The Columbus Symphony Orchestra Presents GIL SHAHAM Next Month

Music Director Rossen Milanov and the CSO welcome world-class American violinist and Grammy winner Gil Shaham as he channels the warmth and humor of Prokofiev's Concerto No. 2 in G Minor for Violin and Orchestra. The program also includes Rachmaninoff's final work, the Symphonic Dances, which pinnacles his composing career with a kaleidoscope of rich orchestral colors and a feast of primary emotions, and Paul Hindemith's hearty, cheerful suite based on piano duets by the early Romantic composer Carl Maria von Weber.

The Columbus Symphony presents the "Shaham Plays Prokofiev" at the Ohio Theatre (39 E. State St.) on Friday and Saturday, April 21 and 22, at 8pm. Tickets start at $10 and can be purchased at the CAPA Ticket Center (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 CAPA Ticket Center will also be open two hours prior to each performance. In addition, there will be a Friday Dress performance on Friday, April 21, at 10am, offering $20 general admission tickets.

The 2016-17 Masterworks Series is made possible through the generous support of season sponsor Anne Melvin.

Prelude - Patrons are invited to join WOSU's Christopher Purdy at 7pm for a 30-minute, pre-concert discussion about the works to be performed.

Postlude - At the conclusion of the program, patrons are invited to enjoy a selection of chamber music performed by the musicians of the CSO.

Friday Dress - This program offers $20, general admission tickets to the 10am rehearsal at the Ohio Theatre on Friday, April 21.

About CSO Music Director Rossen Milanov

Respected and admired by audiences and musicians alike, Rossen Milanov is currently the Music Director of the Columbus Symphony Orchestra, and recently completed his second season with the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra to enthusiastic acclaim. He is also Music Director of the Princeton Symphony and Spain's Orquesta Sinfónica del Principado de Asturias (OSPA).

The 2016-17 CSO season builds upon many of the innovative ideas that were introduced in his first season-thematic festivals, enrichment programs, integrated experiences, and collaborations with other local cultural institutions. In Princeton, he is continuing the tradition of adventurous programming and collaborating with violinist Leila Josefowicz, clarinetist David Krakauer, and composers Saad Haddad and Zhou Tian. In Spain, he will conduct the Spanish premiere of Tchaikovsky's Mazeppa with the Oviedo Opera and the gala concert of the "Princess of Asturias" awards with OSPA.

Milanov has collaborated with some of the world's preeminent artists including Yo-Yo Ma, Itzhak Perlman, Joshua Bell, Midori, Christian Tetzlaff, and André Watts. During his 11-year tenure with the Philadelphia Orchestra, he conducted more than 200 performances as Associate Conductor and as Artistic Director of the Orchestra's summer home at The Mann Center for the Performing Arts. In 2015, he completed a 15-year tenure as Music Director of the nationally recognized training orchestra Symphony in C in New Jersey. His passion for new music has resulted in numerous world premieres of works by composers such as Richard Danielpour, Nicolas Maw, and Gabriel Prokofiev among others.

Rossen Milanov studied conducting at the Curtis Institute of Music and the Juilliard School, where he received the Bruno Walter Memorial Scholarship.

About guest violinist Gil Shaham

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 named Musical 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. www.GilShaham.com

About composer Paul Hindemith (1895-1963)

Hindemith was a German composer, violist, violinist, teacher, and conductor. Written in 1943, his Symphonic Metamorphosis of Themes by Carl Maria von Weber is perhaps his most popular work, both on record and in the concert hall. The idea of composing a work based on Carl Maria von Weber's music was first put to Hindemith in 1940 by the choreographer and dancer Léonide Massine, who suggested that he should arrange music by Weber for a ballet. When Hindemith made a piano arrangement in March 1940 of the two pieces that would become movements 1 and 3 of the Metamorphosis, Massine expressed a preference for more strict arrangements. This was one reason the project fell through. After studying Weber's music, Hindemith watched one of Massine's ballets and disliked it, and so wrote the Symphonic Metamorphosis instead. The Andantino and Marsch were completed on June 8 and June 13, 1943, respectively, and the manuscript of the complete orchestral score is daTed August 29, 1943.

About composer About composer Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev (1891-1953)

Prokofiev was a Russian and Soviet composer, pianist, and conductor. As the creator of acknowledged masterpieces across numerous musical genres, he is regarded as one of the major composers of the 20th century. His Violin Concerto No. 2 in G minor was written in 1935, and premiered on December 1, 1935, at the Teatro Monumental in Madrid. The concerto is more conventional than the composer's early bold compositions. It starts off with a simple violin melody related to traditional Russian folk music. The graceful violin melody flows throughout the entire second movement, and ends with the initial violin theme reappears in solo cello, accompanied by solo violin. The third movement rondo's theme has a taste of Spain, with the clacking of castanets each time the theme appears.

About composer Sergei Vasilievich Rachmaninoff (1873-1943)

Regarded as one of the major composers of the 20th century, Rachmaninoff was a Russian pianist, composer, and conductor of the late-Romantic period whose works are among the most popular in the classical repertoire. His Symphonic Dances is an orchestral suite in three movements completed in 1940. It is his last composition, and summarizes the composer's compositional output. The Dances allowed Rachmaninoff to indulge in a nostalgia for the Russia he had known, as well as effectively sum up his lifelong fascination with ecclesiastical chants. In the first dance, he quotes the opening theme of his First Symphony, itself derived from motifs characteristic of Russian church music. In the finale, he quotes both the Dies Irae and the chant "Blessed be the Lord" from his All-Night Vigil.

www.columbussymphony.com

Photo credit: Luke Ratray

To post a comment, you must register and login.