November 4, 2005
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Portland, Ore. … Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto in E minor and Sibelius’ Symphony No. 5 are the highlights of a Classical concert as Guest Conductor Hannu Lintu leads the Oregon Symphony with violinist Vadim Gluzman on Dec. 3, 4 and 5 at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall. “We’re taking advantage of Mr. Lintu’s Finnish heritage by having him conduct music of Sibelius, the national composer of Finland,” says Artistic Administrator Charles Calmer.
The Dec. 4 evening performance is sponsored by Eschelon Telecom, while the Dec. 4 afternoon performance, part of the Symphony’s new Sunday Encore series, is supported in part by grants from the Jackson Foundation and the Oregon Cultural Trust, investing in Oregon’s arts, humanities and heritage. Media support is provided by The Oregonian. Lufthansa is the exclusive airline sponsor for the Symphony’s Classical series.
The Mendelssohn Violin Concerto is one of the most popular concertos written for the violin, and one of the most popular concertos for any instrument, says Calmer. Mendelssohn wrote this iconic work for his good friend, violinist Ferdinand David. David also served as a kind of technical consultant for Mendelssohn during its composition, educating the composer about the violin’s capabilities. With its recognizable melodies, which range from bold to tender to virtuosic, this concerto has been delighting audiences for over 150 years.
Vadim Gluzman, a former student of Isaac Stern, is described by The Washington Post as possessing, “a commanding technique, spontaneity and visionary breadth...capable of both delicate nuances and incendiary passion.” In 1996 Gluzman recorded a CD of music by British composer Sir Richard Rodney Bennett with Laureate Music Director James DePreist on the Koch International label. Gluzman, who makes his Symphony debut with this concert, performs on a rare 1690 ex-Leopold Auer Stradivarius violin, on loan to him from the Stradivari Society of Chicago.
Lintu, a native of Finland, is well-known throughout Scandinavia and Europe for his emphasis on Finnish music and composers, particularly contemporary works. His appearance with the Symphony two seasons ago for a Sundays at Two concert was well-received by audience and musicians alike, and resulted in an invitation to conduct one of the Symphony’s Classical series concerts. “The Fifth Symphony, one of Sibelius’ best-known, was on our schedule two winters ago, but that concert was cancelled due to the week-long ice storm,” Calmer explains. “We’re pleased to have Mr. Lintu lead the orchestra in this Finnish masterpiece.”
In addition to the Mendelssohn and Sibelius works, audiences will get a preview of the holiday season with Samuel Barber’s “Die natali, chorale preludes for Christmas,” a Symphony premiere. Barber’s arrangement of eight familiar carols breathes fresh life into old favorites; each carol features distinctive rhythmic play on well-known melodies, and Barber’s colorful orchestrations make them sound newly-composed.
This concert also marks the second in the Symphony’s new Sunday Encore series, a cycle of four full-length repeats of evening classical performances on Sunday afternoons at 2 p.m.
Oregon Symphony Classical concerts regularly include additional opportunities for listeners to learn more about the music and the orchestra. These activities include:
Pre-concert talks: Orla McDonagh, Director of the Piano Program at Lewis & Clark College, and KBPS host Patrick McElroy will lead a discussion one hour before the concert of the works to be performed. Media support for "Pre-Concert Talks" is provided by Classical Millennium.
Saturday:
Guest Conductor Hannu Lintu will speak briefly from the podium in “Saturday
Interactive.” Media support for “Saturday Interactive” is
provided by KINK fm102.
Performances are scheduled for Saturday, Dec. 3 at 7:30 p.m., Sunday, Dec. 4 at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. and Monday, Dec. 5 at 8 p.m. at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall. Tickets range in price from $20 to $85 and may be purchased at the Oregon Symphony Customer Service 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 Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tickets also may be purchased at all Ticketmaster outlets (503-790-ARTS) or through Ticketmaster Online, via the Symphony’s Web site www.orsymphony.org. Service fees may apply.
Hannu Lintu was born in Finland and began his musical studies with the cello and piano at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki. He went on to study conducting with Atso Almila, Ilja Musin, Eri Klas and Jorma Panula at the Sibelius Academy. He also studied with Myung Whun Chung at the Accademia Chigiana in Italy and in 1994 won the Nordic Conductor’s Competition in Bergen.
Lintu has held Artistic Director positions with the Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra (2002-2005), Turku Philharmonic Orchestra (1998-2001) and with the Bergen Collegium Musicum chamber orchestra (1995-1997). He is a regular guest conductor of the Avanti! Chamber Orchestra in Finland and was the Artistic Director of their 2005 Summer Sounds Festival.
Lintu works regularly with all major orchestras in Finland including the Finnish Radio Symphony, Helsinki Philharmonic, Lahti Symphony and Tampere Philharmonic. He has also made guest appearances with the Berlin Symphony, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie, Stuttgart Philharmonic, Stuttgart Radio Symphony, Klangforum Wien, Orchestre National de Belgique, Swedish Radio Symphony, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, Bergen Philharmonic, Norwegian Radio Symphony and Danish Radio Symphony. Outside Europe Lintu has worked with the Toronto Symphony, Oregon Symphony, Adelaide Symphony and Nagoya Philharmonic in Japan. Festival appearances include the Berliner Festspiele, Golden Autumn Festival in Beijing, Flanders Festival and the Adelaide Festival.
