Soka Performing Arts Center Presents Pacific Symphony Chamber Orchestra and Violinist Elissa Lee Koljonen

Soka Performing Arts Center presents Pacific Symphony Chamber Orchestra with violinist Elissa Lee Koljonen on Sunday, April 5, 2020 at 3pm. The program includes Ticheli's There Will Be Rest, a piece of fragile beauty and quiet dignity, and Beethoven's Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 61, considered to be his most lyrical work, and the only concerto he wrote for one of the most popular instruments of his day: the violin.

Tickets are $45-85 and are now available online at performingarts.soka.edu at the Box Office at 1 University Drive in Aliso Viejo or by calling (949) 480-4ART (4287).

Soka Performing Arts Center is proud to be the home of the Pacific Symphony Chamber Orchestra.

Recognized as one of the most celebrated violinists of her generation, Elissa Lee Koljonen has thrilled audiences and critics in over one hundred cities throughout the world. Ms. Koljonen initially received international acclaim when she became the first recipient of the prestigious Henryk Szeryng Foundation Award and the silver medal at the Carl Flesch International Violin Competition. Her playing has been lauded by the Helsingin Sanomat (Helsinki) as "sparkling, sensual and personal". Dan Tucker of the Chicago Tribune writes, "She displayed boundless technique and musicianship," and reports the Detroit News, "...Koljonen brings to her playing not just assured technique but unflinching purpose and confidence."

Koljonen has collaborated with such noted conductors as Mattias Bamert, James DePreist, Lawrence Foster, Richard Hickox, Neeme Järvi, Louis Lane, Andrew Litton, Eiji Oue and the late Bryden Thompson. Her engagements have taken her to some of the world's most important venues, among them the Vienna Musikverein, Salzburg Mozarteum, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, London's Barbican Centre, Seoul Arts Center, Boston's Symphony Hall, and Philadelphia's Academy of Music.

As a recitalist, Ms. Koljonen has performed in many musical capitals including London, Amsterdam, Salzburg, Seoul, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, and New York. A 2004 performance in Carnegie Hall was hailed with excellent critical review. Also an avid chamber musician, Ms. Koljonen appears regularly at festivals throughout North America, Europe and Asia. She garnered critical acclaim for her debut at the Queen Elisabeth Hall in London and her appearances with the London Mozart Players and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo in a special concert celebrating the 700th anniversary of the Grimaldi Dynasty.

Elissa Koljonen is a protégé of the great Aaron Rosand at the Curtis Institute of Music. Through his influence, she continues the legacy and tradition of Leopold Auer and his legendary school of violin playing.

Led by Music Director Carl St.Clair since 1990, the Pacific Symphony has been the resident orchestra of Orange County's Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall for more than a decade. Currently in its 39th season, the symphony is the largest orchestra formed in the US in the last 50 years. It is not only a fixture of musical life in Southern California, but also recognized as an outstanding ensemble making strides on both the national and international scene. In Orange County, the orchestra presents over 100 concerts and events each year, as well as a rich array of education and community engagement programs, reaching more than 300,000 residents of all ages.

The Symphony offers repertoire that ranges from the great orchestral masterworks to music from today's most prominent composers. Seven seasons ago, the symphony launched the highly successful opera initiative Symphonic Voices, which continued in February 2018 with Mozart's Die Zauberflöte. It also offers a popular pops season, enhanced by state-of-the-art video and sound, led by Principal Pops Conductor Richard Kaufman. Each symphony season also includes Café Ludwig, a chamber music series; an educational Family Musical Mornings series; and Sunday Casual Connections, an orchestral matinee series that offers rich explorations of selected works led by Mr. St.Clair.

The Pacific Symphony's discography comprises 15 recordings, which feature 20th- and 21st-century music by American composers, including William Bolcom, John Corigliano, and Richard Danielpour. In 2012 for Naxos, Mr. St.Clair and the orchestra recorded Philip Glass's The Passion of Ramakrishna, a Pacific Symphony commission. The Symphony has also recorded for Harmonia Mundi, Koch International Classics, Reference Recordings, and Sony Classical, among other labels.

The Pacific Symphony has been recognized with multiple ASCAP Awards for Adventurous Programming and included among the country's five most innovative orchestras by the League of American Orchestras. The Symphony's education and community engagement activities have also been recognized by the league as well as the National Endowment for the Arts.

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