NORTHWEST ARKANSAS COMMUNITY COLLEGE NEWS RELEASE with PHOTO attached 04/16/08 Subject: Miles Fish Awarded Research Sabbatical for Italian Composer Miles Fish has been awarded a music research sabbatical by NorthWest Arkansas Community College for spring semester 2009. He will research and write about the 250 year old re-discovery of Italian composer Antonio Vivaldi. Fish has been a member of the NWACC music faculty for eleven years, he is the founding conductor/artistic director of the Civic Symphony of Benton County and music director for the First United Methodist Church of Bentonville. In addition to a BA and MMA in conducting he holds a BA in Journalism/Communications. Born in 1678 in Venice, Vivaldi is one of the most performed and recorded composers in music history and his music is used in more movies and TV commercials than any other composer classical or otherwise. “The Irony here is that 50 years ago no one had heard of him and it was believed that manuscripts of his music did not exist.” Fish said that in 1926 a large trunk was discovered in a Turin, Italy, monastery that containing the elusive composer’s near complete works. In 1939 Italy’s prestigious music school, Accademia Chigiana in Siena, held a Vivaldi Festival and his music was heard in concert for the first time in almost 250 years. Fish said that shortly after that performance the start of World War II ended spreading news of the discovery; in1951 in England his music was once again performed and several years later Vivaldi finally made it to the U.S. For the last five years Fish has taught and conducted in Italy at an American summer music school at the University of Siena. This summer he has been accepted and will attend four weeks of master classes at Siena’s Accademia Chigiana to study with Gianluigi Gelmetti conductor of Australia’s Sydney Symphony and the Teatro dell’Opera in Rome, Italy. While studying at the Chigiana he will begin his Vivaldi research. “I wanted to spend my sabbatical researching Vivaldi’s sensational 250 year overnight success; when I was accepted at the Chigiana I knew the focus of that research would be the school’s historical Vivaldi Festival of 1939. My Italian friends in Siena are excited about the possibilities of the recognition the research could bring and they will be vital to the project.” Fish added that he would like for the Civic Symphony of Benton County to consider a Northwest Arkansas 2009 performance that would replicate Vivaldi’s 1939 “break-out” Siena concert and mark the 70th anniversary of his re-discovery. Related Web Sites: ACCADEMIA CHIGIANA: http://www.chigiana.it/index_ing.htm MAESTRO GELMETTI: SYDNEY— http://www.sydneysymphony.com/page.asp?p=68 ROME-- http://operachic.typepad.com/opera_chic/gianluigi_gelmetti/index.html CIVIC SYMPHONY OF BENTON COUNTY: www.CivicSymphony.net NWACC: www.nwacc.edu FIRST UNITED METHODIST CHURCH OF B’VILLE: www.fumcbentonville.org You May Contact Miles Fish mfish@nwacc.edu or milesfish@mac.com NWACC Office: 479.619.2237 Cell: 479.366.3331 M.Fish Photo Attached

NORTHWEST ARKANSAS COMMUNITY COLLEGE

NEWS RELEASE with PHOTO attached

04/16/08

Subject: Miles Fish Awarded Research Sabbatical for Italian Composer

Miles Fish has been awarded a music research sabbatical by NorthWest Arkansas Community College for spring semester 2009. He will research and write about the 250 year old re-discovery of Italian composer Antonio Vivaldi. Fish has been a member of the NWACC music faculty for eleven years, he is the founding conductor/artistic director of the Civic Symphony of Benton County and music director for the First United Methodist Church of Bentonville. In addition to a BA and MMA in conducting he holds a BA in Journalism/Communications.

Born in 1678 in Venice, Vivaldi is one of the most performed and recorded composers in music history and his music is used in more movies and TV commercials than any other composer classical or otherwise. “The Irony here is that 50 years ago no one had heard of him and it was believed that manuscripts of his music did not exist.” Fish said that in 1926 a large trunk was discovered in a Turin, Italy, monastery that containing the elusive composer’s near complete works. In 1939 Italy’s prestigious music school, Accademia Chigiana in Siena, held a Vivaldi Festival and his music was heard in concert for the first time in almost 250 years. Fish said that shortly after that performance the start of World War II ended spreading news of the discovery; in1951 in England his music was once again performed and several years later Vivaldi finally made it to the U.S.

For the last five years Fish has taught and conducted in Italy at an American summer music school at the University of Siena. This summer he has been accepted and will attend four weeks of master classes at Siena’s Accademia Chigiana to study with Gianluigi Gelmetti conductor of Australia’s Sydney Symphony and the Teatro dell’Opera in Rome, Italy.

While studying at the Chigiana he will begin his Vivaldi research. “I wanted to spend my sabbatical researching Vivaldi’s sensational 250 year overnight success; when I was accepted at the Chigiana I knew the focus of that research would be the school’s historical Vivaldi Festival of 1939. My Italian friends in Siena are excited about the possibilities of the recognition the research could bring and they will be vital to the project.”

Fish added that he would like for the Civic Symphony of Benton County to consider a Northwest Arkansas 2009 performance that would replicate Vivaldi’s 1939 “break-out” Siena concert and mark the 70th anniversary of his re-discovery.

Related Web Sites:

ACCADEMIA CHIGIANA: http://www.chigiana.it/index_ing.htm

MAESTRO GELMETTI:

SYDNEY— http://www.sydneysymphony.com/page.asp?p=68

ROME-- http://operachic.typepad.com/opera_chic/gianluigi_gelmetti/index.html

CIVIC SYMPHONY OF BENTON COUNTY: www.CivicSymphony.net

NWACC: www.nwacc.edu

FIRST UNITED METHODIST CHURCH OF B’VILLE: www.fumcbentonville.org

You May Contact Miles Fish

mfish@nwacc.edu or milesfish@mac.com

NWACC Office: 479.619.2237

Cell: 479.366.3331

M.Fish Photo Attached