Lintu has conducted several opera productions for Finnish National Opera including Bizet’s “Carmen,” Aulis Sallinen’s “King Lear” and Kalevi Aho’s “Before We Are All Drowned.” In 2004 he conducted a concert performance of “Gianni Schicchi” at the Grant Park Festival in Chicago and recorded Tauno Pylkkanen’s opera “Mare and Her Son.” Future opera engagements include “La Traviata,” “The Magic Flute” and a new opera by Mikko Heiniö.
Lintu will make several important debuts during the 2005-2006 season: he will conduct the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Orchestre National de Bordeaux, Orchestre National de Lille, Malaysian Philharmonic, New Zealand Symphony and Orchestra della Svizzera Italia and will return to work with the Oregon Symphony and Scavenger Symphony Orchestras. Other future plans include the Rotterdam Philharmonic, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of Flanders and a return to the Nagoya Philharmonic.
Amongst his recordings, Lintu has released CDs of works by Rautavaara, Saariaho and Luca Francesconi with Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Avanti! Chamber Orchestra, Finnish Radio Symphony and Danish National Radio Symphony for Ondine and Naxos. He has made two recordings with his Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra for Danacord: “The Sound of Shakespeare” and Shostakovich piano concertos (with pianist Oleg Marshev). He is currently recording two discs of music by Finnish composer Jouni Kaipainen with the Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra for Ondine.
Israeli violinist Vadim Gluzman has established himself as a performer of great depth, virtuosity and technical brilliance. Lauded by both critics and audiences, he has performed throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, Russia, Japan, Korea and Australia as a soloist and in a duo setting with his wife, pianist Angela Yoffe.
Isaac Stern was a great influence on Gluzman and he had the privilege of working with Stern in Israel and the United States. In 1994, Gluzman received the prestigious Henryk Szeryng Foundation Career Award. He now plays the extraordinary 1690 ex-Leopold Auer Stradivarius on extended loan to him through the generosity of the Stradivari Society of Chicago.
Gluzman has performed under many of the leading conductors of the day including the late Yehudi Menuhin, James DePreist, Claus Peter Flor, James Judd, Marek Janowski, Dimitri Kitayenko, Eri Klas, Jesus Lopez-Cobos, Peter Oundjian, Yan Pascal Tortellier and Vladimir Verbitsky.
During the summer of 2005 Gluzman performed in the Naumburg Concert Shell in New York’s Central Park at the opening concert celebrating the 100th Anniversary of the esteemed summer series. He also returned to the David Oistrakh Festival in Parnu, Estonia for orchestral appearances and recitals, performed with Korea’s KBS Symphony in Seoul, and performed and taught in Israel.
His 2005-2006 season continues with performances with appearances at the symphony orchestras of Flint, North Carolina, Bergen Philharmonic in Norway, Tampere Orchestra in Finland, and Nancy in France. He will also play with the Charlotte, Oregon and Huntsville Symphonies, and will tour Israel with the Israel Camerata. Gluzman will make his New York recital debut at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and will give recitals in Miami, Corpus Christi, Texas, Dusseldorf, Germany and in Phoenix and Great Barrington, Mass. with composer/pianist Lera Auerbach.
Gluzman’s 2004-2005 season found him performing under Paavo Järvi at Estonia’s David Oistrakh Festival followed by a tour with the Residentie Orchestra of major European cities including The Hague, Ljubljana, Budapest, Zagreb, Salzburg, and Vienna’s Konzerthaus. He also performed with the Czech Philharmonic, Mainz Orchestra, and the orchestras of Dresden, Lugano, Basel, Bergen, Luxembourg, Pamplona, Strassbourg and Berlin.
Gluzman records exclusively for the BIS label. The recording of the “Preludes” (written for Gluzman and Yoffe), released on BIS, received rave reviews, as did their second album, featuring music by Schnittke, Vasks, Pärt, and Kancheli, which was released in spring of 2004. In July 2005, a third recital with Angela Yoffe was recorded, featuring the Shostakovich Sonata for Piano and Violin. Gluzman also has two recordings on the Koch International Label: the first, a collaboration with the Monte Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by James DePreist, and the second a solo recording with Angela Yoffe.
Gluzman was born in 1973 in the city of Zhitomir, Ukraine into a family of professional musicians and began studying the violin at the age of seven. Before moving to Israel in 1990, he studied with Zakhar Bron and later with Yair Kless at the Rubin Academy of Music in Tel-Aviv. He has also studied in the United States with Arkady Fomin and in the Juilliard School with the late Dorothy DeLay and Masao Kawasaki. Gluzman and his wife and daughter live in the Chicago area.
