Ted Louis Levy made his Broadway debut in the smash hit Black and Blue, and returned to Broadway as Papa Jack in Susan Stroman and Harry Connick, Jr.'s Thou Shalt Not. For his performance as the Mikado in Ford's Theatre's production of The Hot Mikado, Levy won a Helen Hayes Award.
Levy collaborated with George C. Wolfe and Gregory Hines on the choreography of Jelly's Last Jam, for which he received a Tony nomination, a Drama Desk nomination and the 1993 Outer Critics Circle Award. He also assisted in the choreography of Broadway's Tony Award-winning hit Bring In 'da Noise! Bring In 'da Funk!
Levy was awarded an Emmy for his television debut performance in the PBS special Precious Memories, and appeared in Spike Lee's Malcolm X for his film debut. Also on the big screen, Levy appeared in the movie Bojangleswith Gregory Hines.
The 1992 production Ted Levy and Friends, directed by Gregory Hines, celebrated Levy as one of America's premier tap dance artists. Influenced by Hines,
Levy then made his debut as director of Savion Glover's Dancing Under the Stars at the New York Shakespeare Festival's Delacorte Theater.
Levy's professional training began in Chicago with Finis Henderson II, master tap dancer and former manager of Sammy Davis, Jr. Henderson encouraged Levy to pursue a professional career in the performing arts, which began at Victory Gardens Theater in Chicago.
Carolina Zokalski and Diego Di Falco, tango dancersSeptember 5-7, 2014
Let's Dance!
Dallas Symphony Pops Series
Let's Dance!
Dallas Symphony Pops Series
Carolina Zokalski and Diego Di Falco have reached a prominent place in the world of Tango and are in part responsible for the renaissance of Tango of the last ten years. At the age of 20 and after years of dancing professionally in Buenos Aires, they joined the original cast of the show Forever Tango, becoming the youngest tango dancers in the history of American musical theater on Broadway. They reside in the United States and continue to promote Argentine Tango every day and to earn international acclaim for their elegant, charismatic and technically demanding performances, as well as their wide-ranging program of tango instruction.
They also perform a smaller version of this concert show, at Carnegie Hall in 2000 and 2001, and at Umbria Jazz Festival in Orvieto, Italy. In the US and Canada it would be easier to name the cities and theatres in which they haven't performed, this includes the Hollywood Ball, the Marquis of Broadway, Carnegie Hall and the Washington Opera House as guest artists.
They have sold more than 7000 instructional videos of their first series of 7, between 2000 and 2004 and produce their own series One Step Further in 2000. They are also two tango books in which their names and pictures are included.
With his unique creativity, sensitivity, and tremendous dedication, Diego has achieved world renown as a master dancer and instructor of the tango. Carolina's artistry has also reached great heights. As a young girl, she received a scholarship from Juan Carlos Copes to perform with other young artists and with Robert Duval in the documentaryTango! produced by National Geographic. In 1991 she was invited to join the National Folkloric Ballet of Argentina.
Diego began to dance at the age of four. Tango masters Antonio Todaro, Pupi Castello, Miguel Balmaceda, Pepito Avellaneda and Juan Carlos Copes nurtured his natural gifts from a very early age.
The couple have participated as principal dancers and choreographers in the show Tango Magic for PBS. They also tour with the show in United States, Europe and Canada for over 4 years. (Carolina and Diego are also performing on the first version of Forever Tango home video). The show triumphed on Broadway in June 1997 and maintained this competitive position for fourteen months.
The couple was nominated for a Tony award for "Best Choreography" and the artistic image of Diego Di Falco was used in all the show's promotional materials, including the major billboards in Times Square. They have since performed in more than thirty cities in the United States, Canada, Europe, Israel, and Japan.
Stephen Edward Sayer and Chandrae Roettig, dancers
September 5-7, 2014
Let's Dance!
Dallas Symphony Pops Series
September 5-7, 2014
Let's Dance!
Dallas Symphony Pops Series
Stephen Edward Sayer and Chandrae Roettig are dancers/instructors who specialize in smooth style lindy and collegiate shag. While they have a love for all things that swing, their primary influences and inspirations come from the Los Angeles Jitterbugs of the 1940's and 1950's.
Their partnership began in late 2010 and together Steve and Chanzie have taken First Place titles in several national swing competitions. In 2011 they won 1st place in the Lindy Hop divisions at the National Jitterbug Championships and US Open Swing Dance Championships. In 2012 they also took 1st Place at Camp Jitterbug and again at the US Open.
In addition to those titles, Steve is also the 2010, 2011 and 2012 National Collegiate Shag Champion and in 2012 Steve was inducted into the California Swing Dance Hall of Fame.
Steve and Chanzie are based out of Los Angeles where they teach weekly in North Hollywood, but you can find them teaching and performing all over the United States, Europe and Australia. They are committed to improving and pushing the limits of their own dancing as well as those who take their classes.
Forrest Walsh, acknowledged one of the best partner-dance instructors in Los Angeles, has always been a mover. The childhood label of "hyperactive" has now transitioned fantastically into active dance instructor. He has a great knowledge of technique, which he is eager to share with anyone interested in improving their dancing and life. He also has many years of experience as an active social dancer. Melissa Shahin is a dancer in Los Angeles. Melissa Shahin is a certified and professionally trained American and International Ballroom Dancer. She has performed in countless productions and continues to compete in various dance competitions. She is also known for her contributions to stage and theatrical choreography. Nothing brings Melissa more joy than to share her love of dance with people and only hopes it will bring them as much enjoyment as it has brought her throughout her life.
Michael Lynche's life has been defined by two things: love and second chances. The Florida native and devoted family man's rise from obscurity was well documented through his riveting appearance on American Idol. Known to America as "Big Mike," he was famously "saved" by the judges, giving him a second chance to continue through the prized competition.
After wowing millions of fans on American Idol with his comforting and powerful voice and performing throughout the United States as part of the American Idol LIVE! tour, Michael has created his sonically rich and lyrically inviting debut album. The first single, "Who's Gonna Love You More" has been rising steadily on the Urban Adult Contemporary charts. The second single, "Today" has impacted Adult Contemporary and Smooth Jazz radio since last summer.
Mike's heartfelt music has been virtually a lifetime in the making. He got his first guitar when he was three and would take "Ole Bessie" to church, where he would mimic the moves of the band's guitar player. Beyond church, Michael's mother shared her love of music with Mike and introduced him to a wide range of artistic sounds and styles, including 2Pac, The Notorious B.I.G., Michael Jackson, Earth, Wind & Fire, Bonnie Raitt and Jimi Hendrix.
None of Michael's remarkable journey would have been possible without the love of his family and the second chances he has enjoyed throughout his life. Now an accomplished band leader and performer based out of New York, Michael joins Maestro Jeff Tyzik for his second run with the acclaimed show 'Let's Dance'.
Julie Jo Hughes is a charismatic and fiery vocal powerhouse. Her adept versatility shines with the sweetness of Karen Carpenter, the grit of Axl Rose, and the power of Celine Dion. Her voice has been heard across many genres of performance, from musical theatre and radio shows to theme park and revue shows. She was the lead female production singer for a major cruise line, where she performed nightly with the 11-piece orchestra. She has appeared in numerous theatrical productions, as well as two regional television commercials and an independent film. She holds a dual degree from The University of Iowa in Theatre Arts and Performing Arts Entrepreneurship. She currently sings with the Arthur Stuart Band of Hank Lane Music & Productions, located in New York City. She is also loving her new role as mom to son, Eliot! When she isn't performing, Julie Jo spends her time coaching others on nutrition and healthy lifestyle.
Undeniably the reigning virtuoso of the violin, Itzhak Perlman enjoys superstar status rarely afforded a classical musician. Beloved for his charm and humanity as well as his talent, he is treasured by audiences throughout the world who respond not only to his remarkable artistry, but also to his irrepressible joy for making music.
Having performed with every major orchestra and at venerable concert halls around the globe, Itzhak Perlman was granted a Kennedy Center Honor in 2003 by the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in celebration of his distinguished achievements and contributions to the cultural and educational life of the United States. In 2009, Mr. Perlman was honored to take part in the Inauguration of President Obama, premiering a piece written for the occasion by John Williams alongside cellist Yo-Yo Ma, clarinetist Anthony McGill and pianist Gabriela Montero, for an audience of nearly 40 million television viewers in the United States and millions more throughout the world.
Born in Israel in 1945, Mr. Perlman completed his initial training at the Academy of Music in Tel Aviv. He came to New York and soon was propelled to national recognition with an appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1958. Following his studies at the Juilliard School with Ivan Galamian and Dorothy DeLay, he won the prestigious Leventritt Competition in 1964, which led to a burgeoning worldwide career. Since then, Itzhak Perlman has established himself as a cultural icon and household name in classical music.
Mr. Perlman has further delighted audiences through his frequent appearances on the conductor's podium and he tours extensively in recital and orchestral concerts in cities across North America. Mr. Perlman continues to celebrate the rich tradition of Jewish music with various performances in support of his Eternal Echoes project. Mr. Perlman has entertained and enlightened millions of TV viewers of all ages on popular shows. In 2008, Itzhak Perlman was honored with a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award for excellence in the recording arts. His recordings regularly appear on the best-seller charts and have garnered fifteen Grammy Awards.
Augustin Hadelich, violin
September 25-28, 2014
BEETHOVEN Violin Concerto
Texas Instruments Classical Series
September 25-28, 2014
BEETHOVEN Violin Concerto
Texas Instruments Classical Series
Multiple performances with almost every major orchestra in the U.S. have confirmed Augustin Hadelich as one of the most important violinists of his generation. Featured on the cover of the May 2014 issue of Strings Magazine, he is also becoming a familiar figure in Europe and Asia, continuing to astonish audiences with his phenomenal technique, poetic sensitivity and gorgeous tone. His consistency throughout the repertoire, from Paganini, to Brahms, to Bartók, to Adès, is seldom encountered in a single artist.
Highlights of Augustin Hadelich's 2014/2015 season include debuts with the Minnesota Orchestra, Danish National Symphony and the London Philharmonic, as well as re-invitations to perform with the New York Philharmonic, the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, as well as the symphonies of Baltimore, Houston, Indianapolis, Liverpool, Saint Louis and Seattle. His other projects include Artist-in-Residence with the Netherlands Philharmonic, a tour with the Toronto Symphony (to Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto), and his debut recital at Wigmore Hall in London.
Augustin Hadelich's first major orchestral recording, featuring the violin concertos of Jean Sibelius and Thomas Adès (Concentric Paths) with Hannu Lintu conducting the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, was released to great acclaim in March 2014 on the AVIE label. Mr. Hadelich has just recorded the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto and Bartok's Concerto No. 2 with the Norwegian Radio Orchestra under Miguel Harth-Bedoya. This disc is scheduled for release on AVIE in the spring of 2015.
The 2006 Gold Medalist of the International Violin Competition of Indianapolis, Mr. Hadelich is the recipient of an Avery Fisher Career Grant (2009), a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship in the UK (2011), and Lincoln Center's Martin E. Segal Award (2012).
The son of German parents, Augustin Hadelich was born and raised in Italy. Residing in New York City since 2004, he holds an artist diploma from The Juilliard School, where he was a student of Joel Smirnoff. He plays on the 1723 "Ex-Kiesewetter" Stradivari violin, on loan from Clement and Karen Arrison through the Stradivari Society of Chicago. More information on Mr. Hadelich is available at www.augustin-hadelich.com.
Born in Lvov, Poland (now Lviv, Ukraine), Emanuel Ax moved to Winnipeg, Canada, with his family when he was a young boy. He studied at the Juilliard School and subsequently won the Young Concert Artists Award. Additionally, he attended Columbia University, where he majored in French. Mr. Ax captured public attention in 1974 when he won the first Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Competition in Tel Aviv. In 1975 he won the Michaels Award of Young Concert Artists followed four years later by the coveted Avery Fisher Prize.
Two major projects are planned for the second half of the upcoming 2014-15 season, the first being a two week "Celebrate the Piano" festival with the Toronto Symphony curated by Mr. Ax that will present performances by multiple pianists, including Mr. Ax, exploring the many facets of the piano. The second will be a European tour with the Philadelphia Orchestra and Yannick Nézet-Séguin beginning with a joint appearance in Carnegie Hall. Throughout the season he will return to the orchestras of New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston, Cincinnati, Dallas, Washington, Nashville, Atlanta, St. Louis, Montreal and Ottawa. Recitals will take him to Vancouver, San Francisco and the mid-west ending in Lincoln Center's Tully Hall where he will also appear in duo with baritone Simon Keenlyside. In Europe he will return to the Berlin Philharmonic followed by a tour to Vienna, Salzburg, Graz and London performing Winterreise with Simon Keenlyside as well as presenting both Brahms Concerti in Amsterdam and Paris with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe under Bernard Haitink. Other European orchestras this season feature the London Symphony, Czech Philharmonic, Tonhalle Zurich and the National Orchestras of Toulouse and Lyon.
The 2013/14 season began with appearances at the Barbican Centre followed by Lincoln Center with the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Bernard Haitink as well as collaborations with the Concertgebouworkester and Mariss Jansons in Amsterdam, Bucharest, China and Japan during their world-wide centenary celebrations. The second half of the season saw the realization of a project inspired by Brahms which included new pieces from composers Missy Mazzoli, Nico Muhly, and Brett Dean all producing works linked to Brahms commissioned jointly between the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Cal Performances Berkeley, Chicago Symphony and Carnegie Hall with the participation of collaborators Anne-Sophie von Otter and Yo-Yo Ma. To conclude the season, he traveled to Hong Kong and Australia for a complete cycle of Beethoven concerti with Chief Conductor David Robertson in Sydney and with Sir Andrew Davis in Melbourne.
