VSO MEDIA ROOM Photos Bios Info www.vancouversymphony.ca/media-room Media Contact: Caroline Márkos 604.684.9100 x266 caroline@vancouversymphony.ca For Immediate Release October 6, 2014 MEDIA RELEASE The VSO Presents two rising stars performing the music of Vancouver, BC The Vancouver Symphony Orchestra is proud to present two of the fastest-rising stars in classical music, young American pianist, Adam Golka; and the New York Philharmonic s 27-year old Assistant Conductor Joshua Weilerstein, in an evening showcasing works by two of the most profound composers of the Classical and Romantic eras, Chopin and Brahms. Friday, October 17 and Saturday, October 18, 8pm, Chan Centre for the performing Arts at UBC. Monday, October 20, 8pm, Centennial Theatre, North Vancouver. This concert is the first of the 4-concert Classical Traditions series at the Chan Centre, and the first of the 3-concert North Shore Classics series at Centennial Theatre. Joshua Weilerstein opens the program leading the orchestra in the 20 th century Hungarian/Romanian composer György Ligeti s short and impulsive Romanian Concerto for orchestra. Young American pianist, Adam Golka, has who won international praise from the Washington Post for his brilliant technique and emotional depth, is a perfect match for the second piece on the concert s program, Chopin s beautiful Piano Concerto No. 2 in F minor. Chopin, a composer best known for his instrument-defining works for solo piano is still, in this day, not fully recognized for his two brilliant concertos for piano and orchestra. However, in Chopin s day, his Piano Concerto No. 2 was one of his biggest successes. The simplicity of this concerto s orchestration paired with electric virtuosic writing for the pianist makes this a concerto one that new audiences will easily connect with, and regular concert-goers will leave feeling as if they ve discover something new and fresh. Closing the program is one of the most famous and well-loved pieces for orchestra, Johannes Brahms s emotional and eloquent Symphony No. 4 in E minor. This Fourth Symphony is music that shows the writing of a mature and confident composer. It took Brahms almost 20 years to complete his monumental First Symphony, yet his Fourth took him only two. A work that is as warm as it is
aggressive; this work shows a symphonic voice, that many say, is finally Brahms s own having freed himself from the illusion that the footsteps of his idol Beethoven were watching him with every stroke of his pen on the manuscript paper. CONCERT INFORMATION: CLASSICAL TRADITIONS FRIDAY, OCTOBER 17 SATURDAY, OCTOBER 18 8PM, Chan Centre at UBC The presentation of this series is made possible, in part, through the generous assistance of the Chan Endowment Fund at the University of British Columbia. Joshua Weilerstein conductor Adam Golka piano* LIGETI Romanian Concerto CHOPIN Piano Concerto No. 2 in F minor* BRAHMS Symphony No. 4 in E minor TICKET INFORMATION: Tickets: $37-$65 (senior, student, and subscriber discounts available) Tickets available online at www.vancouversymphony.ca or by calling VSO Customer Service at 604.876.3434 NORTH SHORE CLASSICS MONDAY, OCTOBER 20 8PM, Centennial Theatre, North Vancouver Joshua Weilerstein conductor Adam Golka piano LIGETI Romanian Concerto CHOPIN Piano Concerto No. 2 in F minor* BRAHMS Symphony No. 4 in E minor TICKET INFORMATION: Tickets: $40 (senior, student, and subscriber discounts available) Tickets available online at www.vancouversymphony.ca or by calling VSO Customer Service at 604.876.3434 2
BIOGRAPHIES Joshua Weilerstein, conductor Making his subscription debut with the New York Philharmonic this year, Joshua Weilerstein also enters his third season as the orchestra's Assistant Conductor. In 2009 Mr. Weilerstein, then twenty-one years old, was unanimously named the winner of the 2009 Malko Competition for Young Conductors in Copenhagen, Denmark. His first-prize honors included a series of engagements with major Scandinavian orchestras, the first of which was the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra in June 2009, marking Mr. Weilerstein s professional conducting debut. During the 2013-14 season, Mr. Weilerstein makes several debuts in the US with the symphony orchestras of Baltimore, Fort Worth, and New Mexico (Albuquerque). He also returns to the Florida Orchestra (Tampa). In Europe, he debuts with the Orchestre National de Lyon, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Bergen Philharmonic, Orchestre National de Belgique, Salzburg Mozarteumorchester, and the Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne. He also will return to the BBC Symphony, Oslo Philharmonic, Danish National Symphony, Finnish Radio Symphony, Swedish Chamber Orchestra, and Northern Sinfonia, among others. Born into a musical family, Mr. Weilerstein decided to enter the music profession after a life-changing experience during a youth orchestra tour of South and Central America. He studied at the New England Conservatory, from which he received his dual Master of Music degrees in orchestral conducting with Hugh Wolff and in violin with Lucy Chapman in 2011. He spent the summers of 2009 and 2010 studying with David Zinman and Robert Spano at the Aspen Music Festival, where he was awarded the Robert J. Harth and