Debussy's La Mer @ Utah Symphony (SLC: Feb 4 - 5)


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 20, 2011

CONTACT: Hilarie Ashton
Public Relations Manager, Utah Symphony | Utah Opera
(801) 869-9027, hashton@usuo.org

THE UTAH SYMPHONY PRESENTS DEBUSSY’S LA MER WITH GUEST CONDUCTOR JULIAN KUERTI AND VIOLINIST AUGUSTIN HADELICH

SALT LAKE CITY – One of Claude Debussy’s most frequently performed orchestral works, and one of his most daringly impressionistic, is returning to the stage of Abravanel Hall, this time under the baton of Canadian conductor Julian Kuerti.

The Utah Symphony will perform Debussy’s La Mer Friday and Saturday, February 4 and 5 at 8 p.m. following a performance by young German violinist Augustin Hadelich of Bartok’s exotic Violin Concerto No. 2. Also on the program is Mozart’s raucous overture to The Abduction From the Seraglio and selections from Rachmaninoff’s Cinq Etudes Tableaux.

Tickets for these performances start at $15 and can be purchased by calling (801) 355-ARTS (2787), in person at the Abravanel Hall box office, or by visiting www.usuo.org. Subscribers and those desiring group or student discounts should call (801) 533-NOTE (6683). Ticket prices will increase $5 when purchased the day of the performance. Kuerti will present a free pre-concert lecture each night, 45 minutes prior to the start of the performance in the First Tier Room of Abravanel Hall.

Press photos available at http://www.utahsymphony.org/media.php. (Username: usuoimages, password: media).

Artist Bios:

Julian Kuerti

One of the most significant conducting talents to emerge in recent years, Canadian conductor Julian Kuerti has quickly made a name for himself with his confident style, artistic integrity and passion for musical collaboration. Kuerti has led numerous orchestras across North America including the Boston, Houston, Montreal, Toronto, Colorado and Utah symphonies; Los Angeles Philharmonic; National Arts Centre Orchestra including at the 2010 Vancouver Cultural Olympiad; and most recently in April, as a last-minute substitution with the Cincinnati Symphony that resulted in immediate reengagements for July 2010 and September 2011. In August 2010, he completed his post as assistant conductor to James Levine at the Boston Symphony.



Of a performance under the direction of Julian Kuerti, a Cincinnati Enquirer critic wrote, “There was clearly chemistry happening onstage, and the musicians performed magnificently for him.” And when Kuerti stepped in at the last minute to conduct a Boston Symphony Orchestra performance, The Boston Globe lauded him as he “rose to the occasion and pulled off a triumphant concert. This was easily his finest hour.”



Kuerti was born in Toronto into one of Canada's most distinguished musical families; his father is famed pianist Anton Kuerti. He studied with David Zinman at the American Academy of Conducting at Aspen and with acclaimed Finnish maestro Jorma Panula at the NAC Conductors Programme in Ottawa.



Augustin Hadelich

With his poetic style and dazzling technique, Augustin Hadelich has established himself as a rising star among the new generation of violinists. Winner of the 2009 Avery Fisher Career Grant and gold medalist of the 2006 International Violin Competition of Indianapolis, his versatility across the entire spectrum of the violin repertory is astounding.

Past orchestral engagements include the symphonies of Alabama, Colorado, Columbus, Fort Worth, Indianapolis, Houston, Jacksonville, Kansas City, Louisville, New Orleans, Santa Barbara and Syracuse, as well as the Pacific Symphony, Rochester Philharmonic and the IRIS Chamber Orchestra in Memphis. In 2008, Hadelich also made three solo appearances at Carnegie Hall.

Outside the United States, Hadelich has performed with the Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Saarbrücken-Kaiserslautern, Dresden Philharmonic, Helsinki Philharmonic, Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo, Nürnberg Philharmonic, Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de México, Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo, Staatsorchester Stuttgart,
Tokyo Symphony, and chamber orchestras in Budapest, Cologne, Hamburg and Lucerne.

Born in Italy in 1984, the son of German parents, Hadelich holds a graduate diploma and Artist Diploma from The Juilliard School, where he was a student of Joel Smirnoff. He plays on the 1723 “Ex- Kiesewetter” Stradivari violin, on loan from Clement and Karen Arrison through the generous efforts of the Stradivari Society.


Program:

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart      Overture to Die Entführung aus dem Serail, K. 384 (The Abduction from the Seraglio)


Béla Bartók                  Concerto No. 2 for Violin and Orchestra
I. Allegro non troppo
II. Theme and Variations— Andante tranquillo
III. Rongo—Allegro molto
Augustin Hadelich, Violin

INTERMISSION

Sergei Rachmaninoff               Selections from Cinq Etudes-tableaux, op. 39
Arr. Respighi                             Fair Scene, No. 7 “La Foire”
Red Riding Hood and the Wolf, No. 6  “Le Chaperon Rouge et le loup”
                                                The Sea and the Seagulls, No. 2 “La Mer et les mouettes”

Debussy                       La Mer (The Sea)
I. De l'aube à midi sur la mer (From Dawn to Noon on the Sea)
II. Jeux des vagues (Play of the Waves)
III. Dialogue du vent et de la mer (Dialogue of Wind and Sea)


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Hilarie Ashton
Public Relations Manager
801.869.9027
hashton@usuo.org