A Sony Classical exclusive recording artist since 1987, recent releases include Mendelssohn Trios with Yo-Yo- Ma and Itzhak Perlman, Strauss's Enoch Arden narrated by Patrick Stewart, and discs of two-piano music by Brahms and Rachmaninoff with Yefim Bronfman. Mr. Ax has received GRAMMY® Awards for the second and third volumes of his cycle of Haydn's piano sonatas. He has also made a series of Grammy-winning recordings with cellist Yo-Yo Ma of the Beethoven and Brahms sonatas for cello and piano. His other recordings include the concertos of Liszt and Schoenberg, three solo Brahms albums, an album of tangos by Astor Piazzolla, and the premiere recording of John Adams's Century Rolls with the Cleveland Orchestra for Nonesuch. In the 2004/05 season Mr. Ax also contributed to an International EMMY® Award-Winning BBC documentary commemorating the Holocaust that aired on the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. In 2013, Mr. Ax's recording Variations received the Echo Klassik Award for Solo Recording of the Year (19th century music)/Piano.
In recent years, Mr. Ax has turned his attention toward the music of 20th-century composers, premiering works by John Adams, Christopher Rouse, Krzysztof Penderecki, Bright Sheng, and Melinda Wagner. Mr. Ax is also devoted to chamber music, and has worked regularly with such artists as Young Uck Kim, Cho-Liang Lin, Mr. Ma, Edgar Meyer, Peter Serkin, Jaime Laredo, and the late Isaac Stern.
Mr. Ax resides in New York City with his wife, pianist Yoko Nozaki. They have two children together, Joseph and Sarah. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and holds honorary doctorates of music from Yale and Columbia Universities. For more information about Mr. Ax's career, please visit www.EmanuelAx.com.
Sean O'Loughlin, conductor
October 10-12, 2014
Rodgers & Hammerstein at the Movies
Dallas Symphony Pops Series
October 10-12, 2014
Rodgers & Hammerstein at the Movies
Dallas Symphony Pops Series
Sean O'Loughlin is the Principal Pops Conductor for Symphoria in Syracuse. N.Y. He is a fresh voice and a rising name in the music world. His compositions are characterized by vibrant rhythms, passionate melodies, and colorful scoring. Commissions from the Boston Pops Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra highlight and showcase his diverse musical abilities. As a conductor, he has led performances with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Boston Pops Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony, the Chicago Symphony, the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, and others.
He was the conductor and arranger for the critically acclaimed symphony tour with Sarah McLachlan, and other recent collaborations include such artists as Adele, Josh Groban, Steven Tyler and Joe Perry, Kelly Clarkson, Janelle Monáe, the Indigo Girls, Diana Krall, Itzhak Perlman, Natalie Merchant, Chris Isaak, Blue Man Group, Pink Martini and others.
Nicholas Carter, conductor
October 17-18, 2014
MOZART Abduction from the Seraglio Overture
PURCELL, arr. Stokowski "Dido's Lament" from Dido and Aeneas
FALLA Siete canciones populares espanolas (Seven Popular Spanish Songs)
Jessica Rivera, soprano
RACHMANINOFF Vocalise
HOLST Selections from St. Paul's Suite
GERSHWIN Girl Crazy Overture
ReMix
October 17-18, 2014
MOZART Abduction from the Seraglio Overture
PURCELL, arr. Stokowski "Dido's Lament" from Dido and Aeneas
FALLA Siete canciones populares espanolas (Seven Popular Spanish Songs)
Jessica Rivera, soprano
RACHMANINOFF Vocalise
HOLST Selections from St. Paul's Suite
GERSHWIN Girl Crazy Overture
ReMix
Nicholas Carter is fast establishing a career as a conductor of exceptional versatility, equally at home in the concert hall and the opera house, and fluent in a diverse repertoire. He is currently Kapellmeister of the Deutsche Oper Berlin where, in the 2014-2015 season his conducting engagements will include Carmen, The Marriage of Figaro, The Rape of Lucretia, The Magic Flute and The Elixir of Love. From 2011 to mid-2014 he was Kapellmeister at the Hamburg State Opera, as well as serving as musical assistant to Music Director Simone Young. This engagement followed a three-year association with the Sydney Symphony, first as Assistant Conductor, working closely with Vladimir Ashkenazy and a number of the orchestra's guest conductors, and subsequently as Associate Conductor. Nicholas has recently been appointed Associate Guest Conductor of the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra.
In Hamburg, Nicholas conducted performances of Barbiere di Siviglia, Die Zauberflöte, Cosi fan tutte, Lucia di Lammermoor, Hänsel und Gretel, Cleopatra by Johan Mattheson and Orontea by Cesti. Furthermore, as Musical Assistant to Simone Young, he was heavily involved in the preparation of a vast repertoire, including in the presentation of 10 Wagner operas, from Rienzi to Parsifal, to celebrate the bicentenary in 2013 of the composer's birth.
As guest conductor, Nicholas has conducted the Staatsorchester Braunschweig, the Louisiana Philharmonic, the Dalasinfoniettan Sweden and the Hamburg Philharmonic Orchestra in a Gala with Diana Damrau as soloist.
At the invitation of Donald Runnicles, Nicholas has served as Associate Conductor of the Grand Teton Music Festival in Wyoming since 2010.
In Australia, Nicholas enjoys collaborating regularly with many of the country's finest orchestras and ensembles, such as the Sydney, West Australian, Melbourne, Adelaide and Queensland Symphony Orchestras, Orchestra Victoria, Melbourne Chamber Orchestra, the Orchestra of the Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM) and the Australian Youth Orchestra. He has also appeared with the Malaysian, and New Zealand Symphony Orchestras. In 2011, Nicholas led a Gala concert with the Sydney Symphony and Anne Sofie von Otter.
This year Nicholas Carter will return to both the Adelaide and Melbourne Symphony Orchestras, and the Australian Youth Orchestra as well as making his debut for State Opera of South Australia conducting La Traviata.
2015 sees Nicholas returning to Australia to work with the Adelaide, Queensland, West Australian and Tasmanian Symphony Orchestras, as well as ANAM in Berlin.
Jessica Rivera, soprano
October 17-18, 2014
FALLA Siete canciones populares espanolas (Seven Popular Spanish Songs)
ReMix
October 17-18, 2014
FALLA Siete canciones populares espanolas (Seven Popular Spanish Songs)
ReMix
Possessing a voice praised by the San Francisco Chronicle for its "effortless precision and tonal luster," soprano Jessica Rivera is established as one of the most creatively inspired vocal artists before the public today. The intelligence, dimension, and spirituality with which she infuses her performances on the great international concert and opera stages has garnered the Grammy Award winner unique artistic collaborations with many of today's most celebrated composers including John Adams, Gabriela Lena Frank, Osvaldo Golijov, Jonathan Leshnoff, and Nico Muhly, and has brought her together in collaboration with such esteemed conductors as Bernard Haitink, Sir Simon Rattle, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Robert Spano, and Michael Tilson Thomas.
Ms. Rivera was heralded in the world premiere of John Adams's opera, A Flowering Tree, singing the role of Kumudha, in a production directed by Peter Sellars as part of the New Crowned Hope Festival in Vienna. Since then, she has performed A Flowering Tree for her debut with the Berliner Philharmoniker with Sir Simon Rattle and, under the composer's baton, with the Cincinnati Opera, San Francisco Symphony, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Orchestra of St. Luke's at Lincoln Center, and the London Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican Centre. The London performances were recorded and are commercially available on the Nonesuch Records label.
The artist made her European operatic debut as Kitty Oppenheimer in Peter Sellars's acclaimed production of John Adams's Doctor Atomic with the Netherlands Opera, a role that also served for her debuts at the Lyric Opera of Chicago and Finnish National Opera, and she joined the roster of the Metropolitan Opera for its new production ofDoctor Atomic under the direction of Alan Gilbert. She gave concert performances of Doctor Atomic with Robert Spano and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, and her portrayal of Kitty Oppenheimer was captured in Amsterdam and is commercially available on DVD on the BBC/Opus Arte label.
Jessica Rivera made her critically acclaimed Santa Fe Opera debut in the summer of 2005 as Nuria in the world premiere of the revised edition of Osvaldo Golijov's Ainadamar. She reprised the role for the 2007 Grammy Award-winning Deutsche Grammophon recording of the work with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra under Robert Spano, and bowed in the Peter Sellars staging at Lincoln Center, Opera Boston as well as in performances at the Barbican Centre, the Adelaide Festival of Arts, Cincinnati Opera, and the Ojai and Ravinia Festivals. The artist's first performances of Margarita Xirgu in Ainadamar, a role created by Dawn Upshaw, occurred in the summer of 2007 at the Colorado Music Festival under the baton of Michael Christie and she reprised the part recently for Madrid's Teatro Real.
Committed to the art of recital, Ms. Rivera has performed in concert halls in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Santa Fe. She was deeply honored to have received a commission from Carnegie Hall for the world premiere of a song cycle by Nico Muhly called The Adulteress given on the occasion of her Weill Hall recital performance.
Named a "Rising Star" Male Vocalist in Downbeat magazine's 2009 Critics Poll, Tony DeSare has won critical and popular acclaim for his concert performances throughout the United States, as well as in Australia, Japan and Hong Kong. From jazz clubs to Carnegie Hall to Las Vegas headlining with Don Rickles, Tony has brought his fresh take on old school classics. DeSare has three top ten Billboard jazz albums under his belt and has been featured on the CBS Early Show, NPR, and the Today Show.
"He is two parts Sinatra to one part Billy Joel, meshed seamlessly…. A Sinatra acolyte in his early 30s who sings Prince as well as Johnny Mercer," raved The New York Times.The Wall Street Journal adds its own flattering comparisons, stating, "He is one third Bobby Darin, one third Bobby Short and one third Bobby Kennedy." Rounding out the accolades is USA Today, proclaiming "DeSare belongs to a group of neo-traditional upstarts stretching from Harry Connick, Jr., to Michael Bublé and Jamie Cullum. DeSare covers old and newer pop and jazz standards without smothering or over-thinking the material."
Hans Graf, conductor
October 30-November 2, 2014
STRAVINSKY Song of the Nightingale
LISZT Piano Concerto No. 1
RIMSKY-KORSAKOV Scheherazade
Texas Instruments Classical Series
October 30-November 2, 2014
STRAVINSKY Song of the Nightingale
LISZT Piano Concerto No. 1
RIMSKY-KORSAKOV Scheherazade
Texas Instruments Classical Series
Known for his wide range of repertoire and creative programming, the distinguished Austrian conductor Hans Graf is one of today's most highly respected musicians.Appointed Music Director of the Houston Symphony in 2001, Mr. Graf concluded his tenure in May 2013 and is the longest serving Music Director in the orchestra's history. He currently holds the title of Conductor Laureate. Prior to his appointment in Houston, he was the Music Director of the Calgary Philharmonic for eight seasons and held the same post with the Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine for six years. He also led the Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra from 1984 to 1994.
Stephen Hough, piano
October 30-November 2, 2014
LISZT Piano Concerto No. 1
Texas Instruments Classical Series
October 30-November 2, 2014
LISZT Piano Concerto No. 1
Texas Instruments Classical Series
Over the course of his career Stephen Hough has distinguished himself as a true polymath, not only securing a reputation as a uniquely insightful concert pianist but also as a writer and composer. In 2001 Mr. Hough was the first classical performing artist to win a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship. He has appeared with most of the major European and American orchestras and plays recitals regularly in major halls and concert series around the world.
Many of Mr. Hough's catalogue of over 50 albums have garnered international prizes including several Grammy nominations, eight Gramophone Magazine Awards including 'Record of the Year' in 1996 and 2003, and the Gramophone 'Gold Disc' Award in 2008, which named his complete Saint-Saens Piano Concertos as the best recording of the past 30 years. His 2012 recording of the complete Chopin Waltzes received the Diapason d'Or de l'Annee, France's most prestigious recording award. His 2005 live recording of the Rachmaninoff Piano Concertos with Andrew Litton and the Dallas Symphony Orchestra was the fastest selling recording in Hyperion's history.
A noted writer, Mr. Hough has regularly contributed articles for The Guardian, The Times, The Tablet, Gramophone and BBC Music Magazine and was invited by The Telegraph in London in 2008 to start a blog that has become one of the most popular and influential forums for cultural discussion. His book, The Bible as Prayer, was published by Continuum and Paulist Press in 2007.
Mr. Hough resides in London and is a visiting professor at the Royal Academy of Music and holds the International Chair of Piano Studies at his alma mater, the Royal Northern College in Manchester.
Michelle DeYoung, mezzo-soprano
November 6 & 8, 2014
BARTÓK Bluebeard's Castle
Texas Instruments Classical Series
November 6 & 8, 2014
BARTÓK Bluebeard's Castle
Texas Instruments Classical Series
Michelle DeYoung has established herself as one of the most exciting artists of her generation. She appears frequently with many of the world's leading orchestras and in the prestigious festivals of Ravinia, Tanglewood, Aspen, Cincinnati, Saito Kinen, Edinburgh, Salzburg, and Lucerne. Ms. DeYoung has also appeared with many of the finest opera houses of the world including the Metropolitan Opera, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Houston Grand Opera, the Seattle Opera, the Glimmerglass Opera, La Scala, the Bayreuth Festival, Berliner Staatsoper, Hamburg State Opera and Opera National de Paris.
Ms. DeYoung's recording of Kindertotenlieder and Mahler's Symphony No. 3 with Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony (SFS Media) was awarded the 2003 Grammy Award for Best Classical Album. She has also been awarded the 2001 Grammy Awards for Best Classical Album and Best Opera Recording for Les Troyens with Sir Colin Davis and the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO Live). Her first solo disc was released on the EMI label.
