January 21, 2005
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Portland, Ore. … The two-week Brahms festival begins with Music Director Carlos Kalmar leading the Oregon Symphony in Brahms’ Symphony No. 2 on a program that also features pianist Stephen Hough performing Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 21, “Elvira Madigan” on Feb. 19, 20 and 21 at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall. An additional performance is scheduled on Feb. 22 at Salem’s Smith Auditorium. Media support is provided by The Oregonian. The Feb. 20 concert is sponsored by Eschelon Telecom. Lufthansa is the exclusive airline sponsor for the Symphony’s Classical series.
Lovers of Brahms reserve a special place in their hearts for his bright and buoyant Second Symphony. “Expect fun on this concert,” says Kalmar, himself a Brahms enthusiast. “This music is as happy as Brahms can get.” The overall mood of the Symphony No. 2 suggests the coming of spring, and its musical evocations of nature may also remind audiences of Beethoven’s “Pastoral Symphony.”
Hough, winner of a 2001 MacArthur Foundation Fellowship, known informally as the “Genius” grant, performs one of Mozart’s best-known piano concertos. The instantly recognizable melody of the second movement was immortalized in the 1967 film score to “Elvira Madigan,” making it a perennial audience favorite.
Kalmar and the Symphony open the concert with an Oregon Symphony debut, Russian composer Alfred Schnittke’s playful “Moz-Art á la Haydn.” This entertaining work combines fragments of Mozart’s music with the humorous theatrical finale from Haydn’s “Farewell” Symphony.
The Brahms Festival, a collaboration with Chamber Music Northwest and Reed College runs from Feb. 18-28 and will feature concerts, lectures and social opportunities, in addition to a broad array of musical and scholarly resources that celebrate the music and genius of Johannes Brahms.
Oregon Symphony Classical concerts regularly include additional opportunities for listeners to learn more about the music and the orchestra. These activities include:
Concert Conversations: Music Director Carlos Kalmar and Shaun Yu, morning host at KBPS All Classical 89.9 will lead a discussion one hour before the concert of the works to be performed. Media support for “Concert Conversations” is provided by Classical Millennium.
Saturday: Music Director Carlos Kalmar will speak briefly from the podium in “Saturday Interactive.” Media support for “Saturday Interactive” is provided by KINKfm102.
Performances are scheduled for Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 19 and 20 at 7:30 p.m. and Monday, Feb. 21 at 8 p.m. at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, with an additional performance on Tuesday, Feb. 22 at Willamette University’s Smith Auditorium in Salem. Tickets range in price from $18 to $80 and may be purchased at the Oregon Symphony Ticket Office (923 S.W. Washington), Monday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. or charged by phone at (503) 228-1353 or (800) 228-7343. Tickets also may be purchased at all Ticketmaster outlets (503-790-ARTS) or through Ticketmaster Online, via the Symphony’s Web site at www.orsymphony.org. Service fees may apply.
Stephen Hough has emerged as a unique presence on the international concert scene. From highly acclaimed performances of standard repertoire in recital and with the world’s finest orchestras, to a particular interest in unusual works by pianist-composers of the late nineteenth century, he combines the imagination and pianistic color of the past with the scholarship of the present, illuminating the very essence of the music he plays. In recognition of his achievements and contributions to classical music, Mr. Hough was awarded a 2001 MacArthur Foundation Fellowship.
Mr. Hough divides his time between homes in London and New York City. Since winning first prize in the Naumburg International Piano Competition in 1983, he has performed with most of the major American orchestras and numerous European orchestras with conductors including Abbado, Dohnanyi, Dutoit, Gergiev, Levine, Rattle, Salonen, Temirkanov, Tilson Thomas and Vänskä. He also regularly plays recitals in the major halls and recital series all over the world and has been a frequent guest at many international festivals including Aspen, Ravinia, Tanglewood, Blossom, the Hollywood Bowl, Mostly Mozart, Edinburgh, Salzburg and the Proms, where he has appeared over a dozen times.
Recent performance highlights include engagements with the Cleveland, Philadelphia and Minnesota Orchestras and the Detroit, National, Atlanta, St. Louis, Montreal and Baltimore symphonies; tours throughout the U.S. with the BBC Scottish Orchestra and the Australian Chamber Orchestra; appearances at Lincoln Center and the Kennedy Center with the Philharmonia Orchestra led by Vladimir Ashkenazy; and recitals in Pittsburgh, Vancouver, Toronto and Carnegie Hall. European appearances include performances with the London Symphony Orchestra, Israel Philharmonic, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra; recitals at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Royal Festival Hall in London and the Louvre in Paris; and chamber music projects at the Salzburg Festival, Konzerthaus in Vienna and Wigmore Hall. Mr. Hough also frequently tours in Japan, Australia and New Zealand.
During the 2004/05 season, Stephen Hough returns to the New York Philharmonic for the second season in a row and appears with the Boston, Cincinnati, Houston, Milwaukee, Indianapolis and Oregon symphonies and the Philadelphia Orchestra in Saratoga and performs recitals at Lincoln Center and Cleveland’s Severance Hall. He also performs duo recitals with the cellist Steven Isserlis in San Francisco, Philadelphia and Vancouver.
An exclusive Hyperion recording artist, Stephen Hough has made over thirty recordings, many of which have won international prizes such as the Diapason d’Or, the Deutscher Schallplattenpreis, and Classic CD and Gramophone Awards. In October 2002, Gramophone gave Mr. Hough his second Record of the Year award for the “Complete Works for Piano and Orchestra of Saint-Saëns” with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sakari Oramo. His first Record of the Year award was for his 1996 recording of concertos by Scharwenka and Sauer which also won Concerto Recording of the Year. Additional recordings, including Lowell Liebermann’s two piano concertos, Mompou’s solo piano music (a Diapason d’Or and Gramophone Award winner), his 1998 release New York Variations (chosen as Best Classical CD of the Year by Time magazine) and solo recital discs of works by Schubert, Brahms, Hummel and Chopin have further reinforced his status as an artist of the utmost distinction and individuality. In November 2004, Hyperion will release Mr. Hough’s live recordings of all five of Rachmaninoff’s piano concertos with the Dallas Symphony and Andrew Litton.
As a chamber musician, Stephen Hough collaborates on a regular basis with colleagues such as Steven Isserlis, Joshua Bell, Pamela Frank, Tabea Zimmermann and Michael Collins. He has also performed with the Cleveland, Emerson and Juilliard Quartets and recorded the complete sonatas of Beethoven and Brahms with violinist Robert Mann.
A number of selections of Mr. Hough’s own transcriptions for piano, as well as some original compositions, are published by Josef Weinberger Ltd.
