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The American Prize is a series non-profit national competitions providing cash awards, professional adjudication and regional, national and international recognition for the best recorded performances of music by ensembles and individuals each year in the United States. The Park Avenue Chamber Symphony’s award winning live recording of Rachmaninoff Symphony No. 2 is one of 17 albums available for download on iTunes, Amazon.com and Naxos/ClassicsOnline containing performances by the orchestra led by its music director David Bernard.

Founded in 1999, the Park Avenue Chamber Symphony (http://www.chambersymphony.com) serves New York City communities with a series of orchestral concerts performed at All Saints Church on the Upper East Side of NYC, with additional performances at Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall and Avery Fisher Hall that give its New York City audiences fantastic opportunities to hear the best and the brightest artists in engaging programs. Park Avenue Chamber Symphony programs feature world-class soloists including Carter Brey (principal cellist, New York Philharmonic), David Chan (concertmaster, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra), Jon Manasse (clarinet soloist) and Whoopi Goldberg (Oscar Winning Actor and Entertainer), as well as emerging artists from Juilliard, Manhattan School of Music and Mannes.

Additionally, the Park Avenue Chamber Symphony fills a philanthropic role by supporting and celebrating organizations that bring music education to New York City children. The Park Avenue Chamber Symphony’s recent benefit, “Harmony Program Waltz”, raised over $100,000 for The Harmony Program—a New York City organization that provides music lessons to economically disadvantaged children and is modeled after Venezuela's world-famous model of music education, "El Sistema". The Park Avenue Chamber Symphony established the Juilliard School Pre-College Division Parent’s Association Scholarship Fund through a similar benefit concert that raised $90,000, and has also raised funds for the Lucy Moses School’s outreach program that brings Suzuki training to inner-city families.

In December, the orchestra will tour China at the invitation of Beijing Concert Hall Corporation.