Matthias Goerne, baritone
November 6 & 8, 2014
BARTÓK Bluebeard's Castle
Texas Instruments Classical Series
November 6 & 8, 2014
BARTÓK Bluebeard's Castle
Texas Instruments Classical Series
Matthias Goerne is one of the most internationally sought-after vocalists and a frequent guest at renowned festivals and concert halls, and is a beloved collaborator with Jaap van Zweden and the Dallas Symphony Orchestra.
Since his opera début at the Salzburg Festival in 1997 (Papageno), Matthias Goerne has appeared on the world's principal opera stages, including the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden; Teatro Real in Madrid; Paris National Opera; Vienna State Opera; and the Metropolitan Opera in New York. Goerne's artistry has been documented on numerous recordings, many of which have received prestigious awards. He currently is recording a series of selected Schubert songs for Harmonia Mundi (The Goerne/Schubert Edition on 11 CDs).
From 2001 through 2005, Matthias Goerne taught as an honorary professor of song interpretation at the Robert Schumann Academy of Music in Düsseldorf. In 2001, he was appointed an Honorary Member of the Royal Academy of Music in London. A native of Weimar, he studied with Hans-Joachim Beyer in Leipzig, and later with Elisabeth Schwarzkopf and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau.
American cellist Alisa Weilerstein has attracted widespread attention worldwide for playing that combines a natural virtuosic command and technical precision with impassioned musicianship. In September 2011 she was named a MacArthur Foundation Fellow. In 2010 she became an exclusive recording artist for Decca Classics, the first cellist to be signed by the prestigious label in over 30 years.
She has appeared with all of the major orchestras throughout the United States and Europe, and will be featured in concerts with Jaap van Zweden and the Dallas Symphony Orchestra during its Beethoven Festival in May, 2014.
Ms. Weilerstein's debut album with Decca, released in the United States in November 2012, features performances of the Elgar Cello Concerto in E minor and the Elliott Carter Cello Concerto with conductor Daniel Barenboim and the Staatskapelle Berlin. The collaboration was described by The New York Times: "Their interpretation is one of poise, heft and ardor, the soloist's superb control keenly matched by the conductor's insightful support." For her second album on the Decca label, to be released worldwide in early 2014, Ms. Weilerstein will record the Dvorak cello concerto with conductor Jirí Belohlávek and the Czech Philharmonic.
Ms. Weilerstein's brother is the conductor and violinist Joshua Weilerstein, who will appear with the Dallas Symphony during its 2014/15 Texas Instruments Classical Series season.
Alabama-born soprano Susanna Phillips, recipient of The Metropolitan Opera's 2010 Beverly Sills Artist Award, continues to establish herself as one of today's most sought-after singing actors and recitalists. The 2014-15 season will see Phillips return to the Metropolitan Opera for a seventh consecutive season starring as Antonia in Bartlett Sher's production of Les Contes D'Hoffmann under the baton of James Levine, as well as a reprise of her house debut role of Musetta in La Bohème. Additional engagements include Countess in Le Nozze di Figaro with Paul McCreesh and the Gulbenkian Orchestra in Lisbon and the title role in Handel's Agrippina with Boston Baroque under Martin Pearlman.
Phillips' 2014-15 orchestral engagements are highlighted by a performance of Fauré's Requiem with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra with Jaap van Zweden and a return to the San Francisco Symphony for Mahler's Fourth Symphony with Michael Tilson Thomas. Additional performances include Strauss' Four Last Songs at the opening night gala of the Louisiana Philharmonic's season and with the Mexico National Symphony Orchestra, a "Rival Queens" program with Elizabeth Futral and Music of the Baroque conducted by Jane Glover, Haydn's Die Schöpfung with Oratorio Society of New York, and Mendelssohn's arrangement of Bach's Matthäus-Passion with the Mendelssohn Club of Philadelphia.
A passionate chamber music collaborator, this season Phillips will join Eric Owens and the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society for an all Schubert program. She sings a recital with Brian Zeger and the Chamber Music Society of Palm Beach, and a tour of trio performances with Paul Neubauer and Anne Marie McDermott. Additional appearances include the 2014 Chicago Collaborative Works Festival, the Emerson String Quartet in Thomasville, Georgia with Warren Jones and colleagues from the Metropolitan Opera, and at Twickenham Fest, a chamber music festival she co-founded in her native Huntsville, Alabama.
Her 2013-14 season was highlighted by what the New York Times called a "breakthrough night" as Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte at the Metropolitan Opera which also marked the return of music director James Levine as well as performances of Rosalinde in a new production of Die Fledermaus which premiered on New Years Eve, and Musetta in La Bohème. Additional highlights included Ellen Orford in Peter Grimes with the St. Louis Symphony and David Robertson on Britten's 100th birthday at Carnegie Hall and later in St. Louis, as well as a return to Japan as Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte at the Hyogo Performing Arts Center. Concert engagements included both Fauré's Requiem and Poulenc's Gloria with Charles Dutoit and the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, Strauss' Four Last Songs with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra conducted by Edo de Waart, Fauré's Requiem and Villa-Lobos's Bachianas brasileiras No. 5 with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Mozart's Requiem with the Mostly Mozart Festival, Beethoven's Ninth Symphony with Edo de Waart and the Milwaukee Symphony, and Barber's Knoxville: Summer of 1915 with the Jacksonville Symphony. She was also featured in a trio of performances with the Aspen Music Festival singing Strauss' Brentano Lieder with conductor Jane Glover, Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, and in recital with Eric Owens and Robert Spano. Recital engagements included an all Schubert tour with Eric Owens and members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in both Chicago and at the Gilmore Festival, chamber music concerts with Paul Neubauer and Anne Marie McDermott, and an appearance at the Parlance Chamber Music Series with Warren Jones. The soprano also made her solo recital debut at Carnegie's Weill Recital Hall with pianist Myra Huang.
Highlights of Phillips's previous seasons include numerous additional Metropolitan Opera appearances as Donna Anna in Don Giovanni, Pamina in Julie Taymor's production of The Magic Flute, Musetta in La Bohème (both in New York and on tour in Japan), and as a featured artist in the Met's Summer Recital Series in both Central Park and Brooklyn Bridge Park. She also appeared at Carnegie Hall for a special concert performance as Stella in Previn's A Streetcar Named Desire opposite Reneé Fleming - a role she went on to perform, to rave reviews, at Lyric Opera of Chicago. She made her Santa Fe Opera debut as Pamina, and subsequently performed a trio of other Mozart roles with the company as Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte, Countess Almaviva in Le Nozze di Figaro, and Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni. As a member of the Ryan Opera Center, Phillps sang the female leads in Roméo et Juliette and Die Fledermaus. Additional roles include Elmira in Reinhard Keiser's The Fortunes of King Croesus, Euridice in Orfeo ed Euridice, and the title role in Lucia di Lammermoor, Countess in le Nozze di Figaro, and Donna Anna, as well as appearances with the Dallas Opera, Minnesota Opera, Fort Worth Opera Festival, Boston Lyric Opera and Opera Birmingham.
In August 2011, Phillips was featured at the opening night of the Mostly Mozart Festival, which aired live on Live From Lincoln Center on PBS. The same year saw the release of Paysages, her first solo album on Bridge Records, which was hailed as "sumptuous and elegantly sung" (San Francisco Chronicle). The following year saw her European debut as Pamina in The Magic Flute at the Gran Teatro del Liceu Barcelona.
Highly in demand by the world's most prestigious orchestras, Phillips has appeared with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic under Alan Gilbert, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, San Francisco Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, Oratorio Society of New York, Santa Fe Symphony, Santa Barbara Symphony, St. Louis Symphony, Orchestra of St. Luke's, and Santa Fe Concert Association.
Other recent concert and oratorio engagements include Carmina Burana, Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, Mahler's Fourth Symphony, Mozart's Coronation Mass, the Fauré and Mozart requiems, and Handel's Messiah. She made her Carnegie Hall debut with Skitch Henderson, Rob Fisher, and the New York Pops. Following her Baltimore Symphony Orchestra debut under Marin Alsop, the Baltimore Sun proclaimed: "She's the real deal."
As resident artist at the 2010 and 2011 Marlboro Music Festivals, she was part of Marilyn Horne Foundation Gala at Carnegie Hall, made her New York solo recital debut at Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall, and appeared at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC under the auspices of the Vocal Arts Society.
Phillips had a magnificent 2005, winning four of the world's leading vocal competitions: Operalia (both First Place and the Audience Prize), the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, the MacAllister Awards, and the George London Foundation Awards Competition. She has also claimed the top honor at the Marilyn Horne Foundation Competition, and has won first prizes from the American Opera Society Competition and the Musicians Club of Women in Chicago. Philips has received grants from the Santa Fe Opera and the Sullivan Foundation, and is a graduate of Lyric Opera of Chicago's Ryan Opera Center. She holds two degrees from The Juilliard School and continues collaboration with her teacher Cynthia Hoffmann.
Born in Birmingham, Alabama and raised in Huntsville, over 400 people travelled from her hometown to New York City in December 2008 for Phillips's Metropolitan Opera debut in La Bohème. She continues to be overwhelmed by the support she receives and returns frequently to her native state for recitals and orchestral appearances.
Canadian baritone Hugh Russell continues to receive high praise for his charisma, dramatic energy and vocal beauty. He is widely acclaimed for his performances in the operas of Mozart and Rossini, and is regularly invited to perform with symphony orchestras throughout North America. At the center of his orchestral repertoire is Orff's popular "Carmina Burana", which Mr. Russell has performed with The Philadelphia Orchestra, The Cleveland Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, Houston Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, Seattle Symphony, Toronto Symphony, and Vancouver Symphony, among others.
With his brother, bass player John Clayton, saxophonist Jeff Clayton is the leader of the hard-driving Clayton Brothers Quintet. He began his career as both a touring and studio musician. He recorded important albums with, among others, Stevie Wonder, Gladys Knight, Kenny Rodgers, Michael Jackson, Patti Labelle, Earth Wind & Fire, and soloed on Madonna's single Back in Business. As a jazz musician, he has worked with Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., Ella Fitzgerald, Woody Harmon, Lionel Hampton, Lena Horne, McCoy Toner, and Dee Dee Bridgewater.
In 1986, John Clayton, Jeff Clayton and Jeff Hamilton came together to form the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra. Recognized as one of the great jazz bands, the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra was house band at the Hollywood Bowl during 1999-2001 and in 2004 was named the top big band in jazz by the readers of Downbeat Magazine.
A spectacular trumpeter with a very wide range, a beautiful tone, and the ability to blend together many influences into his own style, Byron Stripling returns to the Dallas Symphony and performances with Principal Pops Conductor Jeff Tyzik. Byron Stripling is artistic director of the Columbus Jazz Orchestra, leader of his own quartet, and constantly in demand to play with pops orchestras around the world. Byron is an extroverted performer who brings the audience into his music.
Enrolled at the Eastman School of Music with plans to become a classical trumpeter, Byron Stripling joined Clark Terry's big band for a 12-week tour his freshman year. Tours followed with Lionel Hampton, Woody Herman Orchestra, and the Count Basie Orchestra, and he performed with orchestras led by Gillespie and Buck Clayton. In 1988, Byron Stripling was picked to play the lead in the musical Satchmo: America's Musical Legend.
In 2002, Byron Stripling became the artistic director and conductor of the Columbus Jazz Orchestra. He also makes many guest appearances with pops orchestras, frequently with Jeff Tyzik, conducts clinics and seminars at colleges and high schools and tours extensively with his own quartet.
Named by Downbeat magazine as "Best Trombone" in 2012 and 2013 and consistently named Trombonist of the Year by Jazz Journalists Association, Wycliffe Gordon is one of today's most accomplished jazz trombonists and composer-arrangers. A former veteran member of the Wynton Marsalis Septet and Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, Wycliffe Gordon has worked with a "who's who" of jazz greats, including Dizzy Gillespie. Lionel Hampton, Tommy Flanagan, Shirley Horn, Joe Henderson, Eric Reed, Randy Sandke and Branford Marsalis.
In addition to his solo career, Gordon tours regularly with the Wycliffe Gordon Quartet, headlining at legendary jazz venues and performing arts centers throughout the world. He has been a featured guest artist on Billy Taylor's Jazz at the Kennedy Center Series and is a recipient of the ASCAP Foundation Vanguard Award, among others.
Gordon's recordings include fourteen solo CDs and seven co-leader CDs. Frequently commissioned by jazz groups as a composer and arranger, he has an extensive songbook of original compositions and is performed throughout the world by musicians and ensembles of every caliber. A member of the Jazz Arts faculty at Manhattan School of Music, Gordon is one of America's most persuasive and committed music educators. Wycliffe Gordon is a Yamaha artist.
May 1-3, 2015
Ann Hampton Callaway Sings Streisand
Dallas Symphony Pops Series
Ann Hampton Callaway Sings Streisand
Dallas Symphony Pops Series
Lawrence Loh was recently appointed Music Director of Symphoria (Syracuse, NY) beginning in the 2015/16 season. He is currently Resident Conductor of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Music Director of the Northeastern Pennsylvania Philharmonic and Music Director of the Pittsburgh Youth Symphony Orchestra. He was brought to national attention in February 2004 when he substituted last minute for an ailing Charles Dutoit with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. Conducting Stravinsky's Petrouchkaand Berlioz's Symphonie fantastique, Loh received enthusiastic acclaim from orchestra players, audience members and critics, alike.
Since his appointment as Music Director of the Northeastern Pennsylvania Philharmonic in 2005, the orchestra has flourished artistically, defining its reputation as one of the finest regional orchestras in the country. As Resident Conductor of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Loh works closely with Music Director Manfred Honeck and conducts a wide range of concerts including classical, educational and pops. Loh led the Pittsburgh Youth Symphony Orchestra on a European tour to Vienna, Salzburg, Prague and Bratislava in the summer of 2014.
Recent guest conducting engagements include the National, Detroit and Dallas Symphonies, Symphoria (Syracuse NY), Florida Orchestra, Malaysian Philharmonic and the Knoxville, Charleston (SC), El Paso and Greater Bridgeport Symphonies.
