One of the best-known chamber orchestras in America, the
Orchestra of St. Luke's was organized in the summer of 1979 to perform at the
Caramoor International Music Festival in Katonah, New York. The Orchestra grew out of the
St. Luke's Chamber Ensemble, which was formed in 1974 to play concerts at the Church of St. Luke's in the Fields in New York's Greenwich Village.
Roger Norrington served as the Orchestra's first music director (1990-1994); he was succeeded by Charles Mackerras in 1994.
The Orchestra performs an annual subscription series at
Carnegie Hall, and is much involved in
Carnegie Hall's family concerts and educational programs. It has toured extensively in the United States, Canada, Europe and Japan, and takes part in regular out-of-town residencies. The Orchestra has commissioned many compositions (and a few dance pieces), and has premiered over 100 new works by the likes of
John Adams,
Joan Tower,
Anthony Davis,
André Previn, and
Nicholas Maw. The Orchestra also gained some notoriety by taking part in the rock group
Metallica's orchestral tour in 1999.
The
Orchestra of St. Luke's has made over seventy recordings for a variety of labels. Two of its recordings on the Nonesuch label have received Grammy Awards:
John Adams' Nixon in China, and
Samuel Barber's Knoxville: Summer of 1915 (with soprano
Dawn Upshaw). ~ Chris Morrison, All Music Guide