Knickerbocker Chamber Orchestra Returning to the Winter Garden

Gary S. Fagin conducting the Knickerbocker Chamber Orchestra in January, 2009, at the Winter Garden. Photo: Carl Glassman/Tribeca Trib

The Knickerbocker Chamber Orchestra, which premiered at the Winter Garden in Brookfield Place (then known as the World Financial Center) nine years ago, is back.

On Saturday, Feb. 10, the group's founder, Gary S. Fagin will raise his baton at 7 p.m. for a concert that includes Aaron Copland's "Lincoln Portrait" (with Lincoln's words spoken by Preet Bharara [1], former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York), violinist Elizabeth Pitcairn [2] performing a Ralph Vaughan Williamson's piece (on her 1720 Stradivarius) and a finale by Fagin, "The Winter Garden Waltzes," during which the public is invited to dance.

The performance is part of a seven-concert season that includes a kids classical concert [3] on Wednesday, Feb. 7 with Pitcairn playing her Stradivarius, inspiration for the 1999 Academy Award-winning film “The Red Violin.”

Fagin, who had led orchestras in Pennsylvania and New Jersey before starting the Knickerbocker Chamber Orchestra (KCO), recalled recently how he had always wanted to have his own local orchestra. "There wasn't any classical music downtown with the notable exception of Trinity Church," he said. "'I thought, 'Why don't I see if I can get a group of musicians and get support of businesses and residences?'"

Since the first performance at the Winter Garden, the KCO has found support from a number of Downtown institutions including Goldman Sachs, Schimmel Center and Battery Park City Parks, and has performed in varied venues throughout Downtown as well as expanded to free musical programs in local schools. (Fagin noted that young people hear less classical music than when he was growing up. "If you don't bring it to them, they're not going to get it," he said. "We want to teach these kids why classical music is everlasting.")

Fagin said that he never never doubted the success of his new orchestra. "One of our secrets," he said, "is that we're very modest in our goals. There are a lot of small groups that have big visions and the financial aspect is sort of secondary. We always made sure we had funding for what we wanted to do."

One of their best sources of fund-raising—most of the Knickerbocker's concerts are free or have a nominal charge—has been small soirees in supporters' homes.

"It's interesting what we found out about how the funding paradigm works," Fagin said. "It's easier to offer somebody a two-hour window where they can meet some fun, interesting people, have some hors d'oeuvres and white wine and hear a half hour of really interesting historically resonant music for which they pay $125 to $200 a head than to get 200 people to pay $10 to come to your concert."

Fagin said that there is a vast difference between experiencing music in an intimate setting than in a concert hall. "To be that close to exceptionally talented musicians, to see their concentration and hear their work can be overwhelming. It's so beautiful."

Click here [4] for a complete schedule of the Knickerbocker 2018 concerts.