Loh's career was launched when appointed Associate Conductor of the Colorado Symphony Orchestra after graduating from Yale. While in Denver, he was also Music Director of the Denver Young Artists Orchestra. He was subsequently appointed Associate Conductor of the Dallas Symphony.
Born in southern California of Korean parentage and raised in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, Loh and his wife Jennifer have a son, Charlie, and a daughter, Hilary.
Grammy nominated baritone, Jubilant Sykes' unique talents have taken him to musical capitols across the globe, where he has performed leading roles at the Metropolitan Opera, and Deutsche Oper Berlin, as well as concerts at New York's Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center and at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. Among the orchestras with which he has appeared as soloist are the New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, London Symphony, BBC Symphony and the Boston Pops. Mr. Sykes' versatility has taken him to such venues as the Hollywood Bowl, the Apollo Theatre and the New Orleans Jazz Festival.
Recently, Jubilant made his stage debut as the lead in an original play, Breath and Imagination, at the Hartford Stage, where critics and audiences alike found his transition to acting sublimely natural.
Jubilant Sykes recently made his theatrical debut in the film Carry me Home with Cuba Gooding, Jr., scheduled for release in 2014-2015.
Cynthia Nott, Artistic Director
Children's Chorus of Greater Dallas
December 5-21, 2014
Christmas Pops
Dallas Symphony Pops Series
Children's Chorus of Greater Dallas
December 5-21, 2014
Christmas Pops
Dallas Symphony Pops Series
May 14 & 16m 2015
Bernstein 3
Texas Instruments Classical Series
Bernstein 3
Texas Instruments Classical Series
May 21-23, 2015
Mahler 3
Texas Instruments Classical Series
Mahler 3
Texas Instruments Classical Series
Cynthia Nott has been Artistic Director of the Children's Chorus of Greater Dallas since 1997. Under her leadership, the Chorus has grown dramatically, earned the respect of the Dallas area music community, and impressed audiences by its artistic excellence. In addition to its own concert schedule, Ms. Nott has prepared the Chorus to perform with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, the Dallas Opera, the Mesquite Civic Chorus, Orpheus Chamber Singers, and the Voices of Change. Prior to becoming full-time Artistic Director of the CCGD, Ms. Nott taught public middle school choral music for twenty-three years.
Ms. Nott has been actively involved in a wide range of professional choral activities. She has served as clinician and consultant for music teachers, conductors, and singers throughout the United States. She has appeared as guest conductor for All-Region and All-State choirs.
Ms. Nott earned the Bachelor of Music Education from Florida State University and a Master of Music in Choral Conducting from Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX. She holds affiliations with the American Choral Directors Association and the Texas Music Educators Association.
Oliver von Dohnányi, conductor
December 31, 2014
DVORAK Carnival Overture
JOHANN STRAUSS, Jr. Roses from the South
PONCHIELLI "Dance of the Hours" from La Gioconda
JOHANN STRAUSS, Jr. Voices of Spring Waltz
Laura Alonso Padín, soprano
SUPPÉ Light Cavalry Overture
REZNICEK Donna Diana Overture
SMETANA "The Moldau" from Ma Vlast
JOHANN STRAUSS, Jr. "Mein Herr Marquis" from Die Fledermaus
Laura Alonso Padín, soprano
E. KALMAN "Heia, in den Bergen" from The Gypsy Princess
Laura Alonso Padín, soprano
JOHANN STRAUSS, Jr. On the Beautiful Blue Danube
New Year's Eve with the DSO
December 31, 2014
DVORAK Carnival Overture
JOHANN STRAUSS, Jr. Roses from the South
PONCHIELLI "Dance of the Hours" from La Gioconda
JOHANN STRAUSS, Jr. Voices of Spring Waltz
Laura Alonso Padín, soprano
SUPPÉ Light Cavalry Overture
REZNICEK Donna Diana Overture
SMETANA "The Moldau" from Ma Vlast
JOHANN STRAUSS, Jr. "Mein Herr Marquis" from Die Fledermaus
Laura Alonso Padín, soprano
E. KALMAN "Heia, in den Bergen" from The Gypsy Princess
Laura Alonso Padín, soprano
JOHANN STRAUSS, Jr. On the Beautiful Blue Danube
New Year's Eve with the DSO
Oliver von Dohnányi was born in Trenčín and studied violin, composition and conducting at the Bratislava Conservatory and at the Academy for Music, Vienna under Václav Neumann and Otmar Suitner. He has won distinctions in a number of competitions including the "Prague Spring Talich Conducting Competition" in 1985, and the "Hungarian Television Conducting Competition" in 1983, he won the prestigious "Premio Respighi" in Siena and the special prize at the 1989 Salzburg Festival for the television recording of Juraj Filas' opera Memento with the Prague Symphony Orchestra.
From 1979 to 1986 he was conductor of the Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra in Bratislava and from 1986 to 1991 Music Director of the Slovak National Theatre Opera, which he led on successful tours to Spain, Bulgaria, China, Hungary, Germany, The Netherlands, and to the Edinburgh Festival in 1990, where he conducted performances of Faust (which received a special prize) and Prince Igor. He was also Artistic Director of the Charles University Art Ensemble and the Canticorum Iubilo Chamber Ensemble in Prague. He was Music Director of the National Theatre Prague (1993-1996 and 2004-2007), became Conductor in Chief of the Slovak Sinfonietta Chamber Orchestra in 2005 and assumed the Artistic Directorship of the National Moravian-Silesian Theatre in Ostrava in March 2006. In 2007, Oliver von Dohnanyi was appointed Artistic Director of Slovak National Opera.
Oliver von Dohnányi has toured with the Slovak Philharmonic, Slovak Sinfonietta, Zagreb Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestras and appeared with the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, Czech Philharmonic, the London Mozart Players, the Saarländischer Rundfunk, Radio Symphony Bratislava, Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Sinfonietta, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Vorisek Symphony Orchestra in France, Italy, Germany, Holland, Hungary, Prague, the Slovak Republic, Switzerland, Japan and the United Kingdom. He has made many recordings with Naxos, Lyra, Opus/Audiphon, Panton, Supraphon and Marco Polo, including a collection of works by Glinka, Khatchaturian, Rimsky-Korsakov and Tchaikovsky with the English Chamber Orchestra for the Novalis label.
His operatic repertoire includes Carmen, La Gioconda, Hamlet and The Bartered Bride (Opera North), Falstaff, Die lustige Witwe and Mefistofele (English National Opera), Der Widerspenstigen Zähmung (Wexford Festival), Aida(Düsseldorf), Il Barbiere di Siviglia and Il Turco in Italia (State Opera Prague), The Bartered Bride and Case Makropoulos (Brno), the world premiere of Golem by Hanus Barton, Don Giovanni, The Bartered Bride and Cyrano de Bergerac (Ostrava), La Bohème and La Traviata (Osaka), Der fliegende Holländer (Kassel), Eugene Onegin(Stuttgart), Rusalka (Las Palmas), The Bartered Bride (Baltimore Opera), Mefistofele (Basel), a concert performance ofErnani (English Chamber Orchestra , Barbican London), The Excursions of Mr. Broucek (Charleston Festival), Toscaand Die lustige Witwe (Nationale Reisopera, Enschede), Falstaff and Jenufa (Royal Danish Theatre, Copenhagen), a concert performance of Libuse (Edinburgh International Festival), Madama Butterfly, Aida, La Bohème, and Rusalka(New Slovak National Theatre in Bratislava), Ariadne auf Naxos (Britten-Pears School, Aldeburgh), Macbeth andRomeo et Juliette (Karlsruhe) and The Bartered Bride, Rigoletto, La Traviata, Rusalka, Samson and Delilah,Macbeth, Libuse, Don Pasquale, Tosca, Norma, The Whirlpool and Aida (Prague National Theatre).
He has also conducted a Ballet Evening at the Vienna Staatsoper, Alexander Nevsky (Naples), Prokofiev's Cinderella,A Midsummer Night's and the premiere of In The Blue Garden (Bayerisches Staatsballett Munich), Romeo et Juliette(Prokofiev) and Rusalka (Zürich), Don Giovanni (Lecce), and Macbeth, Tosca, The Spectre's Bride, Don Pasquale andLa Bohème (Bratislava).
Recently Oliver von Dohnányi has conducted Jenufa (Malaga), Turandot (Trento, Livorno, and Savona), Dalibor(Litomysl Festival), Ariadne auf Naxos, Faust, The Bartered Bride, Carmen, Madame Butterfly, La Bohème (National Moravian-Silesian Theatre, Ostrava), Madama Butterfly and Aida (Bratislava), Libuse (Prague National Theatre),Rusalka and Norma (Leeds), Cavaleria Rusticana and I Pagliacci (New Zealand Opera), Eugene Onegin (Stuttgart)q and the Lexus Song Quest (New Zealand).
Upcoming engagements include Donizetti's Anna Bolena (Ostrava), The Bartered Bride (re-invitation by the New Zealand Opera), and Philip Glass' Satyagraha (Ekaterinburg State Opera and Ballet Theater Russia), among others.
Oliver von Dohnányi is laureate of both the Gustav Mahler European Prize and European Union of Arts Prize (2011).
Laura Alonso Padín, soprano
December 31, 2014
JOHANN STRAUSS, Jr. Voices of Spring Waltz
JOHANN STRAUSS, Jr. "Mein Herr Marquis" from Die Fledermaus
E. KALMAN "Heia, in den Bergen" from The Gypsy Princess
New Year's Eve with the DSO
December 31, 2014
JOHANN STRAUSS, Jr. Voices of Spring Waltz
JOHANN STRAUSS, Jr. "Mein Herr Marquis" from Die Fledermaus
E. KALMAN "Heia, in den Bergen" from The Gypsy Princess
New Year's Eve with the DSO
Spanish soprano Laura Alonso Padín was born in Villagarcía de Arosa (Galicia). She graduated both in singing and violin. She later went on to the Musikhochschule in Karlsruhe (Germany) with a scholarship from the prestigious Alexander von Humbolt Foundation to study with Aldo Baldin, Anna Reynolds and Jean Cox and lied with Hartmut Höll, among other masters.
At 23 years of age she joined the ensemble of the Aalto Theater in Essen (Germany) where she sang Mimí in La Bohème, Gilda in Rigoletto, Susanna in Figaro, Zdenka inArabella, Pamina in The Magic Flute and Blanche in Carmelites, among other roles and numerous concerts. At the aforementioned Theatre, she got the Best Artist Award by popular acclaim.
She sings regularly at internationally renowned theatres such as Rishon Le Zion (Israel), Teatro Bellas Artes in Mexico, Teatro de Guanajuato, Philharmonie de Cologne, Musikhalle in Hamburg, Konzerthaus and Philharmonie in Berlin, Karlsruhe, Dortmund and Essen, Kuppel Saal in Hannover (Germany), Herodes Aticus in Athens, Lincoln Center in New York, Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Palau de Valencia and Barcelona, among others.
Ms. Alonso has won several singing awards at international competitions, among them First Prize in the last Alfredo Kraus Competition as well as the Franco Corelli, Verviers or Jaume Aragall Competitions.
Conrad Tao, piano
January 8-11, 2015
RACHMANINOFF Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini
Texas Instruments Classical Series
January 8-11, 2015
RACHMANINOFF Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini
Texas Instruments Classical Series
May 8-9, 2015
ROZSA Spellbound Concerto
ReMix
SOLUNA: International Music & Arts Festival
ROZSA Spellbound Concerto
ReMix
SOLUNA: International Music & Arts Festival
Dubbed a musician of "probing intellect and open-hearted vision" by the New York Times, Conrad Tao has appeared worldwide as a pianist and composer. In June of 2011, the White House Commission on Presidential Scholars and the Department of Education named Conrad a Presidential Scholar in the Arts, and the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts awarded him a YoungArts gold medal in music. Later that year, Conrad was named a Gilmore Young Artist, an honor awarded every two years highlighting the most promising American pianists of the new generation. In May of 2012, he was awarded the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant.
During the 2014-2015 season, Conrad continues his formidable globe-trotting career as a pianist, with performances with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Dallas Symphony Orchestra, San Diego Symphony, and the Toronto Symphony, among others. In Europe, he will be returning to perform with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra in Stockholm, and the Bern Symphony in Switzerland. He also performs recitals in Europe and throughout the United States with repertoire ranging from Bach to Toru Takemitsu to Julia Wolfe.
On his 19th birthday in June of 2013, Conrad kicked off the inaugural UNPLAY Festival at the powerHouse Arena in Brooklyn, which he curated and produced. The festival, designated a "critics' pick" by Time Out New York and hailed by the New York Times for its "clever organization" and "endlessly engaging" performances, featured Conrad with guest artists performing a wide variety of new works. Across three nights encompassing electroacoustic music, performance art, youth ensembles, and much more, UNPLAY explored the fleeting ephemera of the Internet, the possibility of a 21st-century canon, and music's role in social activism and critique. That month, Conrad, a Warner Classics recording artist, also released Voyages, his first full-length for the label, declared a "spiky debut" by the New Yorker's Alex Ross. Of the album, NPR wrote: "Tao proves himself to be a musician of deep intellectual and emotional means - as the thoughtful programming on this album...proclaims."
In November 2013, the Dallas Symphony Orchestra premiered Conrad's new orchestral composition, The World Is Very Different Now, commissioned in observance of the 50th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. This work is the latest in his accomplished career as a composer, which has featured eight consecutive ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Awards, the Carlos Surinach Prize from BMI, and an oeuvre that already includes everything from symphonic music to string quartets to electroacoustic work to popular music.
Conrad was born in Urbana, Illinois, in 1994. He currently attends the Columbia University/Juilliard School joint degree program and studies piano with Professors Yoheved Kaplinsky and Choong Mo Kang at Juilliard. He studies composition with Christopher Theofanidis.
