Columbus Symphony Presents 'Wetherbee Plays Mendelssohn,' 11/6 & 11/7

Led by newly appointed music director Jean-Marie Zeitouni, the Columbus Symphony will feature renowned violinist Charles Wetherbee in the "Wetherbee Plays Mendelssohn" program at the Ohio Theatre (39 E. State St.) on Saturday, November 6, at 8pm, and Sunday, November 7, at 3pm. The program will include Haydn's Overture to L'isola disabitata, Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto in E Minor, and Brahms' Symphony No. 1.

Tickets are $20.50-$66.50 for adults and $11.50-$34.50 for children, and can be purchased at the Ohio Theatre Ticket Office (39 E. State St.), all Ticketmaster outlets, and www.ticketmaster.com. To purchase tickets by phone, please call (614) 228-8600 or (800) 745-3000. The Ohio Theatre Ticket Office will also be open two hours prior to each performance. Students between the ages of 13-19 may purchase $5 High Five tickets while available. The 2010-11 Classical Series is made possible through the generous support of series sponsor Battelle.

About Featured Violinist Charles Wetherbee:
A graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music, violinist Charles Wetherbee has performed as a soloist and chamber musician throughout the world, including Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Canada, Mexico, and the US. He has been Concertmaster of the Columbus Symphony since 1994.

A devoted chamber musician, Wetherbee is a founding member of the Carpe Diem String Quartet, with whom he tours and performs regularly. He is on faculty at Ohio Wesleyan University, and is the Artistic Director of the Marble Cliff Chamber Players, a music festival based in Columbus. He is also a founding member of the Opus 3 piano trio, and artistic director of the Snake River Chamber Players, in Keystone, Colorado.

About CSO Music Director Jean-Marie Zeitouni:
Jean-Marie has emerged as one of Canada's brightest young conductors with an eloquent yet fiery style, in repertoire ranging from Baroque to contemporary music. On October 5, 2010, he was installed as the Columbus Symphony's music director, and will lead the artistic direction of the organization for the next four years.

A graduate of the Montreal Conservatory, Jean-Marie earned three master's degrees in conducting, percussion, and theory. He made his US orchestra debut with the Oregon Symphony in the spring of 2005, and has since conducted and often made repeat appearances with the National Arts Centre Orchestra, the Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Quebec City, Edmonton, Calgary, and Winnipeg Symphonies in Canada, and the Houston, Oregon, Honolulu, Columbus, Huntsville, San Antonio, and Omaha Symphonies in the US. Very active as an opera conductor, Jean-Marie led numerous productions with the Cincinnati Opera, Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Opéra de Montreal, l'Opéra de Quebec, Glimmerglass Opera, Calgary Opera, Edmonton Opera, l'Opéra de Marseille, and at the Banff Centre Festival.

Jean-Marie's association with Les Violons du Roy, a celebrated chamber orchestra based in Québec City, goes back 10 years, first as conductor-in-residence, then as associate conductor, and since 2008, as principal guest conductor. In 2006, he recorded his first CD with Les Violons du Roy entitled Piazzolla which received a 2007 JUNO Award for Classical Album of the Year in the category Solo or Chamber Ensemble. They have also recorded two subsequent CDs-Bartok (2008) and Britten (2010).

About Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809):
Austrian composer Joseph Haydn, often called "Father of the Symphony" and "Father of the String Quartet," was one of the most prolific and prominent composers of the classical period. He spent much of his career in the employ of the wealthy Hungarian aristocratic Esterházy family. On December 6, 1779, Haydn debuted his Italian opera L'isola disabitata (The Deserted Island) at the family palace. Based on a work by Pietro Metastasio, an extremely popular Italian poet, the overture is drawn from this opera which tells the tale of two sisters shipwrecked on an island for 13 years.

About Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847):
Felix Mendelssohn was a German composer, pianist, organist, and conductor of the early Romantic period. Violin Concerto in E minor, Op. 64, is his final large orchestral work. Although conceived in 1838, the work took six years to complete and premiered on March 13, 1845; however, Mendelssohn was unable to conduct due to illness. It was one of the first violin concertos of the Romantic era and one of the first to be written with the input of a professional violinist, Ferdinand David. The concerto's debut was well received and it soon became regarded as one of the greatest violin concertos of all time.

About Johannes Brahms (1833-1897):
German composer and pianist Johannes Brahms was one of the leading musicians of the Romantic period. Brahms spent much of his professional life in Vienna, Austria, where he was a leader in the musical scene. Today, many of his works have become staples of modern concert repertoire. A categorical perfectionist, Brahms destroyed many of his own works and left several unpublished. He spent at least 14 years completing Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Op. 68, declaring himself that the work, from sketches to finishing touches, took 21 years. The symphony premiered on November 4, 1876, in Karlsruhe, Germany.

CALENDAR LISTING
The Columbus Symphony Orchestra presents WETHERBEE PLAYS MENDELSSOHN
Saturday, November 6, 8 pm
Sunday, November 7, 3 pm
Ohio Theatre (39 E. State St.)

Lead by newly appointed music director Jean-Marie Zeitouni, the Columbus Symphony will feature renowned violinist Charles Wetherbee in the "Wetherbee Plays Mendelssohn" program. The program will include Haydn's Overture to L'isola disabitata, Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto, and Brahms' Symphony No. 1. Tickets are $20.50-$66.50 for adults and $11.50-$34.50 for children and can be purchased at the Ohio Theatre Ticket Office (39 E. State St.), all Ticketmaster outlets, and www.ticketmaster.com. To purchase tickets by phone, please call (614) 228-8600 or (800) 745-3000.

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The CSO is grateful for the financial support provided by Franklin County and the City of Columbus. The Ohio Arts Council helped fund this program with state tax dollars to encourage economic growth, education excellence, and cultural enrichment for all Ohioans. The CSO also appreciates the support of the Greater Columbus Arts Council, supporting the city's artists and arts organizations since 1973, and The Columbus Foundation, assisting donors and others in strengthening our community for the benefit of all its citizens.

About the Columbus Symphony Orchestra
Founded in 1951, the Columbus Symphony is the only full-time, professional symphony in central Ohio. Through an array of innovative artistic, educational, and community outreach programming, the Columbus Symphony is reaching an expanding, more diverse audience each year. This season, the Columbus Symphony will share classical music with more than a quarter million people in central Ohio through concerts, radio broadcasts, and special programming. For more information, visit www.columbussymphony.com.

 

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