Lea Salonga, BYU Chamber Orchestra & Kory Katseanes
Biography Lea Salonga, BYU Chamber Orchestra & Kory Katseanes
Lea Salonga
Known across the world for her powerful voice and perfect pitch, Lea Salonga is a singer and actress who is best known for her Tony Award winning role in Miss Saigon. In addition to the Tony, she has won the Olivier, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle and Theatre World Awards, in the field of musical theatre. She was also the first Asian to play Eponine in the musical Les Misérables on Broadway and returned to the beloved show as Fantine in the 2006 revival.
Most recently, Lea starred in the 2018 Broadway revival of Once on This Island as the Goddess of Love, Erzulie. The show’s return to the Broadway stage earned a Tony Award for “Best Revival of a Musical” and also garnered Lea and the cast a Grammy nomination for “Best Musical Theater Album.”
Lea is a judge on the Philippines hit version of “The Voice.” Mitoy Yonting, a member of Team Lea, was named the first season winner.
In Spring 2017, Lea released her electrifying live album “Blurred Lines.” The album was recorded during her sold-out run at Feinstein’s / 54Below in 2016. The six date showcase was received with overwhelming accolades from fans and critics alike. So well received in fact that Lea returned to the famed venue for a record-setting 15-show encore performance that wrapped up her latest North American tour in the late spring (2017).
She began 2015 with a sold-out concert at New York’s Town Hall titled “Kaleidoscope” as well as performed on tour in the United States, Hong Kong, Singapore and Australia.
In the fall of 2015 Lea began her celebrated run as Kei Kimura in the Broadway production of Allegiance. The musical, inspired and developed by legendary actor George Takei, tells the story of a Japanese American family forced into an internment camp during World War II. Lea garnered a Craig Noel nomination for Outstanding Featured Performance in a Musical for her performance in the Old Globe production of Allegiance, and can be heard on the show’s original cast album.
Following this, Lea made a guest appearance on the acclaimed CW television show Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. Later that year, she performed a critically celebrated cabaret run at Feinstein’s/54 Below and performed in concert with the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra as well as at Carnegie Hall with the New York Pops in a new version of Boublil and Schönberg’s “Do You Hear the People Sing.” ...
The BYU Chamber Orchestra
is the most select of the five orchestras in the BYU School of Music. Comprised of 47 of the top musicians from the BYU Philharmonic, the Chamber Orchestra is the touring orchestra that represents BYU throughout the U.S. and internationally, making it, perhaps, the most widely traveled university orchestra in the world. In addition to its local concert schedule, past tours have taken the orchestra to Austria, China, Czech Republic, England, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Poland, Russia, Scotland, Slovenia, Switzerland, Turkey, Wales, and Ukraine.
Conducted by Professor Kory Katseanes, Chamber Orchestra programs feature the great classical repertoire written for small orchestra from across all musical periods. From Bach and Handel, Mozart and Haydn, and on through Dvorak and Tchaikovsky and including composers of the twentieth century such as Bartok, Stravinsky, and Copland, the vast variety of music the orchestra performs is a showcase for the refinement and energy especially suited to this compact ensemble. In May 2017, the Chamber Orchestra will tour the Philippines and, while there, perform with Broadway superstar Lea Salonga.
Kory Katseanes
is a former Director of the School of Music. He came to BYU in 1999 as Director of Orchestras. As Director of Orchestras, he oversees the orchestral program that accommodates nearly 400 students enrolled in the five University orchestras, and directs the graduate orchestral conducting program. He conducts the BYU Philharmonic and the BYU Chamber Orchestra in their campus concerts, throughout Utah, and on their regular tours throughout the world.
Professor Katseanes is a native of Blackfoot, Idaho and moved to Salt Lake City in 1974 to continue his education. He joined the Utah Symphony in 1975 as a violinist and served as Assistant Conductor from 1987 to 2002. He regularly conducted the Symphony on the Entertainment, Youth, and Family Series at Deer Valley, Snowbird, and Abravanel Hall, and at numerous venues locally, throughout Utah, and in the surrounding Western States. During his fifteen years as the assistant conductor, he played a significant role in the education programs of the Utah Symphony, programming and conducting concerts which the orchestra performed in Utah’s schools.
He has worked with such artists as The King’s Singers, the Chieftains, Kathy Mattea, Nanci Griffiths, Judy Collins, Art Garfunkel, Michael Martin Murphy, Riders in the Sky, and The Manhattan Rhythm Kings, among others. His work with dance companies includes Rudolph Nureyev and Friends, Repertory Dance Theater and the Twin Cities Ballet, and he was the founder and Music Director of The Utah Virtuosi, a professional chamber orchestra in Salt Lake City.
Recent guest conductor appearances include the Utah Symphony, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra, community orchestras throughout the West, and all-state orchestras in Arizona, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Kentucky, New Hampshire, Utah, and Wyoming. In 2008, he received the Utah ASTA award for Music Educator of the Year.
Professor Katseanes received master’s and bachelor’s degrees from the University of Utah and an associate degree from Ricks College. Conducting studies were with renowned conductor Josef Rosenstock. Violin teachers included Oscar Chausow, Lamar Barrus, Kathryn Katseanes, Zvi Zeitlin, and Elaine Richey. Prior to BYU, he was on the faculties of Illinois Wesleyan University and Ricks College.