A virtuoso composer-performer unique among keyboardists, Cameron Carpenter's approach to the organ is smashing the stereotypes of organists and organ music while generating a level of acclaim, exposure, and controversy unprecedented for an organist. His repertoire - from the complete works of J. S. Bach and Cesar Franck, to his hundreds of transcriptions of non-organ works, his original compositions, and his collaborations with jazz and pop artists - is perhaps the largest and most diverse of any organist. He is the first organist ever nominated for a GRAMMY® Award for a solo album.
During his four years of high school studies at The North Carolina School of the Arts, he made his first studies in orchestration and orchestral composition, and transcribed for the organ more than 100 major works, including Gustav Mahler's complete Symphony No. 5. Cameron received a Master's Degree from The Juilliard School in New York in 2006.
The same year, he began his worldwide organ concert tours, giving numerous debuts at venues including Royal Albert Hall, the Leipzig Gewandhaus, Melbourne Town Hall, Tchaikovsky Hall in Moscow, Davies Hall in San Francisco and many others. His first album for Telarc®, the GRAMMY®-nominated Revolutionary (2008), was followed in 2010 by the critically acclaimed full length DVD and CD Cameron Live!
Nicholas McGegan, conductor
January 22-25, 2015
BACH Brandenburg Concerto No. 1
BRITTEN Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings
BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 1
Texas Instruments Classical Series
January 22-25, 2015
BACH Brandenburg Concerto No. 1
BRITTEN Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings
BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 1
Texas Instruments Classical Series
As he embarks on his fourth decade on the podium, Nicholas McGegan, hailed as "one of the finest baroque conductors of his generation" (London Independent), is increasingly recognized for his probing and revelatory explorations of music of all periods. He has been music director of Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra for 27 years, and was Artistic Director of the International Handel Festival Göttingen for 20 years (1991-2011). Beginning in the 2013-14 season he becomes Principal Guest Conductor of the Pasadena Symphony, and in 2014 becomes Artist in Association with Australia's Adelaide Symphony.
His approach to period style - intelligent, infused with joy and never dogmatic - has led to appearances with major orchestras, including the New York, Los Angeles, and Hong Kong Philharmonics; the Chicago, Dallas, Milwaukee, St. Louis, Toronto and Sydney Symphonies; the Cleveland and the Philadelphia Orchestras; and the Northern Sinfonia and Scottish Chamber Orchestra. He is also at home in opera houses having conducted companies including Covent Garden, San Francisco, Santa Fe and Washington, and he was Principal Conductor at Sweden's famed Drottningholm Theatre from 1993-1996.
English-born Nicholas McGegan was educated at Cambridge and Oxford. He was made an Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE) "for services to music overseas."
David Cooper, horn
January 22-25, 2015
BRITTEN Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings
Texas Instruments Classical Series
January 22-25, 2015
BRITTEN Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings
Texas Instruments Classical Series
David Cooper was named Principal Horn of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra in September, 2013 in the Howard E. Rachofsky Chair. He joined the orchestra in 2011 after serving as Co-Associate Principal horn of the Fort Worth Symphony since 2008.
Cooper serves as Artistic Director of Avant Chamber Ballet. He was a participating artist at Marlboro Music and was a member of the international YouTube Symphony that played at the Sydney Opera House in Australia in March 2011. Before coming to Fort Worth David was Acting Principal horn in the Victoria Symphony in Victoria, B.C. from 2006-2008. He studied at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia with Jerome Ashby of the New York Philharmonic. He also attended Michigan State University. In April 2012 David released a solo CD, "A French Horn and Piano Collaboration," with pianist Cary Chow.
Nicholas Phan, tenor
January 22-25, 2015
BRITTEN Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings
Texas Instruments Classical Series
January 22-25, 2015
BRITTEN Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings
Texas Instruments Classical Series
American Nicholas Phan continues to distinguish himself as one of the most compelling young tenors appearing on the prestigious concert and opera stages of the world. Mr. Phan has appeared with many of the leading orchestras in the North America and Europe, and has also toured extensively throughout the major concert halls of Europe with Il Complesso Barocco. An avid proponent of vocal chamber music, he has collaborated with many chamber musicians, including pianists Mitsuko Uchida, Richard Goode, Jeremy Denk; guitarist Eliot Fisk; and horn players Jennifer Montone and Gail Williams. He is also a founder and the Artistic Director of Collaborative Arts Institute of Chicago, an organization devoted to promoting the art song and vocal chamber music repertoire.
Mr. Phan's most recent solo album, Still Fall the Rain (AVIE) was named one of the best classical recordings of 2012 by The New York Times. His debut solo album, Winter Words (AVIE) made the "Best of 2011" lists of The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Boston Globe, TimeOut NY, and the Toronto Star. His growing discography includes the Grammy-nominated recording of Stravinksy's Pulcinella with Pierre Boulez and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO Resound) and the opera L'Olimpiade with the Venice Baroque Orchestra (Naïve).
A graduate of the University of Michigan, Mr. Phan is an alumnus of the Houston Grand Opera Studio.
James Gaffigan, conductor
January 29-February 1, 2015
MOZART Piano Concerto No. 19
PROKOFIEV Symphony No. 3
Texas Instruments Classical Series
January 29-February 1, 2015
MOZART Piano Concerto No. 19
PROKOFIEV Symphony No. 3
Texas Instruments Classical Series
Hailed for the natural ease of his conducting and the compelling insight of his musicianship, James Gaffigan continues to attract international attention as one of the most outstanding American conductors working today. He is Chief Conductor of the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra, Principal Guest Conductor of the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra and Principal Guest Conductor of the Gürzenich Orchestra, Cologne.
In addition to these titled positions, James Gaffigan is in high demand working with leading orchestras and opera houses throughout Europe, the United States and Asia. In recent seasons, James Gaffigan's guest engagements have included the Munich, London and Rotterdam Philharmonics, Dresden Staatskapelle, Deutsches Symphony Orchestra (Berlin), Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, RSO Berlin, BBC Symphony Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Czech Philharmonic, Zurich Tonhalle, Bournemouth Symphony, Camerata Salzburg, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Leipzig and Stuttgart Radio Orchestras, Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony, Sydney Symphony and the Qatar Philharmonic. In the States, he has worked with the Philadelphia and Cleveland Orchestras, San Francisco and Los Angeles Philharmonics, Chicago, St. Louis, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Minnesota, Dallas, Detroit, Houston, Baltimore and National Symphony Orchestras and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. In the 14/15 season he returns to the Vienna Symphony, Orchestre National de Paris, BBC Symphony and the orchestras of Cleveland, Vancouver and Los Angeles amongst others.
As an opera conductor, James Gaffigan made his Vienna State Opera debut in 2011/12 conducting 'La Bohème' and was immediately invited back to conduct 'Don Giovanni' the following season. Mr Gaffigan continues his relationship with the Glyndebourne Festival - in 2012, he conducted a production of 'La Cenerentola' and returned for performances of 'Falstaff' in summer 2013. He made his professional opera debut at the Zurich Opera in 2005 conducting 'La Bohème'. In the States, he has conducted 'Don Giovanni' and 'The Marriage of Figaro' at both the Aspen Music Festival and the Houston Opera. Highlights of the coming season in opera feature performances of 'Salome' with Hamburg Opera, 'Rigoletto' with Netherlands Philharmonic and 'La Traviata' with Norwegian Opera.
James Gaffigan's first recording with the Lucerne Symphony for Harmonia Mundi, an all-Wolfgang Rihm disc, received critical acclaim on both sides of the Atlantic, while the second recording for Harmonia Mundi will be an all-Dvorak disc featuring 'Symphony No. 6' and the 'American Suite'. He is also in the process of recording the complete Prokofiev symphonies with the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic.
In 2009, Mr Gaffigan completed a three-year tenure as Associate Conductor of the San Francisco Symphony where he assisted Michael Tilson Thomas, led subscription concerts and was Artistic Director of the orchestra's Summer festival. Prior to that appointment, he was the Assistant Conductor of the Cleveland Orchestra where he worked under Music Director Franz Welser-Möst from 2003 through 2006. James Gaffigan's international career was launched when he was named a first prize winner at the 2004 Sir Georg Solti International Conducting Competition. He lives in Lucerne with his wife and their two children. For more information please visit www.jamesgaffigan.com. https://twitter.com/jamesgaffigan
Peter Serkin, piano
January 29-February 1, 2015
MOZART Piano Concerto No. 19
Texas Instruments Classical Series
January 29-February 1, 2015
MOZART Piano Concerto No. 19
Texas Instruments Classical Series
Recognized as an artist of passion and integrity, the distinguished American pianist Peter Serkin has successfully conveyed the essence of five centuries of repertoire. His inspired performances with symphony orchestras, recital appearances, chamber music collaborations and recordings are equally valued worldwide.
Peter Serkin's rich musical heritage extends back several generations: his grandfather was violinist and composer Adolf Busch and his father pianist Rudolf Serkin. He has performed with the world's major symphony orchestras with such eminent conductors as Seiji Ozawa, Pierre Boulez, Alexander Schneider, Daniel Barenboim, George Szell, Claudio Abbado, Eugene Ormandy, Simon Rattle, James Levine, Herbert Blomstedt, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos and George Cleve. Also a dedicated chamber musician, Mr. Serkin has collaborated with Alexander Schneider, Pamela Frank, Yo-Yo Ma, the Budapest, Guarneri, Orion and Shanghai String Quartets and TASHI, of which he was a founding member.
An avid exponent of the music of many of the 20th and 21st century's most important composers, Mr. Serkin has been instrumental in bringing to life the music of Schoenberg, Webern, Berg, Stravinsky, Wolpe, Messiaen, Takemitsu, Henze, Berio, Wuorinen, Goehr, Knussen and Lieberson to audiences around the world. He has performed many important world premieres which were written specifically for him, in particular, works by Toru Takemitsu, Hans Werner Henze, Alexander Goehr, Oliver Knussen, Charles Wuorinen and Peter Lieberson.
Mr. Serkin's orchestral appearances during the 2014-2015 season include Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 19 with the San Francisco, Chicago and Dallas Symphonies, Bartók Piano Concerto No. 3 with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 1 with the Florida Orchestra. In April 2015, he offers the world premiere of a new piano concerto from Pulitzer Prize- and MacArthur Fellowship-winning composer Charles Wuorinen, with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra under the direction of Mattias Pintscher. Mr. Serkin gives solo recitals in New York, Sydney, Brisbane and New Haven at Yale University, and joins the Orion String Quartet in works by Brahms, Dvorák, Reger and Schoenberg (arranged by Webern) at the Ravinia and Toronto Summer Music Festivals and Philadelphia Chamber Music Society. He continues to explore a diverse repertoire palate with eminent as well as emerging artists and this season enjoys collaborations with cellist Fred Sherry and pianist Julia Hsu.
Orchestral highlights of recent seasons have included the Boston, Chicago and Saint Louis Symphonies, New York Philharmonic and Scottish Chamber Orchestra, while recital tours have taken Mr. Serkin to Philadelphia, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Santa Monica, Princeton and New York's 92nd Street Y. Recent summer festival appearances have included BBC London Proms, Tanglewood, Aldeburgh, Chautauqua and Denmark's Oremandsgaard Festival.
Mr. Serkin currently teaches at Bard College Conservatory of Music and the Longy School of Music. He resides in Massachusetts with his wife, Regina, and is the father of five children.
Yefim Bronfman, piano
February 12-15, 2015
BRAHMS Piano Concerto No. 1
Texas Instruments Classical Series
February 12-15, 2015
BRAHMS Piano Concerto No. 1
Texas Instruments Classical Series
Yefim Bronfman is widely regarded as one of the most talented virtuoso pianists performing today. His commanding technique and exceptional lyrical gifts have won him consistent critical acclaim and enthusiastic audiences worldwide, whether for his solo recitals, his prestigious orchestral engagements or his rapidly growing catalogue of recordings.
Summer festivals at Tanglewood, Aspen, Vail, La Jolla and a residency at the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival provide the starting point for his 2014-15 season which will include performances in the U.S. with the symphonies of Chicago (with whom he also appears in Carnegie Hall), St. Louis, San Francisco, Dallas, Seattle, Atlanta, Pittsburgh, New World Symphony, Metropolitan Orchestra and the New York and Los Angeles Philharmonics. Continuing his commitment to contemporary composers, the world premiere of a concerto written for him by Jörg Widmann is scheduled with the Berlin Philharmonic in December as well as performances of Magnus Lindberg's Concerto No. 2 with the Göteborgs Symfoniker and the London Philharmonic. With the Cleveland Orchestra & Franz Welser-Möst, he will play and record both Brahms concerti, repertoire he will also take to Milan's La Scala with Valery Gergiev.
After a break of many years, he will return to Japan for recitals and orchestral concerts with London's Philharmonia Orchestra and Esa-Pekka Salonen and to Singapore, Hong Kong, Taipei, Beijing, Sydney and Melbourne. In the spring he will join Anne-Sophie Mutter and Lynn Harrell for their first US tour together.
In the 13-14 season, Mr. Bronfman performed regularly with the New York Philharmonic as it's featured Artist-in-Residence. Repertoire from Tchaikovsky to Lindberg and contemporary composers Marc-André Dalbavie, and Marc Neikrug were featured in chamber concerts with a winter tour to the Far East and a complete cycle of all the Beethoven concerti over 3 weeks in June to bring the orchestra's season to a close. Mr. Bronfman also completed a short duo tour with friend and collaborator Pinchas Zukerman. At the Berlin Philharmonic's new spring residency in Baden-Baden he performed Beethoven conducted by Zubin Mehta and throughout the season returned to the orchestras of Los Angeles, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Vancouver, Toronto, Boston, Houston, Dallas and Detroit as well as Paris, Munich, Berlin and Amsterdam with whose Concertgebouworkester he toured in Australia as part of that orchestra's world-wide centenary celebrations.
