1. <br /> <br /> <br />For Immediate Release Monday, January 25, 2010<br /> <br />STEFAN JACKIW PERFORMS<br />BARBER’S VIOLIN CONCERTO<br /> <br />Music Director Gerard Schwarz to lead Renowned Violinist<br />and Orchestra in Concert of Barber and Brahms<br /> <br />Seattle, WA – Violinist Stefan Jackiw will join Seattle Symphony and Music Director Gerard Schwarz in performances on Thursday, February 11, at 7:30 p.m. and Saturday, February 13, at 8 p.m. The program will feature Medea's Meditation and Dance of Vengeance by American Pulitzer Prize–winning composer Samuel Barber, as well as Johannes Brahms’ Piano Quartet No. 1 in G minor, Op. 25. Jackiw will join the Orchestra for Barber’s Violin Concerto, Op. 14. Both performances will take place in the S. Mark Taper Foundation Auditorium at Benaroya Hall and are a part of the Masterworks Season. Tickets are available from $9 to $100.<br /> <br />One hour prior to each performance, Seattle Symphony will present a Talk Music speaker in the S. Mark Taper Foundation Auditorium at Benaroya Hall. Talk Music events feature leading voices in the local classical music field, and are free with ticket purchase. Samuel Jones, Seattle Symphony Composer in Residence, will give a presentation titled “A Certain Courage: The Struggle and the Glory of Samuel Barber.”<br /> <br />Following the concert on Saturday, February 13, Seattle Symphony will present Ask the Artist, featuring Gerard Schwarz. Audience members will have the opportunity to pose questions about the performance and artists.<br /> <br />Stefan Jackiw<br />Stefan Jackiw began playing the violin at age 4 and currently holds a Bachelor of Arts from Harvard University and an Artist Diploma from the New England Conservatory. His sensational London debut in 2000 with the Philharmonia Orchestra was featured on the front page of The Times. Of that performance The Strad wrote, “A 14-year-old violinist took the London music world by storm.” In 2002, his performance with the Boston Symphony was selected by The Boston Globe as one of the top two solo appearances of the year. The Seattle Times chose his performance with Seattle Symphony under Gerard Schwarz as the best debut of the 2004–2005 season.<br /> <br />Jackiw toured Japan in 2002 and performed at the 2003 Winter Arts Festival in St. Petersburg with the Baltimore Symphony under Yuri Temirkanov. He was the only young artist invited to perform at the opening night of Carnegie’s Zankel Hall in New York.<br /> <br />Some of Jackiw’s engagements in America include: the New York Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, and the symphony orchestras of Baltimore, Boston, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, Minnesota, Nashville, Oregon, Rochester, San Francisco, Seattle, St. Luke’s and Utah, among many other ensembles. Upcoming highlights include a tour with the Russian National Orchestra under Mikhail Pletnev and tours of Europe and Asia with the London Philharmonic.<br /> <br />Program Information<br />The concert begins with two works by the American composer Samuel Barber. The first, Medea’s Meditation and Dance of Vengeance, is an essay on violence, and its climactic moments sound quite modern for Barber. The music imagines Medea, the savage sorceress immortalized by Euripedes, as she prepares to wreak vengeance on the faithless Jason.<br /> <br />By contrast, the composer’s Violin Concerto gives us the Romantic side of Barber’s musical personality. Lyrical expression dominates the first two movements, but the finale brings an athletic romp with challenging perpetual motion figurations for the solo violin.<br /> <br />Johannes Brahms’ four symphonies are cornerstones of the orchestral literature, but much of the composer’s chamber music also seems symphonic in conception. Arnold Schönberg, one of the most important composers of the 20th century, found this true of Brahms’ Piano Quartet No. 1 in G minor. His orchestration of that work yields music that effectively stands in for Brahms’ never-written Fifth Symphony.<br /> <br />Tickets<br />Tickets from $9 to $100 can be purchased by calling the Seattle Symphony Ticket Office at (206) 215-4747 or toll-free at (866) 833-4747, faxing the Symphony at (206) 215-4748, ordering online at www.seattlesymphony.org, or visiting the Seattle Symphony Ticket Office in Benaroya Hall at Third Avenue & Union Street, Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Saturday, 1 to 6 p.m. For group sales information, call (206) 215-4784. Student and senior rush discount tickets, subject to availability, go on sale in person at the Seattle Symphony Ticket Office at 6 p.m. prior to evening performances and two hours prior to afternoon performances.<br /> <br />Program<br />MASTERWORKS SEASON<br />STEFAN JACKIW PLAYS BARBER<br /> <br />Thursday, February 11, 2010, at 7:30 p.m.<br />Saturday, February 13, 2010, at 8 p.m.<br />S. Mark Taper Foundation Auditorium<br />Benaroya Hall<br /> <br />Gerard Schwarz, conductor<br />Stefan Jackiw, violin<br />Seattle Symphony<br /> <br />SAMUEL BARBER Medea's Meditation and Dance of Vengeance, Op. 23a <br /> <br />SAMUEL BARBER Violin Concerto, Op. 14 <br /> Allegro <br /> Andante <br /> Presto in moto perpetuo <br /> Stefan Jackiw, violin<br /> <br /> INTERMISSION <br /> <br />JOHANNES BRAHMS Piano Quartet No. 1 in G minor, Op. 25 <br />/ Orch. by Arnold Schönberg Allegro <br /> Intermezzo: Allegro, ma non troppo <br /> Andante con moto <br /> Rondo alla zingarese: Presto<br /> <br /> <br />Saturday’s performance is sponsored by PONCHO.<br /> <br />Talk Music speaker one hour prior to performance<br />Title: quot;
A Certain Courage: The Struggle and the Glory of Samuel Barberquot;
<br />Lecturer: Samuel Jones, Seattle Symphony Composer in Residence <br /> <br />Ask the Artist featuring Gerard Schwarz on Saturday, February 13, following the concert.<br /> <br />* All programs and artists subject to change. Photos of guest artists will be sent in a separate email following this release. Additional photos of guest artists and Seattle Symphony are available to the media on request.<br /> <br />Media Contacts: Rel#0910-75<br /> January 22, 2010<br />Rosalie Contreras, Director of Communications, (206) 215-4782<br />rosalie.contreras@seattlesymphony.org<br /> <br />Elizabeth Ferlic, Public Relations Manager, (206) 215-4714<br />elizabeth.ferlic@seattlesymphony.org<br /> <br />