The New England String Ensemble began its inaugural concert season in 1994 under the guidance of founding music director, Christophe Chagnard, a native of Paris and resident of Seattle, who commuted to Boston for four years to help build the orchestra.
The inaugural performance, A Musical Journey into Night, in September 1994 at Endicott College in Beverly, Massachusetts received international attention, including pieces in the New York Times and newspapers in Seattle, Paris and Tel Aviv as well as a feature by Paul Harvey, for its life-imitating-art triumph over a thunderstorm-induced power failure.
That sixth season also featured a move into Cambridge, Massachusetts, with a series at the First Church Congregational at the invitation of keyboard artist Peter Sykes.
A gradual migration into the Sanders Theatre at Harvard University and then to the Jordan Hall at the New England Conservatory in Boston completed the progression.
9 in place of an ailing Seiji Ozawa, Cortese's work with the Boston Symphony Orchestra was widely praised.