Mr. Bronfman works regularly with an illustrious group of conductors, including Daniel Barenboim, Herbert Blomstedt, Christoph von Dohnányi, Charles Dutoit, Christoph Eschenbach, Valery Gergiev, Mariss Jansons, Lorin Maazel, Kurt Masur, Zubin Mehta, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Yuri Temirkanov, Franz Welser-Möst, and David Zinman. Summer engagements have regularly taken him to the major festivals of Europe and the US.
He has also given numerous solo recitals in the leading halls of North America, Europe and the Far East, including acclaimed debuts at Carnegie Hall in 1989 and Avery Fisher Hall in 1993. In 1991 he gave a series of joint recitals with Isaac Stern in Russia, marking Mr. Bronfman's first public performances there since his emigration to Israel at age 15. That same year he was awarded the prestigious Avery Fisher Prize, one of the highest honors given to American instrumentalists. In 2010 he was honored as the recipient of the Jean Gimbel Lane prize in piano performance from Northwestern University.
Widely praised for his solo, chamber and orchestral recordings, he was nominated for a GRAMMY® Award in 2009 for his Deutsche Grammophon recording of Esa-Pekka Salonen's piano concerto with Salonen conducting and with whom he won a GRAMMY® Award in 1997 for his recording of the three Bartók Piano Concerti and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. His performance of Beethoven's fifth piano concerto with Andris Nelsons and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra from the 2011 Lucerne Festival is now available on DVD and his performance of Rachmaninoff's third concerto with the Berlin Philharmonic and Sir Simon Rattle was released on DVD by the EuroArts label. His most recent CD releases are the 2014 GRAMMY® nominated Magnus Lindberg's Piano Concerto No. 2 commissioned for him and performed by the New York Philharmonic conducted by Alan Gilbert on the Da Capo label, Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No.1 with Mariss Jansons and the Bayerischer Rundfunk, a recital disc, 'Perspectives', complementing Mr. Bronfman's designation as a Carnegie Hall 'Perspectives' artist for the 2007-08 season, and recordings of all the Beethoven piano concerti as well as the Triple Concerto together with violinist Gil Shaham, cellist Truls Mørk, and the Tönhalle Orchestra Zürich under David Zinman for the Arte Nova/BMG label.
Born in Tashkent in the Soviet Union on 10 April 1958, Yefim Bronfman immigrated to Israel with his family in 1973, where he studied with pianist Arie Vardi, head of the Rubin Academy of Music at Tel Aviv University. In the United States, he studied at The Juilliard School, Marlboro and the Curtis Institute, and with Rudolf Firkusny, Leon Fleisher and Rudolf Serkin.
Yefim Bronfman became an American citizen in July 1989.
Lawrence Foster, conductor
February 26-28, 2015
ENESCO Romanian Rhapsody No. 2
BARBER Violin Concerto
TCHAIKOVSKY Symphony No. 1, Winter Dreams
Texas Instruments Classical Series
February 26-28, 2015
ENESCO Romanian Rhapsody No. 2
BARBER Violin Concerto
TCHAIKOVSKY Symphony No. 1, Winter Dreams
Texas Instruments Classical Series
Lawrence Foster holds the position of Music Director with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Marseille. Following a hugely successful ten-year tenure as Artistic Director and Chief Conductor of the Gulbenkian Orchestra, Lawrence Foster now becomes their Conductor Laureate. Their discography together includes a number of recordings for PentaTone Classics, including a highly acclaimed CD of violin works by Bruch, Chausson and Korngold with Arabella Steinbacher. Foster has conducted in major opera houses throughout the world.
Born in 1941 in Los Angeles to Romanian parents, Lawrence Foster has been a major champion of the music of Georg Enescu, serving as Artistic Director of the Georg Enescu Festival from 1998 to 2001. In January 2003 he was decorated by the Romanian President for services to Romanian Music.
Foster previously held Music Directorships with the Orquestra Simfònica de Barcelona, Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte Carlo, Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, Houston Symphony, Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne and the Aspen Music Festival and School. He was Music Director of Orchestre et Opéra National de Montpellier Languedoc Roussillon from 2009 - 2012.
Alexander Kerr assumed the role of concertmaster of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra in the Michael L. Rosenberg Chair in September, 2011. His expressive and charismatic style has made him one of the most accomplished and versatile violinists on the international music scene today. In 1996 at the age of 26, Mr. Kerr was appointed to the prestigious position of Concertmaster of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. After nine successful years at that post, he left in June, 2006 to assume the endowed Linda and Jack Gill Chair in Music as Professor of Violin at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. In addition to his teaching responsibilities in Bloomington, he maintains a busy concert schedule appearing with orchestras and in recital and chamber music performances throughout the U.S., Asia and Europe. In 2008 he began his tenure as Principal Guest Concertmaster of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra.
Regarded by the press as a masterful virtuoso with an elegant, old-world sound, Mr. Kerr has appeared as soloist with major orchestras throughout the United States and Europe, working with such renowned conductors as Jaap van Zweden, Mariss Jansons, Riccardo Chailly, Peter Oundjian, Robert Spano, Alan Gilbert, and David Zinman.
An active chamber musician, Mr. Kerr has collaborated with Martha Argerich, Leif Ove Andsnes, Emanuel Ax, Joshua Bell, Yefim Bronfman, Edgar Meyer, Truls Mørk, Vadim Repin, Mstislav Rostropovich and Maxim Vengerov in performances at festivals in Aspen, Santa Fe, Caramoor, Stavanger, and throughout Spain, Portugal, Turkey, Switzerland, Austria and the Netherlands.
Mr. Kerr's CD releases include the Dvorak Piano Quintet with Sarah Chang and Leif Ove Andsnes on the EMI label, music by Dutch composer Julius Röntgen on the NM Classics label, and the Shostakovich Romance on a series of discs including "Violin Adagios" and "Evening Adagios" released by Decca. A live DVD and CD recording of Strauss'Ein Heldenleben with Mr. Kerr, the RCO and Maestro Mariss Jansons was released in 2005 on the RCO's own label: RCOLive!
Raised in Alexandria, Virginia, Mr. Kerr began his studies at age seven with members of the National Symphony Orchestra. He went on to study with Sally Thomas at the Juilliard School, and with Aaron Rosand at the Curtis Institute of Music where he received his Bachelor of Music degree in 1992.
Ellis Hall is an accomplished and prolific performer, multi-instrumentalist and vocalist with a five-octave range and a career spanning over four decades. A master of the guitar, bass, piano, keyboards, and drums, Hall has also made a mark as an incredible songwriter, arranger, and producer.
He is well-known for his work with the magnetic soul sensations Tower of Power, where he was lead singer and keyboardist in the mid-1980s. He has also performed with Stevie Wonder, Patti LaBelle, George Benson, Herbie Hancock, Earth Wind & Fire, Natalie Cole, George Duke, Bobby Womack, Billy Preston, James Taylor, Kenny G, Sheila E, John Mayer and his musical mentor Ray Charles.
In 2001 Hall met the legendary musical icon Ray Charles, who was so taken with Hall's performance power that he took the artist under his wing. Hall went on to work with Charles on the astounding album "Straight Ahead." Hall has worked with some of the world's most well-known conductors, including Marvin Hamlisch, Keith Lockhart, Jeff Tyzik and Steve Reineke. Following a performance in 2010, it was Tyzik who first referred to Hall as the "ambassador of soul."
Case Scaglione, conductor
January 16-17, 2015
COPLAND Appalachian Spring: Suite (original instrumentation)
JOHN ADAMS Grand Pianola Music
ReMix
January 16-17, 2015
COPLAND Appalachian Spring: Suite (original instrumentation)
JOHN ADAMS Grand Pianola Music
ReMix
March 13-15, 2015
TCHAIKOVSKY Romeo and Juliet
CHASE DOBSON Piano Concerto No. 1
SCHUMANN Symphony No. 2
Texas Instruments Classical Series
TCHAIKOVSKY Romeo and Juliet
CHASE DOBSON Piano Concerto No. 1
SCHUMANN Symphony No. 2
Texas Instruments Classical Series
American conductor Case Scaglione continues to inspire orchestras and audiences across the world with his natural ease of conducting, musical depth, and infectious joy on the podium. He began his tenure as Assistant Conductor of the New York Philharmonic in September 2011 and subsequently made his subscription debut with the Philharmonic in November 2012. He has appeared as a guest conductor with the symphony orchestras of Cleveland, St. Louis, Baltimore, Houston and Jacksonville, as well as many others.
During the 2013-14 season, Mr. Scaglione makes debuts with the Hong Kong Philharmonic, Colorado Symphony, Santa Fe Symphony, and Orchestra of St. Luke's, in addition to return appearances with the Alabama Symphony and Las Vegas Philharmonic. These performances will mark his Dallas Symphony Orchestra debut.
As Music Director of the Young Musicians Foundation Debut Orchestra of Los Angeles from 2008 to 2011, Mr. Scaglione was the driving force behind the continued artistic growth and diversification of the organization in addition to founding 360° Music, an educational outreach program which brought the orchestra to inner city schools.
Mr. Scaglione received his Bachelor's Degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music. His postgraduate studies were spent at the Peabody Institute. A native of Texas, Mr. Scaglione currently lives in New York City with his wife Toni.
Lucille Chung, piano
March 13-15, 2015
CHASE DOBSON Piano Concerto No. 1
Texas Instruments Classical Series
March 13-15, 2015
CHASE DOBSON Piano Concerto No. 1
Texas Instruments Classical Series
Born in Montréal, Canadian pianist Lucille Chung made her debut at the age of ten with the Montréal Symphony Orchestra and Charles Dutoit subsequently invited her to be a featured soloist during the MSO Asian Tour in 1989. Since then, she has performed an extensive concerto repertoire with over 60 of the world's leading orchestras. As a recitalist she has performed in over 30 countries in prestigious venues such as the Wigmore Hall in London, New York's Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center and Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C.
In 1989, she was recognized on the international scene as the First Prize winner at the Stravinsky International Piano Competition. She won Second Prize at the 1992 Montreal International Music Competition. She graduated from both the Curtis Institute of Music and the Juilliard School before she turned twenty. Most recently she graduated from the SMU Meadows School of the Arts under Joaquín Achúcarro, where she is now on the faculty.
Lucille is fluent in French, English, Korean, Italian, German, and Russian. She and husband, pianist Alessio Bax make their home in New York City and are artistic co-directors of the Dallas-based Joaquín Achúcarro Foundation.
Gil Shaham, violin
March 20-22, 2015
BACH Violin Concerto No. 1
BACH Violin Concerto No. 2
Texas Instruments Classical Series
March 20-22, 2015
BACH Violin Concerto No. 1
BACH Violin Concerto No. 2
Texas Instruments Classical Series
Gil Shaham is one of the foremost violinists of our time: his flawless technique combined with his inimitable warmth and generosity of spirit has solidified his renown as an American master. The Grammy Award-winner, also namedMusical America's "Instrumentalist of the Year," is sought after throughout the world for concerto appearances with leading orchestras and conductors, and regularly gives recitals and appears with ensembles on the world's great concert stages and at the most prestigious festivals.
Shaham headlines a Parisian-themed opening-night gala with the Seattle Symphony this fall, launching a new season that sees him rejoin the San Francisco Symphony under Michael Tilson Thomas for Mozart's "Turkish" concerto, and, on the orchestra's 20th-anniversary tour, for Prokofiev's Second at venues including Carnegie Hall. The Prokofiev also serves as the vehicle for his collaboration with The Knights at the Caramoor Fall Festival, and is one of the works showcased in his long-term exploration of "Violin Concertos of the 1930s." Now entering its sixth season, this project takes him back to the Philadelphia Orchestra for Berg's concerto, and to both the Berlin Radio Symphony and the London Symphony Orchestra for Britten. Besides giving the world premiere performances of a new concerto by David Bruce with the San Diego Symphony, the violinist's upcoming orchestral highlights also include Mendelssohn in Tokyo, Canada, and Luxembourg, and two Bach concertos with the Dallas Symphony. In recital, he presents Bach's complete solo sonatas and partitas at Chicago's Symphony Center, L.A.'s Disney Hall, and other venues in a special multimedia collaboration with photographer and video artist David Michalek.
Last season saw the release of 1930s Violin Concertos (Vol. 1), the first double album to be yielded by Shaham's long-term programming project, which was recorded live with the New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony, BBC Symphony, Staatskapelle Dresden, and Sejong. In live performance, he played 1930s concertos by Bartók, Prokofiev, Barber, Berg, and Britten with such eminent ensembles as the Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, Berlin Radio Symphony, Bavarian Radio Symphony, and Carnegie Hall's National Youth Orchestra of the USA, which he joined as guest soloist on its inaugural national tour. Among his other orchestral collaborations, Shaham reprised Korngold's concerto, of which he has long been recognized as one of the foremost exponents, with the Vienna Philharmonic at Carnegie Hall and with orchestras including the National Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, and France's Orchestre de Paris, as well as giving the world, Asian, and European premieres of a new concerto by Bright Sheng. Shaham also gave his signature recitals of unaccompanied Bach in Baltimore, Cleveland, and on tour in Italy.
Gil Shaham already has more than two dozen concerto and solo CDs to his name, including bestsellers that have ascended the record charts in the U.S. and abroad. These recordings have earned prestigious awards, including multiple Grammys, a Grand Prix du Disque, Diapason d'Or, and Gramophone Editor's Choice. His recent recordings are issued on the Canary Classics label, which he founded in 2004. They comprise Haydn Violin Concertos and Mendelssohn's Octet with the Sejong Soloists; Sarasate: Virtuoso Violin Works with Adele Anthony, Akira Eguchi, and Orquesta Sinfónica de Castilla y León; Elgar's Violin Concerto with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and David Zinman; The Butterfly Lovers and Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto with the Singapore Symphony; Tchaikovsky's Piano Trio in A with Yefim Bronfman and cellist Truls Mork; The Prokofiev Album and Mozart in Paris, both with his sister, pianist Orli Shaham; The Fauré Album with Akira Eguchi and cellist Brinton Smith; and Nigunim: Hebrew Melodies, also recorded with Orli Shaham, which features the world premiere recording of a sonata written for the violinist by Avner Dorman. Upcoming titles include Bach's complete works for solo violin.
