Carnegie Hall

Orchestra of St. Luke’s (OSL), an independent orchestra and arts organization, evolved from a group of virtuoso musicians who began performing concerts at Greenwich Village’s Church of St. Luke in the Fields in 1974. Now in its 45th season, the orchestra performs more than 70 times each year at venues throughout New York City and beyond. Bernard Labadie, a celebrated expert in 18th-century music, became OSL’s principal conductor in 2018, continuing the orchestra’s long tradition of working with proponents of historical performance practice.

OSL’s signature programming includes a subscription series presented by Carnegie Hall, now in its 33rd season; the OSL Bach Festival, presented in association with Carnegie Hall and other venues; chamber music series at The Morgan Library & Museum, Brooklyn Museum, and Merkin Hall; Music in Color, a free community concert tour of New York City’s five boroughs; a summer residency at Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts, now in its 42nd season; and a creative partnership with Paul Taylor American Modern Dance, for which OSL provides live musical accompaniment during the company’s annual Lincoln Center season.

OSL’s Education and Community Engagement programs include the Free School Concerts series, which has presented innovative concerts to student audiences since 1977; Youth Orchestra of St. Luke’s, which provides free instrumental coaching to elementary and middle-school students; and the DeGaetano Composition Institute, which provides emerging composers with mentorship and creative support as they develop new works to be performed by the orchestra.

In 2011, OSL opened The DiMenna Center for Classical Music, New York City’s only rehearsal, recording, education, and performance space expressly dedicated to classical music. The center serves more than 500 ensembles and more than 30,000 musicians each year.

Learn more at OSLmusic.org or @OSLmusic on Instagram, Facebook, Spotify, and more.

Widely recognized as one of the world’s leading conductors of Baroque, Classical, and early-Romantic repertoire, Bernard Labadie made his debut with Orchestra of St. Luke’s (OSL) as principal conductor designate at the Caramoor Summer Music Festival on July 2, 2017, leading an all-Mozart program. Now, as OSL’s fifth principal conductor, he joins the distinguished roster of Pablo Heras-Casado (2011–2017), Roger Norrington (1990–1994), Charles Mackerras (1998–2001), and Donald Runnicles (2001–2007). Mr. Labadie received an honorary doctor of musical arts degree from the Manhattan School of Music in May 2018.

In addition to his appearances with Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Mr. Labadie makes guest appearances during the 2019–2020 season with the Toronto, Chicago, Dallas, and Finnish Radio symphony orchestras; National Arts Centre Orchestra (Ottawa); Orchestre symphonique de Québec; Los Angeles Philharmonic; Utah Symphony; and Handel and Haydn Society. The French-Canadian Mr. Labadie founded the celebrated chamber orchestra Les Violons du Roy in 1984 and brought it to international renown. He stepped down as music director in 2014, after 30 years, to pursue wider interests. Mr. Labadie is a regular guest conductor with all the major North American orchestras and has appeared locally with the New York Philharmonic and Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra, and at the Metropolitan Opera. His notable European engagements include performances with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre philharmonique de Radio France, and Royal Scottish National Orchestra, as well as frequent assignments with period-instrument orchestras that include the Academy of Ancient Music, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, The English Concert, and Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin. An eminent opera conductor, Mr. Labadie has served as artistic director of Opéra de Québec and Opéra de Montréal. He made his Metropolitan Opera debut during the 2009–2010 season with Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte.

Mr. Labadie’s extensive discography includes many critically acclaimed recordings on the Dorian, ATMA, and Virgin Classics labels, including Apollo e Dafne, and a collaborative recording of Mozart’s Requiem with Les Violons du Roy and La Chapelle de Québec, both of which received Canada’s Juno Award.

Violinist Daniel Hope has toured the world as a virtuoso soloist for 25 years. He is celebrated for his musical versatility as well as for his dedication to humanitarian causes. Winner of the 2015 European Cultural Prize for Music, Mr. Hope appears as soloist with the world’s major orchestras and conductors, and also directs many ensembles from the violin. Since the start of the 2016–2017 season, Mr. Hope has served as music director of the Zurich Chamber Orchestra, an ensemble with which he has been closely associated since his early childhood.

