Violinist Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, 55, announced she will step down as Music Director of the California based New Century Chamber Orchestra at the end of NCCO’s 25th anniversary season in 2016-2017. She joined the orchestra in 2008.
In a statement she said: « It is with a heavy heart that I leave a place so dear to me, but I do so knowing New Century will welcome a new leader from a position of strength and acclaim. From the very first moment I interacted with the orchestra, the chemistry was palpable and although there were challenges ahead, we pressed forward and began a growth process that never wavered. Without a single doubt in my mind, I feel assured of a bright future for this orchestra. »
NCCO has four series of four concerts annually, in Berkeley, Palo Alto, San Francisco.
Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg was born in Italy, immigrated to the U.S. with her mother at age 8, and studied at the Curtis Institute of Music and later with Dorothy DeLay at the Juilliard School of Music. She won the Walter W. Naumburg International Violin Competition in 1981. She is Resident Artist in Music at Loyola University New Orleans.