Shaham was born in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, in 1971. He moved with his parents to Israel, where he began violin studies with Samuel Bernstein of the Rubin Academy of Music at the age of seven, receiving annual scholarships from the America-Israel Cultural Foundation. In 1981, while studying with Haim Taub in Jerusalem, he made debuts with the Jerusalem Symphony and the Israel Philharmonic. That same year he began his studies with Dorothy DeLay and Jens Ellermann at Aspen. In 1982, after taking first prize in Israel's Claremont Competition, he became a scholarship student at Juilliard, where he worked with DeLay and Hyo Kang. He also studied at Columbia University.
Gil Shaham was awarded an Avery Fisher Career Grant in 1990, and in 2008 he received the coveted Avery Fisher Prize. In 2012, he was named "Instrumentalist of the Year" by Musical America, which cited the "special kind of humanism" with which his performances are imbued. He plays the 1699 "Countess Polignac" Stradivarius, and lives in New York City with his wife, violinist Adele Anthony, and their three children.
To learn more about Gil Shaham, visit www.gilshaham.com. Follow Gil Shaham at www.facebook.com/gilshaham andtwitter.com/gilshaham.
Daniil Trifonov, piano
March 26-29, 2015
RACHMANINOFF Piano Concerto No. 1
Texas Instruments Classical Series
RACHMANINOFF Piano Concerto No. 1
Texas Instruments Classical Series
Russian pianist Daniil Trifonov (dan-EEL TREE-fon-ov) has made a spectacular ascent to classical music stardom since winning First Prize at both the Tchaikovsky and Rubinstein competitions in 2011 at the age of 20. Combining consummate technique with rare sensitivity and depth, his performances are a perpetual source of awe. "He has everything and more, ... tenderness and also the demonic element. I never heard anything like that," stated pianist Martha Argerich, while the Financial Times observes, "What makes him such a phenomenon is the ecstatic quality he brings to his performances. … Small wonder every western capital is in thrall to him."
Trifonov launches the 2014-15 season with the Seattle Symphony, making his debut in Tchaikovsky's First Piano Concerto, which is also the vehicle for his upcoming Japanese tour with the Mariinsky Orchestra and Valery Gergiev. For first appearances with the Dallas Symphony and returns to the New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, and London's Philharmonia Orchestra, he performs the first concerto of Rachmaninoff, whose orchestral output continues to figure prominently in the pianist's programming; he also plays the second concerto with the Vienna Symphony; the third with Washington's National Symphony and London's Philharmonia; and the "Paganini Variations" with the Atlanta Symphony, Czech Philharmonic, and for his Toronto Symphony debut. Trifonov joins the Cleveland Orchestra for Shostakovich's first concerto, and plays Chopin on European tours with the Kremerata Baltica and Philharmonia Orchestra. With a solo recital program of Bach, Beethoven, and Liszt, he tours a host of key venues, including London's Royal Festival Hall, the Théatre des Champs Elysées in Paris, Tokyo's Opera City, Barcelona's Palau de la Musica, and New York's Carnegie Hall, for the third consecutive year. Trifonov also returns to the New York venue's main stage as the culmination of a nine-city U.S. duo recital tour in partnership with Grammy Award-winning violinist Gidon Kremer.
Last season saw the release of Trifonov: The Carnegie Recital, the pianist's first recording as an exclusive Deutsche Grammophon artist. Captured live at his sold-out 2013 Carnegie Hall recital debut, which showcased "his uncommon technical gifts and poetic sensibility" (New York Times), the album's release coincided with his return to Carnegie's main stage one year later. Further recital engagements took the pianist from Chicago to London, Paris, Vienna, Berlin, Amsterdam, Rio de Janeiro, and other international musical hotspots, and he collaborated with 19 of the world's foremost orchestras, including the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the symphony orchestras of Washington, San Francisco, and London, where his account of Chopin's F-minor concerto prompted the Times to hail him as "an artist of breathtaking poise and theatricality." This past summer the pianist toured with the Israel Philharmonic, and made high-profile festival appearances in Edinburgh, Verbier, and Lucerne.
In 2012-13, Trifonov made debuts with all the "Big Five" orchestras - the New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, Boston Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, and Philadelphia Orchestra - and with European ensembles including Rome's Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia and London's Royal Philharmonic. He made solo recital debuts at Carnegie Hall, London's Wigmore Hall, Vienna's Musikverein, Japan's Suntory Hall, and the Salle Pleyel in Paris, while summer brought triumphs at the Verbier and Edinburgh Festivals and in his BBC Proms debut at London's Royal Albert Hall.
Recent recitals have also taken Trifonov to the Kennedy Center in Washington DC, Boston's Celebrity Series, London's Queen Elizabeth Hall, Amsterdam's Concertgebouw (Master Piano Series), Berlin's Philharmonie (the Kammermusiksaal), Munich's Herkulessaal, Bavaria's Schloss Elmau, Zurich's Tonhalle, the Lucerne Piano Festival, the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels, the Auditorium du Louvre in Paris, and the Seoul Arts Center.
As an exclusive Deutsche Grammophon artist, Trifonov's future plans with the label include recording Rachmaninov's complete piano concertos. His discography also features a Chopin album for Decca and a recording of Tchaikovsky's First Piano Concerto with Gergiev and the Mariinsky Orchestra on the ensemble's own label.
It was during the 2010-11 season that Trifonov won medals at three of the music world's most prestigious competitions, taking Third Prize in Warsaw's Chopin Competition, First Prize in Tel Aviv's Rubinstein Competition, and both First Prize and Grand Prix - an additional honor bestowed on the best overall competitor in any category - in Moscow's Tchaikovsky Competition. In 2013 he was also awarded the prestigious Franco Abbiati Prize for Best Instrumental Soloist by Italy's foremost music critics.
Born in Nizhny Novgorod in 1991, Trifonov began his musical training at the age of five, and went on to attend Moscow's Gnessin School of Music as a student of Tatiana Zelikman, before pursuing his piano studies with Sergei Babayan at the Cleveland Institute of Music. He has also studied composition, and continues to write for piano, chamber ensemble, and orchestra. When he premiered his own piano concerto last spring, the Cleveland Plain Dealer marveled: "Even having seen it, one cannot quite believe it. Such is the artistry of pianist-composer Daniil Trifonov."
For more about Trifonov, visit daniiltrifonov.com. Follow Trifonov at twitter.com/daniil_trifonov andwww.facebook.com/daniiltrifonov.page .
Joshua Weilerstein, conductor
April 9-12, 2015
ROUSE Iscariot
BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No. 4
MENDELSSOHN Symphony No. 3, "Scottish"
Texas Instruments Classical Series
April 9-12, 2015
ROUSE Iscariot
BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No. 4
MENDELSSOHN Symphony No. 3, "Scottish"
Texas Instruments Classical Series
Making his subscription debut with the New York Philharmonic this year, Joshua Weilerstein also enters his third season as the orchestra's Assistant Conductor. In 2009 Mr. Weilerstein, then twenty-one years old, was unanimously named the winner of the 2009 Malko Competition for Young Conductors in Copenhagen, Denmark.
During the 2013-14 season, Mr. Weilerstein makes debuts in the US with the symphony orchestras of Baltimore, Fort Worth, and New Mexico (Albuquerque). In Europe, he debuts with the Orchestre National de Lyon, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Bergen Philharmonic, Orchestre National de Belgique, Salzburg Mozarteumorchester, and the Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne.
Born into a musical family - cellist Alisa Weilerstein is his sister - Mr. Weilerstein studied at the New England Conservatory, from which he received his dual Master of Music degrees in orchestral conducting with Hugh Wolff and in violin with Lucy Chapman in 2011.
Garrick Ohlsson, piano
April 9-12, 2015
BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No. 4
Texas Instruments Classical Series
April 9-12, 2015
BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No. 4
Texas Instruments Classical Series
Since his triumph as winner of the 1970 Chopin International Piano Competition, pianist Garrick Ohlsson has established himself worldwide as a musician of magisterial interpretive and technical prowess. Although long regarded as one of the world's leading exponents of the music of Frédéric Chopin, Mr. Ohlsson commands an enormous repertoire, which ranges over the entire piano literature. A student of the late Claudio Arrau, Mr. Ohlsson has come to be noted for his masterly performances of the works of Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert, as well as the Romantic repertoire. To date he has at his command more than 80 concertos, ranging from Haydn and Mozart to works of the 21st century, many commissioned for him.
In acknowledgement of the bicentenary of Franz Liszt's birth, the 2011-12 season included Liszt recitals in Chicago, Hong Kong, London, and New York, where Mr. Ohlsson also visited Carnegie Hall with the Atlanta Symphony and Lincoln Center with the New York Philharmonic. A season earlier, in recognition of the bicentenary of Chopin's birth, Mr. Ohlsson presented a series of all-Chopin recitals in Seattle, Berkeley and La Jolla, culminating at Lincoln Center in the fall and winter of 2010. In autumn of that year he was featured in a documentary, "The Art of Chopin," co-produced by Polish, French, British and Chinese television stations, followed one year later by a DVD of the two Chopin concerti. In the summer of 2010 he appeared in all-Chopin programs at the Ravinia and Tanglewood festivals, as well as appearances in Taipei, Beijing, Melbourne and Sydney.
An avid chamber musician, Mr. Ohlsson has collaborated with the Cleveland, Emerson, Takács and Tokyo string quartets, among other ensembles. Together with violinist Jorja Fleezanis and cellist Michael Grebanier, he is a founding member of the San Francisco-based FOG Trio. Passionate about singing and singers, Mr. Ohlsson has appeared in recital with such legendary artists as Magda Olivero, Jessye Norman, and Ewa Podles.
Mr. Ohlsson can be heard on the Arabesque, RCA Victor Red Seal, Angel, BMG, Delos, Hänssler, Nonesuch, Telarc, and Virgin Classics labels. His ten-disc set of the complete Beethoven sonatas, for Bridge Records, has garnered critical acclaim, including a GRAMMY® for Vol. 3. His recording of Rachmaninoff's Concerto No. 3, with the Atlanta Symphony and Robert Spano, was released in 2011. In the fall of 2008 the English label Hyperion re-released his 16-disc set of the complete works of Chopin. Hyperion recently released a disc of all the Brahms piano variations and "Goyescas," by Enrique Granados, and music of Charles Tomlinson Griffes. The latest CDs in his ongoing association with Bridge Records are "Close Connections," a recital of 20th-Century pieces, and two CDs of works by Liszt.
A native of White Plains, N.Y., Garrick Ohlsson began his piano studies at the age of 8, at the Westchester Conservatory of Music; at 13 he entered The Juilliard School, in New York City. His musical development has been influenced in completely different ways by a succession of distinguished teachers, most notably Claudio Arrau, Olga Barabini, Tom Lishman, Sascha Gorodnitzki, Rosina Lhévinne and Irma Wolpe. Although he won First Prizes at the 1966 Busoni Competition in Italy and the 1968 Montréal Piano Competition, it was his 1970 triumph at the International Chopin Competition in Warsaw, where he won the Gold Medal (and remains the single American to have done so), that brought him worldwide recognition as one of the finest pianists of his generation. Since then he has made nearly a dozen tours of Poland, where he retains immense personal popularity. Mr. Ohlsson was awarded the Avery Fisher Prize in 1994 and received the 1998 University Musical Society Distinguished Artist Award in Ann Arbor, MI. He is also the 2014 recipient of the Jean Gimbel Lane Prize in Piano Performance from the Northwestern University Bienen School of Music. He makes his home in San Francisco.
Trio Jean-Paul
April 16-19, 2015
RIHM Triple Concerto (U.S. premiere)
Texas Instruments Classical Series
April 16-19, 2015
RIHM Triple Concerto (U.S. premiere)
Texas Instruments Classical Series
The Trio Jean Paul, founded in 1991, is one of today's most distinguished chamber music ensembles and a popular guest at the international concert venues.
After First Prizes at the international competitions in Osaka (1993), Melbourne (1995), and at the German Music Competition, an extensive concert career has developed which has led the ensemble on a regular basis to major musical centers such as New York, London, Berlin, Paris, Amsterdam, and Brussels, as well as on tours to Australia, Japan, New Zealand, South-America, and the USA.
By naming their ensemble after the author Jean Paul, the three musicians not only refer to their special affinity for the works of Robert Schumann, but also to the fundamental artistic idea of making the music's speech-like and rhetorical elements to the point of departure for their interpretations. This approach draws a line from the works of the Classical period, via the Romantic idea of "poetic music" to the music of today. A highlight of the season 2014 will be the world premiere of Wolfgang Rihm's Triple Concerto, dedicated to Trio Jean Paul.
A native of Bolivar, New York, soprano Joélle Harvey is quickly becoming recognized as one of the most promising young talents of her generation. She is the recipient of a First Prize Award in 2011 from the Gerda Lissner Foundation Vocal Competition, a 2009 Sara Tucker Study Grant from the Richard Tucker Foundation, and a 2010 Encouragement Award (in honor of Norma Newton) from the George London Foundation Vocal Competition.
Ms. Harvey received Second Prize in Houston Grand Opera's 2008 Eleanor McCollum Competition for Young Singers. She received 6th Prize in the Advanced Division of the 2009 Palm Beach Opera Vocal Competition, is a recipient of the Shoshana Foundation's 2007 Richard F. Gold Career Grant, and was also presented with the John Alexander Memorial Award and the coveted Sam Adams Award for Achievement in Acting from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM).