The youngest-ever member of the Beaux Arts Trio during its final six seasons, today Mr. Hope performs at the world’s greatest halls and festivals, including the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and the Salzburg, Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (where he was artistic director from 2009 to 2013), Aspen, BBC Proms, and Tanglewood music festivals. He has worked with conductors who include Kurt Masur, Thomas Hengelbrock, and Christian Thielemann, as well as with orchestras worldwide that include the Boston, Chicago, London, and Tokyo symphony orchestras; Berliner Philharmoniker; Orchestre de Paris; and Los Angeles Philharmonic. Devoted to contemporary music, Mr. Hope has commissioned more than 30 works, enjoying close contact with composers such as Alfred Schnittke, Toru Takemitsu, Harrison Birtwistle, Sofia Gubaidulina, György Kurtág, Peter Maxwell Davies, and Mark-Anthony Turnage. Mr. Hope is one of the world’s most prolific classical recording artists, with more than 25 albums to his name. His recordings have won the Deutsche Schallplattenpreis, Diapason d’Or, Edison Classical Award, Prix Caecilia, and seven ECHO Klassik awards, and received numerous Grammy nominations. His album of Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto and Octet with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe was named one of the best of the year by The New York Times, and his recording of Berg’s Violin Concerto was voted Gramophone’s “top choice of all available recordings.” His recording of Max Richter’s Vivaldi Recomposed—which reached No. 1 in more than 22 countries—is, with 160,000 copies sold, one of the most successful classical recordings of recent times. Mr. Hope has been an exclusive Deutsche Grammophon artist since 2007.

Mr. Hope has served as associate artistic director of the Savannah Music Festival since 2004 and as music director of the New Century Chamber Orchestra since the 2018–2019 season. In 2019, he began his tenure as artistic director of the Frauenkirche Dresden. He plays the 1742 “ex-Lipiński” Guarneri del Gesù, placed generously at his disposal by an anonymous family from Germany. He lives with his family in Berlin.

In 2000, contralto Marie-Nicole Lemieux became the first Canadian to win both first prize and the special prize for lieder at the Queen Elisabeth Competition in Belgium. She then began an international career that has led her to the world’s most famous stages, including La Scala; Royal Opera House, Covent Garden; Opéra de Paris; Théâtre des Champs-Élysées; Théâtre du Capitole de Toulouse; La Monnaie in Brussels; Staatsoper Berlin; Vienna and Bavarian state operas; Opernhaus Zürich; Theater an der Wien; Teatro Real in Madrid; Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona; Canadian Opera Company in Toronto; and Opéra de Montréal, as well as the Salzburg and Glyndebourne festivals and the Chorégies d’Orange.

In addition to her stage career, Ms. Lemieux has appeared with prestigious orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic, Orchestre philharmonique de Radio France, Orchestre National de France, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Orchestre nationale du Capitole de Toulouse, Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Philharmonia Orchestra, St. Petersburg and Rotterdam philharmonic orchestras, Singapore Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, Les Violons du Roy, and Orchestre Métropolitain de Montréal. She has performed under the direction of Myung-Whun Chung, Charles Dutoit, Iván Fischer, Mikko Franck, Daniele Gatti, Bernard Haitink, Paavo Järvi, Louis Langrée, Kurt Masur, Kent Nagano, John Nelson, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Gianandrea Noseda, Sir Antonio Pappano, Michel Plasson, Michael Schønwandt, Pinchas Steinberg, and Pinchas Zukerman.

Ms. Lemieux has recorded for various labels, including Cyprès, Dorian Recordings, Analekta, Deutsche Grammophon, and EMI / Virgin Classics. She now enjoys an exclusive contract with the Naïve label, for which she recorded the title roles of Vivaldi’s Griselda and Orlando. She has recorded seven albums for Naïve, including her first recital release, L’heure exquise, which featured French art songs and has received critical acclaim; and, more recently, a recording of Schumann lieder.

Ms. Lemieux is a Knight of the Ordre National du Québec, Compagne des Arts et des Lettres du Québec, and a member of both the Order of Canada and the Order of the Pleiades. She received a doctor honoris causa degree from the Université du Québec à Chicoutimi.