Concerts Feature Violinist Jinjoo Cho Playing Beethoven’s Violin Concerto
HARTFORD, February 16, 2010 – Led by guest conductor and Music Director candidate Tania Miller, the Hartford Symphony Orchestra will explore Dvořák’s Ode to America, his “New World Symphony,” on Thursday, March 18 – Saturday, March 20, 2010 at 8:00 p.m. and Sunday, March 21, 2010 at 3:00 p.m. in the Belding Theater at the Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts. In addition to the “New World Symphony, this program will feature violinist Jinjoo Cho performing Beethoven’s Violin Concerto and Canadian composer Rodney Sharman’s musical homage to the music of Scarlatti, in Scarlattiana.
Sharman’s Scarlattiana is a stunning arrangement of 17th century composer Domenico Scarlatti’s keyboard Sonata in F-sharp minor for the instruments of the orchestra. Mr. Sharman is the composer in residence for the Victoria Symphony Orchestra, where Tania Miller holds the position of Music Director. Following Scarlattiana, Jinjoo Cho will join the HSO for Ludwig Van Beethoven’s Violin Concerto in D Major. Originally written in 1794 for the Austrian violin prodigy Franz Clement, this concerto will highlight Ms. Cho’s youthful virtuosity with delicate cadenzas and singing melodies.
The second half of the program will feature Antonín Dvořák’s musical tribute to America: his Ninth Symphony, nicknamed “From the New World.” Dvořák traveled to the United States in 1892, and completely fell in love with the African-American and Native American music he found here. His “New World” Symphony drew its inspiration from the hymns, folk-songs, and tonal palate of these rich musical traditions as well as from Dvořák’s native Bohemian culture. The result is a symphony of cross-cultural music that perfectly expresses America’s rich diversity.
Guest Conductor Tania Miller says, “Dvořák’s New World Symphony is a wonderful sentimental journey of optimism and hope. From the beginning you get the impression of drama – the noble melody in the horns and the thundering timpani drums brings the sense of new beginning. But the sentimentality and emotion of the symphony brings its music close to people. No melody is perhaps as sweet as the English horn melody, Goin’ Home, in the second movement.”
The 2009-10 season will mark Tania Miller’s seventh as Music Director of the Victoria Symphony Orchestra, deeming her as the first Canadian woman to be appointed to such a significant position in Canada. Her new programming innovations include the New Currents Festival of New Music, the contemporary Odyssey series of collaborative arts and genres, and the Victoria Mozart Festival. Prior to her appointment in Victoria, Ms. Miller was Assistant and then Associate conductor of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, Assistant Conductor of the Carmel Bach Festival, Assistant conductor of the Banff Festival of the Arts, and a frequent guest conductor with the Toronto contemporary ensemble ERGO.
The search for a new music director for Hartford Symphony Orchestra will take place during the next two seasons, 2009-10 and 2010-11, and will include seven guest conductor appearances. Four candidates will guest conduct in the 2009-2010 season, and three candidates will conduct in the 2010-11 season. HSO Music Director Edward Cumming will continue to lead the orchestra through the conclusion of the 2010-11 season in May of 2011. His successor is expected to be announced by January 2011.
A native of Seoul, South Korea, violinist Jinjoo Cho is the First Grand Prize and People’s Choice Award winner of the 2006 Montreal International Musical Competition and the gold medalist of the 2005 Stulberg International String Competition. She has appeared as soloist with the symphony orchestras of Cleveland, Montreal, Quebec, Seoul, Winnepeg, Victoria, Kalamazoo, and Louisville, among others. She performed at Carnegie Hall as a concertmaster in the 2009 and 2010 New York String Orchestra Seminar, where the New York Times reviewed her as “finely polished and focused.”
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CALENDAR LISTING:
Beethoven Violin Concerto & Dvořák New World Symphony
Hartford Symphony Orchestra with Tania Miller, guest conductor; Jinjoo Cho, violin
Thursday, March 18, 2010 │ 8:00 p.m.
Friday, March 19, 2010 │ 8:00 p.m.
Saturday, March 20, 2010 │ 8:00 p.m.
Sunday, March 21, 2010 │ 3:00 p.m.
The Belding Theater │ The Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts
Guest Conductor Tania Miller will lead a pre-concert chat one hour before each performance. Composer Rodney Sharman will join her for two of the chats; dates TBD.
Program: Antonín Dvořák: Symphony No. 9, “From the New World;” Ludwig Van Beethoven: Violin Concerto; Rodney Sharman: Scarlattiana
Ticket Prices: $30 – $70; $10 with a student I.D. Ticket prices do not include applicable fees.
Tickets are available in person Monday through Friday between the hours of 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. at Hartford Symphony Orchestra Ticket Services, 99 Pratt Street, Suite 500 in Hartford, by calling (860) 244-2999, or online 24/7 at www.hartfordsymphony.org.
The Hartford Symphony Orchestra participates in the Greater Hartford Arts Council’s Let*s GO Arts! program that offers 2-for-1 tickets to arts and entertainment events, and discounts at restaurants and clubs. Let*s GO Arts! members can receive 2-for-1 full price tickets to HSO Masterworks and POPS! concerts.
These concerts are sponsored by The Katherine K. McLane and Henry R. McLane Charitable Trust. The Masterworks Series is presented by MetLife Foundation with additional support from The Edward C. and Ann T. Roberts Foundation and the Maximilian E. & Marion O. Hoffman Foundation, Inc. The Hartford Symphony Orchestra receives major support from the Greater Hartford Arts Council, the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Connecticut Commission on Culture & Tourism, which receives support from the National Endowment for the Arts.