers a full range of educational programs for ages pre-K through adult, with free appearances throughout Indianapolis.