Starling Chamber Orchestra

Starling Chamber Orchestra The superbly talented musicians of the range in age from 10-18 and are selected by audition from throughout the United States and abroad. They attend weekend classes in performance, ear training, theory, chamber music, and orchestra at the Starling Preparatory String Project at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. Founded by Kurt Sassmannshaus in 1987, the Starling Chamber Orchestra offers unprecedented opportunities for young artists to perform as soloists, tour internationally, and make recordings. These young virtuosi and the unique Starling training method have attracted widespread attention, including feature articles in The Washington Post and The New York Times.
In addition to its subscription series and other local performances in Cincinnati, the Starling Chamber Orchestra maintains a busy international touring and recording schedule. Since 1992, the orchestra has performed frequently at the Aspen Music Festival and has toured Europe, Korea, and the People's Republic of China. They recently returned from a 2003 tour of St. Petersburg, Vienna, and Munich where they received rave reviews and standing ovations.

The Starling Chamber Orchestra's discography includes three discs of Giornovichi violin concerti on the Arte Nova Classics/BMG label. The SCO's CDs, Aspen Serenade, Simply Brilliant!, and Vivaldi's The Four Seasons (recorded on rare violins) were produced by the Starling Project Foundation and have been highly praised by American Record Guide.

The orchestra has been twice featured on National Public Radio's Performance Today and on Robert Sherman's Young Artists Showcase program in New York. In March 2000, the Starling Chamber Orchestra's first educational video, Classical Quest, was distributed free to an initial audience of 600 public school music districts in Ohio. The program aired on 32 public television stations nationwide and earned numerous awards including those from the Worldfest Houston International Film Festival and the Telly Awards 2000. The video also won a regional Emmy award for Outstanding Arts and Culture Programming.