Ms. Harvey received her Bachelor's and Master's Degrees in vocal performance from CCM, where she performed the roles of Amor in Cavalli's L'Egisto, Emmie and Flora in, respectively, Britten's Albert Herring and The Turn of the Screw, Poppea in L'Incoronazione di Poppea, Sophie in Massenet's Werther, and Nannetta in Falstaff. Ms. Harvey continues to study with CCM Professor Karen Lykes.
In the summer of 2012, Elizabeth DeShong sang the title role of Rossini's La Cenerentola, at the Glyndebourne Festival. Of that performance The Guardian wrote: . . "this is, quite simply, one of the great operatic performances. It is dominated by DeShong, whose voice combines a contralto opulence with blazing top notes and some of the most staggering coloratura you will ever hear . . . "
Ms. DeShong's operatic and orchestral engagements during the 2014/15 season will take her to the Canadian Opera Company for performances as Suzuki in Madama Butterfly, the Orchestra of St. Luke's for Mendelssohn's Die erste Walpurgisnacht in Carnegie Hall, the Wiener Staatsoper for Angelina in La Cenerentola, and the Los Angeles Opera where she will perform Rosina in Il Barbiere di Siviglia. In addition, Ms. DeShong will sing Elgar's The Kingdom with the Netherlands Symphony Orchestra, the Mozart Requiem with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, and the role of Hermia in Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Festival Aix en Provence.
Last season, at the Metropolitan Opera, she sang two Hermias: in Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream, and in the pastiche opera, The Enchanted Island, as well as Suzuki in Madama Butterfly; a role she will also sing at the San Francisco Opera. In addition, Ms. DeShong performed Handel's Messiah with the National Symphony Orchestra, Bernstein's "Jeremiah" Symphony with the Radio Symphonie Orchester Wien, under the direction of Marin Alsop, and the Mozart Requiem with the Cleveland Orchestra under the direction of David Robertson, and with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra in Carnegie Hall conducted by Manfred Honeck.
In addition to her portrayal of Angelina in La Cenerentola at the Glyndebourne Festival during the 2012/13 season, Ms. DeShong sang Hänsel in Hänsel und Gretel at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, made her debut at Michigan Opera Theatre as Rosina in Il Barbiere di Siviglia, and was the First Norn in Götterdämmerung at the Metropolitan Opera. She also made her debut with the LA Philharmonic in Bach's Cantata No. 60, under the direction of Gustavo Dudamel, performed at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam as Marta in the Dutch premiere of John Adams' The Gospel According to the Other Mary, and sang Peter Lieberson's Neruda Songs, with the Cleveland Orchestra.
Ms. DeShong's 2011/12 season, featured her as Maffio Orsini in Lucrezia Borgia with the San Francisco Opera, and as Hermia in the Metropolitan Opera's new production of The Enchanted Island, as well as performances as Suzuki inMadama Butterfly with the Veroza Company in Japan.
Additional performances of note include Maffio Orsini in Lucrezia Borgia with English National Opera, Angelina in La Cenerentola with the Canadian Opera Company, and Hermia in A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Lyric Opera of Chicago.
The recipient of numerous awards, Ms. DeShong received the Washington National Opera's "Artist of the Year Award" in 2010, for her debut performance as the Composer in Richard Strauss' Ariadne auf Naxos. Her portrayal of Maffio Orsini in the San Francisco Opera's production of Lucrezia Borgia, was recently released on DVD on EuroArts Music and Naxos of America.
Starring as Tamino in the Kenneth Branagh film adaptation of The Magic Flute, conducted by James Conlon and released in 2007, Joseph Kaiser is recognized by audiences for his beauty of tone, intelligence of programming, and innate sense of style and elegance. He is internationally acclaimed as one of the most gifted artists of his generation and enjoys success in opera, oratorio, and concert throughout North America and Europe.
Bass Evan Boyer began the 2013-14 season with a return to Lyric Opera of Chicago as Lodovico in Otello and as Raimondo in Lyric's annual Stars of Millennium Park concert in an extended excerpt from Lucia di Lammermoor. He then made his LA Opera debut as Sarastro in a new production of Die Zauberflöte, returned to Canadian Opera Company in Toronto, singing Samuel in Un ballo in maschera, and debuted with the Houston Symphony Orchestra in Stravinsky's Pulcinella and Beethoven's Mass in C. This summer, he was heard in the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra's presentation of Aida as the King of Egypt, and will perform in Salome with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at the Ravinia Festival.
Mr. Boyer was recently a member of the Ryan Opera Center at Lyric Opera of Chicago. During his three-season tenure there, from 2010-2013, he was involved in seventeen productions. He performed the roles of Sarastro in Die Zauberflöte, the King of Egypt in Aida, Pietro in Simon Boccanegra, Zuniga in Carmen, Luther in Les contes d'Hoffmann, and Count Ceprano in Rigoletto, and also appeared in productions of Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg,Ariadne auf Naxos, Boris Godunov, La bohème, La fanciulla del West, Lohengrin, and Macbeth.
In 2013, after his time at the Ryan Opera Center, Mr. Boyer made his debut with Canadian Opera Company as the First Soldier in Salome, followed by performances as the Second Commissaire in Dialogues des Carmélites. That summer, he debuted the role of Colline in La bohème with the Orquestra Sinfónica Nacional in the Dominican Republic and appeared in recital with Chicago's International Beethoven Festival.
Other performances in 2012 included a debut with The Cleveland Orchestra as the First Nazarene and First Soldier in concert performances of Salome at Severance Hall and again at Carnegie Hall, and a recital in his home state of Kentucky for the Governor's School for the Arts.
In 2011, Mr. Boyer made his UK debut as Sarastro with Garsington Opera, debuted with the Alabama Symphony in Bach's Cantata No. 82, and returned to Chicago Opera Theater to sing Créon in Charpentier's Médée, where he made his professional debut in 2010 as Oreste in Cavalli's Giasone.
Mr. Boyer is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music, where he was heard as Enobarbus in Antony and Cleopatra, Conte Rodolfo in La sonnambula; Trulove in The Rake's Progress; Barone Trombonok in Il viaggio a Reims, Doktor inWozzeck, Leporello in Don Giovanni, King René in Iolanta, Bartolo in Le nozze di Figaro, and José Tripaldi in Golijov'sAinadamar. Mr. Boyer was a member of San Francisco Opera's Merola Opera Program in 2009 where he was featured in the Schwabacher Summer Concert and covered Don Alfonso in Cosí fan tutte. A member of the Tanglewood Music Center in 2008, he sang Alaska Wolf Joe in The Rise and Fall of Mahagonny and Captain Petrovich in Eugene Onegin. He received a Bachelor of Music degree from Northwestern University.
He was a 2009 National Semifinalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, after being awarded the Grand Prize at the Middle-Atlantic Regional Finals. He is the Grand Prize winner in Men's Voice of the Union League Civic and Arts Foundation, and was the 2nd Prize winner of the 2009 Opera Index, Inc. competition. Additional grants and awards have been received from the Licia Albanese-Puccini Foundation, the Giulio Gari Foundation, the Chicago Bel Canto Foundation, the American Opera Society, and the Louisville Bach Society.
Leo van Doeselaar is titular organist of the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. He was the organ soloist with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, conducted by Riccardo Chailly, on its 1993 Grammy Award-winning recording of Paul Hindemith's Kammermusik no. 7, recorded by Decca. At the Concertgebouw he played the world premieres of Organ Concertos by Sofia Gubaidulina, Franco Donatoni, Tristan Keuris and Wolfgang Rihm.
Leo van Doeselaar appears frequently in concert throughout Europe and the United States as a soloist with various orchestras and conductors including Riccardo Chailly, Mariss Jansons, Frans Brüggen and David Zinman. He has appeared as a continuo player with many baroque ensembles including those led by Philippe Herreweghe, Ton Koopman, Sigiswald Kuyken, Gustav Leonhardt and Andrew Parrott. He is a dedicated chamber music performer on both historic and modern pianos and partners with Wyneke Jordans in a widely acclaimed duo-piano team, using both historical and modern instruments.
In 1995 he was appointed professor of organ at the " Universität der Künste" in Berlin. In addition he is titular organist of the famous Schnitger-organ of the Martinikerk in Groningen. In 2007, Leo van Doeselaar received the prestigious 'Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck' Award for his merits for the organ culture.
Ann Hampton Callaway, vocals
May 1-3, 2015
Ann Hampton Callaway Sings Streisand
Dallas Symphony Pops Series
Ann Hampton Callaway Sings Streisand
Dallas Symphony Pops Series
Ann Hampton Callaway is one of the leading champions of the great American Songbook, having made her mark as a singer, pianist, composer, lyricist, arranger, actress, educator, TV host and producer. A born entertainer, her unique singing style blends jazz and traditional pop, making her a mainstay in concert halls, theaters and jazz clubs as well as in the recording studio, on television, and in film. She is best known for Tony-nominated performance in the hit Broadway musical Swing! and for writing and singing the theme song to the hit TV series The Nanny. Callaway is a Platinum Award winning writer whose songs are featured on seven of Barbra Streisand's recent CDs.
Callaway's live performances showcase her warmth, spontaneous wit and passionate delivery of standards, jazz classics and originals. She is one of America's most gifted improvisers, taking words and phrases from her audiences and creating songs on the spot, whether alone at a piano or with a symphony orchestra.
Ann debuted her latest symphony show The Streisand Songbook with The Boston Pops and continues to tour the show with top orchestras across the country into 2014. Said Randall Fleischer after conducting the show with The San Francisco Symphony, "Ann's tribute to Streisand is a glorious evening of great songs, brilliantly orchestrated and sung magnificently."
Sasha Cooke, mezzo-soprano
May 21-23, 2015
MAHLER Symphony No. 3
Texas Instruments Classical Series
SOLUNA: International Music & Arts Festival
May 21-23, 2015
MAHLER Symphony No. 3
Texas Instruments Classical Series
SOLUNA: International Music & Arts Festival
Radiant, Grammy®-Award winning, American mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke triumphed as the title role in the world premiere of Mark Adamo's The Gospel of Mary Magdalene at San Francisco Opera. Acclaimed by The New York Times as a "luminous standout" for her performances in chamber music, the versatile young mezzo has also been celebrated by The New Yorker for a "luminous tone, a generously supported musical line, a keen sense of verbal nuance, and a flair for seduction."
In the 2012/13 season Sasha Cooke sang Sonja in Dominick Argento's The Aspern Papers at Dallas Opera; she regularly performs with major orchestras and opera companies across the United States and in Europe, and with Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and other esteemed festivals, including the Aspen Music Festival and Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, Music@Menlo and the Round Top Festival.
In 2009/10 she sang Mahler's "Resurrection" Symphony with Jaap van Zweden and the Dallas Symphony. In 2010, she was awarded First Place and the American Prize in the José Iturbi International Music Competition, Top Prize in the Gerda Lissner Competition, and the Kennedy Center's Marian Anderson Award. Sasha Cooke is a graduate of Rice University and the Juilliard School.
Two-time Grammy Award winner and regional Emmy Award winner, Sylvia McNair lays claim to a three-decade, stellar career in the musical realms of opera, oratorio, cabaret and musical theater. Her journey has taken her from the Metropolitan Opera to the Salzburg Festival, from the New York Philharmonic to the Rainbow Room, from the Ravinia Festival to The Plaza. Having appeared as a soloist multiple times with nearly every major opera company and symphony orchestra in the world, Sylvia McNair is retracing her star route now with Gershwin, Porter, Sondheim and Bernstein.
Numerous Pops appearances with the New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony and others continue the reincarnation of her musical gifts. Her Great American Songbook cabaret shows have been heard in New York at the Rainbow Room, Jazz at Lincoln Center, the Savoy Room at Sheldon Hall, The Colony in Palm Beach, Feinstein's at the Regency, Aspen Music Festival and the famed Oak Room of the Algonquin Hotel that made critic Rex Reed swoon, "I could get used to this kind of ecstasy."
Sylvia has left an indelible audio trail documenting her vocal prowess with over 70 recordings. From Mansfield, Ohio, Sylvia earned a Masters degree with Distinction from the Indiana University School of Music, received honorary doctorates from Westminster College (1997) and Indiana University (1998), the Ohio Governor's Award for Outstanding Achievement in Arts and Entertainment (1999), and the Indiana Governor's Arts Award (2011).
Paul Jacobs, organ
June 6, 2015
Opus 100 - The Lay Family Concert Organ Recital Series
Opus 100 - The Lay Family Concert Organ Recital Series
Described by The Chicago Tribune as "one of the most supremely gifted organists of his generation," Grammy award-winning organist Paul Jacobs unites technical skills of the first order with probing emotional artistry. His performances of new works and core recital and symphonic repertoire have transfixed audiences, colleagues and critics alike.
A favorite and frequent guest of the San Francisco Symphony, he has performed and toured with them and Michael Tilson-Thomas in varied repertoire. His recording of the Messiaen Livre du Saint Sacrement, released by Naxos in 2010, was awarded that year's Best Solo Instrumental Grammy of the Year, the first time a disc of solo organ music has received this honor.
Paul Jacobs made musical history at the age of 23 when he played Bach's complete organ works in an 18-hour marathon on the 250th anniversary of the composer's death. He has also performed the complete organ works of Messiaen in marathon performances throughout North America. Paul Jacobs joined the faculty of The Juilliard School in 2003 and was named Chairman of the Organ Department in 2004.
I can't believe someone played the entire bach organ works in one single recital. 18 hours! EPIC!!! Bravo Paul Jacobs!!!
ΑπάντησηΔιαγραφήIf you want to check my work and my piano practise you can do it at
www.piano-composer-teacher-london.co.uk
I'm recording quite a lot of stuff lately and also composing works with very good reception