Benjamin Zander & The Boston Philharmonic Present Mid-Winter Concert Series

Feb. 16, 2011 - PRLog -- Photos and full information are here:  http://www.sueauclairpromotions.com/Sue_Auclair_Promotion...

Boston, MA--Benjamin Zander, Music Director and Conductor of The Boston Philharmonic, will present the orchestra’s winter concert series featuring Vaughan Williams’ Fantasia on a Theme By Thomas Tallis; Karol Szymanowski’s Second Violin Concerto and Sir Edward William Elgar’s Enigma Variations on Thursday, February 24 at 7:00 PM and Sunday, February 27 at 3:00 PM at Sanders Theatre in Cambridge and Saturday, February 26 at 8:00 PM at Jordan Hall in Boston.

Violinist Ilya Kaler will be featured soloist on Szymanowski’s Second Violin Concerto.  Kaler is a major exponent of this soaring, dauntingly difficult concerto, has made an acclaimed recording of the work and will be making his Boston Philharmonic debut with these concerts.

"You will never hear the violin played more perfectly . . . Kaler displays a complete virtuoso arsenal, rhythmic vitality, warmth of tone and sentiment." -Los Angeles Times

Described by London’s Gramophone as “a magician, bewitching our ears,” Russian violinist Ilya Kaler is one of the most outstanding personalities of the violin today.  Ilya Kaler has been compared to masters such as Itzhak Perlman and Jascha Heifetz and he has the distinction of being the only violinist to win gold medals in three of the most prestigious international competitions: the International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow (1986), the Sibelius Competition in Helsinki (1985), and the Paganini Competition in Genoa (1981).  Kaler has had a distinguished career as a soloist, chamber musician, recording artist and educator.  

Vaughan Williams was a composer very deeply invested in projecting the spirit of his native land onto the world’s musical stage. The beloved Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis takes a theme by the great English Renaissance composer and weaves it into a very 20th century setting, in which three groups of strings combine in an astonishing, almost bewildering variety of texture and invention.  The work takes its name from the original composer of the melody, Thomas Tallis (c.1505-1585). Vaughan Williams took much inspiration from music of the English Renaissance and many of his works are associated with or inspired by the music of this period.

The Polish composer Karol Szymanowski is a fascinating figure in the history of music.  He allowed himself to come under a great variety of influences in his life, some of them very exotic indeed, like his fascination with Arabic music. Near the end of his life he sought ultimate inspiration in the folk music of his native country.  In his last years he wrote a handful of captivating masterpieces that are among the musical treasures of the Central Europe in the twentieth century, and the Second Violin Concerto is one of the jewels from this late period.  Its lush, intoxicating, yet astringent sounds will make an immediate impact on all who have yet to come under its spell.  

The Enigma Variations has always been the best-known and most beloved work of Sir Edward William Elgar.  At times it is wistful, at times riotous, and always Elgar is engaged with the deepest, most genuine of feelings.  The richness and variety of its orchestration makes this piece a particular delight for the players too, and the work’s unabashed Englishness, together with that of the Vaughan Williams Tallis Fantasy, gives Mr. Zander the opportunity — one that he rarely takes — to indulge in a little sentiment for the land of his birth.

Vaughan Williams:  Fantasia on a Theme By Thomas Tallis
Szymanowski: Second Violin Concerto featuring Ilya Kaler, violin
Elgar:  Enigma Variations

This concert program takes place:

Thursday, February 24, 2011, 7:00 PM, Sanders Theatre, 45 Quincy Street, Cambridge, MA 02138

Saturday, February 26, 2011, 8:00 PM [with pre-concert talk beginning at 6:45 PM], Jordan Hall, New England Conservatory of Music, 30 Gainsborough Street, Boston, MA 02115

Sunday, February 27, 2011, 3:00 PM [with pre-concert talk beginning at 1:45 PM] at Sanders Theatre, 45 Quincy Street, Harvard Square, Cambridge, MA, 02138

Concert tickets priced at $75.00, $55.00, $35.00 and $15.00 for Thursday, February 24 at 7 pm at Sanders Theatre [45 Quincy Street, Cambridge, MA] and $85.00, $65.00, $45.00 and $25.00 for Saturday, February 26 at 8 pm [with pre-concert talk beginning at 6:45 PM] at Jordan Hall [30 Gainsborough Street, Boston] and Sunday, February 27 at 3 pm [with pre-concert talk beginning at 1:45 PM] at Sanders Theatre are on sale now at www.bostonphil.org.  Discounts are available to WGBH members, students and seniors.  For full information, call 617-236-0999 or visit http://www.bostonphil.org.

Other concerts this season include:

Concert Series #4:
Shostakovich: Second Cello Concerto featuring Natalia Gutman, cello
Prokofiev: Romeo and Juliet

This concert program takes place:

Saturday, April 30, 2011, 8:00 PM, [with pre-concert talk beginning at 6:45 PM] Sanders Theatre, 45 Quincy Street, Cambridge, MA 02138

Sunday, May 1, 2011, 3:00 PM [with pre-concert talk beginning at 1:45 PM], Jordan Hall, New England Conservatory of Music, 30 Gainsborough Street, Boston, MA 02115

Monday, May 2, 2011, 7:00 PM at Sanders Theatre, 45 Quincy Street, Harvard Square, Cambridge, MA, 02138

# # #

Sue Auclair Promotions is a full service public relations and publicity firm located in the Boston area and specializing in music, the arts and entertainment . For more information, check us out on the web at http://www.sueauclair.com

Photo:
https://www.prlog.org/11305581/1