Eckart Preu shares special love for Dvořák’s Violin Concerto

Jan 12, 2011

For Immediate Release

Contact: Annie Matlow 464-7071

SPOKANE— Music Director Eckart Preu will conduct the Spokane Symphony performing one of his personal favorites, Dvořák’s Violin Concerto, on Saturday, Jan. 22, 2011, at 8 p.m. and Sunday, Jan. 23, 2011, at 3 p.m. at Martin Woldson Theater at The Fox.  German violinist Augustin Hadelich will be the soloist for this exquisite piece. The performance on January 23 will include a salute to educators, especially music educators, and the administrators who support their efforts. In honor of this, all educators may purchase a ticket for $20 by calling 509-624-1200.

The Spokane Symphony has a strong and far-reaching education program ranging from presenting a concert for more than 4,000 fourth graders at Martin Woldson Theater at The Fox, to providing coaches for string players in Spokane Public Schools to providing free ticket to concerts. Many of the orchestra members teach music in the area schools and colleges as well as privately.

Every year, the Spokane Symphony salutes educators, especially music educators, and the administrators who support their efforts. Arts Education will be featured at the January 23 performance by the Spokane Symphony. A special award is given to secondary and primary level school administrators who best support arts education in their school. Winners of the Arts Administrator Awards this year are: Mike Crabtree, Principal at Stevens Elementary and Steven Gering, Principal at NorthCentralHigh School.

An essay contest on the subject “Why it is important to have a Symphony in our town” for secondary school students is an addition to the education emphasis this year. JJ Brown, a ninth grader at Gonzaga Prep, was named the winner with an essay chosen from 30 submitted from students throughout the area.

The concert will begin with Mozart’s Lucio Silla, a delightful little overture for his opera of the same name. Written when Mozart was only 16, the opera was commissioned by the city of Milan for the opening of the 1773 carnival season, and is based on the story of Roman dictator Lucius Cornelius Sulla (138 – 78 BC) who yearns for the daughter of his enemy Caius Marius, who in turn loves the exiled senator Cecilio. The overture is made up of three sections, a lively opening, featuring timpani and trumpets, designed to get the audience’s attention, a lyrical mid-section, full of melodic charm, and ends with a rapid conclusion in triple meter. Despite Mozart’s youth, the work shows Mozart’s skill almost fully developed and leaves no doubt as to his genius.

The orchestra will then perform Symphony No. 3 written by Brahms, master of Romantic music and champion of the music of Dvorak. The shortest of Brahms’ symphonies, it was a stupendous success, far greater than anything Brahms had ever experienced, causing him to remark, “The reputation [it] has acquired makes me want to cancel all my engagements.” One music critic of the day wrote of it “the Third [Symphony] strikes me as being artistically the most nearly perfect.” Modern audiences continue to be captivated by it spontaneity and deep emotion.

Preu believes the Concerto Romanesc by György Ligeti may be the highlight of the concert, calling it “a phenomenal piece of music” that will capture audiences with its “raw folk character.” Ligeti is best known to the general public for his movie music, especially themes composed for the films of Stanley Kubrick. Concerto Romanesc, a concerto for orchestra, was composed early in Ligiti’s career, and makes extensive used of Hungarian folk melodies and the tradition of Rom fiddling, heard primarily in the cafés of Middle European cities.

The concert will conclude with Dvořák’sViolin Concerto, the second of the three concertos that Dvořák composed and orchestrated. After meeting the great violinist Joseph Joachim, Dvořák decided to write a concerto for him, but Joachim was skeptical of the work when it was completed. He never played the piece and the concerto was premiered four years later in Prague with violinist František Ondříček as the soloist. While the music is beautiful, it strays from the more conventional forms in the first and second movements, in which Dvořák reveals an intensely emotional side of his musical personality. It leads you through sadness and struggle in the first movement, wistful beauty in the second, followed by as contagious Czech dance in the finale.

The solo will be played by young German violinist Augustin Hadelich.With his poetic style and dazzling technique, he has established himself as a rising star among the new generation of violinists. Winner of the 2009 Avery Fisher Career Grant and gold medalist of the 2006 International Violin Competition of Indianapolis, his versatility across the entire spectrum of the violin repertory is astounding.

This summer’s highlight was Hadelich’s sensational debut with the New York Philharmonic under Alan Gilbert at the Bravo! Vail Festival playing the Mendelssohn concerto. About the performance, the Denver

Post wrote: “[ Hadelich] wowed the capacity audience…with his self-assured, technically fluent and musically sensitive approach. And when he breezily performed Paganini’s Caprice No. 17 as an encore, he easily confirmed his place on the shortlist of today’s top violin virtuosos…”

Born in Italy in 1984, the son of German parents, Augustin Hadelich holds a graduate diploma and 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 generous efforts of the Stradivari Society.

This concert has been underwritten by Doug and Gail Belanger for Musicfest Northwest and Mary Schultz, Law P.S.

Tickets for either performance are $22, $32, $40, and $44. Educators tickets are $20. Tickets are available in advance at the Spokane Symphony Ticket Office, located at Martin Woldson Theater at The Fox, 1001 W. Sprague, or by calling 509-624-1200. Tickets may also be purchased online at www.spokanesymphony.org Tickets are also available at all TicketsWest outlets or by calling 1-800-325-SEAT.

CALENDAR LISTING:

Dvořák’s Violin Concerto, Eckart Preu conducts the Spokane Symphony, Augustin Hadelich, violin on Saturday, Jan. 22, 2011, at 8 p.m. and Sunday, Jan. 23, 2011, at 3 p.m. at Martin Woldson Theater at The Fox. Tickets are $22, $32, $40 and $44. Tickets are available in advance at the Spokane Symphony Ticket Office, located at Martin Woldson Theater at The Fox, 1001 W. Sprague, or by calling 509-624-1200. Tickets may also be purchased online at www.spokanesymphony.org Tickets are also available at all TicketsWest outlets or by calling 1-800-325-SEAT.