Aspen Conducting Prizes, its most distinguished honors. In 2007 the Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela (SBSO) engaged Mr. Weilerstein as a violin soloist. Shortly after this appearance, the SBSO asked him to join the first violin section for the orchestra s 2007 American tour with Music Director Gustavo Dudamel, making Mr. Weilerstein the ensemble s first non-venezuelan guest member. In January 2010 he made his guest conducting debut with the SBSO. Since then, he has rapidly become one of the most sought-after young conductors in the world. Recent engagements include the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Toronto Symphony, Copenhagen Philharmonic, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, Brussels Philharmonic, BBC Symphony, BBC Scottish Symphony, and Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, to name but a few. When not studying scores, Mr. Weilerstein spends his spare time practicing the violin and exploring New York City. Adam Golka, piano Born and raised in Texas to a family of musicians from Poland, 26 year old pianist Adam Golka has won widespread critical and popular acclaim with his brilliant technique and real emotional depth (The Washington Post). He has garnered international prizes including the 2008 Gilmore Young Artist Award, first prize in the 2003 China Shanghai International Piano Competition and the 2009 Max I. Allen Classical Fellowship Award of the American Pianists Association. 3
With his extensive concerto repertoire, beginning with Rachmaninoff, Ravel and Liszt, and now fully embracing Beethoven, Mozart, Brahms and Bartok, Golka has appeared as a soloist with the Atlanta, Houston, Dallas, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, Phoenix, San Diego, Fort Worth, Syracuse, Pensacola, Lansing, Knoxville, Albany, South Dakota, and Grand Rapids symphonies, and with the Grand Teton and Colorado Music Festival orchestras. Internationally, he has appeared with the BBC Scottish Symphony, National Arts Centre Orchestra, the Sinfonia Varsovia, the Shanghai Philharmonic, the Warsaw Philharmonic, Orchestre Poitou-Charentes, and the Orquesta Filarmonica de Jalisco with conductors including Donald Runnicles, Miguel Harth-Bedoya, Pinchas Zukerman, Mark Wigglesworth, Michael Christie, Andreas Delfs, Edwin Outwater, David Lockington, Daniel Hege, Julian Kuerti, Michael Morgan, Timothy Muffitt, Ryan McAdams, as well as his brother, conductor Tomasz Golka. Following a summer at Marlboro, the New York based Golka kicks off the 2013/14 season with a recital at Ravinia, and solo and chamber music concerts at Bargemusic in Brooklyn. He returns to the Fort Worth Symphony for a week of Brahms 2 performances with Joshua Weilerstein, followed by his debut at the New Jersey Symphony playing the Ravel G Major cto. with Music Director, Jacques Lacombe. The Ann Arbor Symphony sees him back for performances of Beethoven 2. Last summer Adam Golka made his debut at Caramoor in a Beethoven program with Colin Jacobsen, and at the Mostly Mozart Festival at Lincoln Center in pre-concert recitals of Lutoslawski and Brahms. Recitals followed across the 2012/13 season in New York, Ohio, Boston, Florida and in Wroclaw, Poland; plus guest artist performances with the Szymanowski Quartet at the Orange County Performing Arts Center. He opened the Omaha Symphony s season playing Beethoven s Piano Cto. No. 2, joined the Jacksonville Symphony for Beethoven s Emperor Cto., and played Mozart k. 491 with the Rhode Island Philharmonic and Tchaikovsky Piano Cto. No. 1 with the Riverside County Philharmonic. Adam Golka has played all five Beethoven Piano Concertos with the Lubbock Symphony, and concertos by Mozart, Liszt and Ravel with the symphony orchestras in Phoenix, Duluth-Superior, Eugene, Fairfax, and Santa Fe. In 2010, Golka made his Isaac Stern Auditorium debut at Carnegie Hall, playing Rachmaninoff's Third Concerto with the New York Youth Symphony and, in 2011, joined a Ravinia Steans Institute tour, with dates in Boston, Chicago, New York City, Stamford, and at the Highland Park Music Festival. Further afield, he has played solo and chamber music concerts at the Concertgebouw s Kleine Zaal, Carnegie Hall s Weill Recital Hall, Musashino Civic Cultural Hall in Tokyo, Nakanoshima Hall in Osaka, the Kravis Center in West Palm Beach, and at prestigious festivals such as the Gilmore Keyboard Festival, the Ravinia Festival, Music@Menlo, the New York City International Keyboard Festival at Mannes, the Newport Music Festival, and the Duszniki Chopin festival. Adam Golka has premiered solo works written for him by Richard Danielpour and Michael Brown, and is an avid chamber musician and lieder partner. After studying with his mother, pianist Anna Golka, and Dariusz Pawlas of Rice University, Adam moved to Fort Worth to pursue studies with José Feghali at Texas Christian University. In 2012 he received an Artist s Diploma from the Peabody Institute in Baltimore, studying with the legendary Leon Fleisher, and has contined his work in masterclasses with Andras Schiff, Richard Goode and Mitsuko Uchida. 4
For media inquires, or to interview any of our esteemed soloists, please contact the VSO s PR Associate, Caroline Márkos at 604.684.9100 x266 caroline@vancouversymphony.ca -VSO- 5