$15
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About This Event
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6:30 PMShow Time:
7:30 PMDescription:
A Preview and CD Release of Philip Glass' New Violin Concert No. 2 ("The American Four Seasons," 2010)
-Praise for "The American Four Seasons":
Philip Glass’s new violin concerto, The American Four Seasons... was dignified and contained, even when the soloist launched into passionate flights of virtuosity, which was quite often.... Glass has a magical way of giving the merest twist to banality and ordinariness, which makes it interesting – the mark of classic art down the ages. As for the solo performance by Robert McDuffie, it was beyond praise, as cool, poised and heroically strong as a piece of Greek statuary.
—London Telegraph (April 19, 2010)
The first performance of the work – Violin Concerto No. 2, "The American Four Seasons" – was so spectacularly played by the new piece's muse, American violinist Robert McDuffie, at Roy Thomson Hall Wednesday night, that the event turned into one of the most exciting musical evenings of the year.
—Toronto Star (World Premiere Performance, Toronto, December 9, 2009)
This is the achievement of a mature composer, who has judiciously drawn on his standard musical vocabulary, and, at the same time, transcended it, creating a work of broader compositional and emotional complexity. At the hub of the concerto was violinist Robert McDuffie, who persuaded Glass to compose it and is clearly committed to the result. He performed with extraordinary ease and elan.
—Devner Post (American Premiere Performance, Aspen, July 24, 2010)
Listen: LSO Podcast about "The American Four Seasons"
This is a first-come, fully seated event. Seating is limited and not guaranteed; please arrive early.
-Praise for "The American Four Seasons":
Philip Glass’s new violin concerto, The American Four Seasons... was dignified and contained, even when the soloist launched into passionate flights of virtuosity, which was quite often.... Glass has a magical way of giving the merest twist to banality and ordinariness, which makes it interesting – the mark of classic art down the ages. As for the solo performance by Robert McDuffie, it was beyond praise, as cool, poised and heroically strong as a piece of Greek statuary.
—London Telegraph (April 19, 2010)
The first performance of the work – Violin Concerto No. 2, "The American Four Seasons" – was so spectacularly played by the new piece's muse, American violinist Robert McDuffie, at Roy Thomson Hall Wednesday night, that the event turned into one of the most exciting musical evenings of the year.
—Toronto Star (World Premiere Performance, Toronto, December 9, 2009)
This is the achievement of a mature composer, who has judiciously drawn on his standard musical vocabulary, and, at the same time, transcended it, creating a work of broader compositional and emotional complexity. At the hub of the concerto was violinist Robert McDuffie, who persuaded Glass to compose it and is clearly committed to the result. He performed with extraordinary ease and elan.
—Devner Post (American Premiere Performance, Aspen, July 24, 2010)
Listen: LSO Podcast about "The American Four Seasons"
This is a first-come, fully seated event. Seating is limited and not guaranteed; please arrive early.
Artists
Robert McDuffie
Grammy nominated artist Robert McDuffie has appeared as soloist with most of the major orchestras of the world, including the New York and Los Angeles Philharmonics, the Chicago, San Francisco, National, Atlanta, Houston, Dallas, St. Louis, Montreal, and Toronto Symphonies, the Philadelphia, Cleveland, Minnesota Orchestras, the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, the North German Radio Orchestra, the Frankfurt Radio Orchestra, the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, the Hamburg Symphony, Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala, Santa Cecilia Orchestra of Rome, Jerusalem Symphony, Orquesta Sinfonica Nacional de Mexico, Orquesta Sinfónica de Mineria, and all of the major orchestras of Australia.
In December 2009, he gave the World Premiere of Philip Glass’ Violin Concerto No. 2, “The American Four Seasons” — a work specially written for Robert McDuffie — with the Toronto Symphony. During the 2010–2011 season, McDuffie will embark on a 30-city U.S. tour with the Venice Baroque Orchestra, pairing the Glass “Four Seasons” with the Vivaldi “Four Seasons.” The piece will have its New York premiere at Carnegie Hall on November 10.
Robert McDuffie recorded “The American Four Seasons” with the London Philharmonic and Marin Alsop on the Orange Mountain Music label. His acclaimed Telarc and EMI recordings include the violin concertos of Mendelssohn, Bruch, Adams, Glass, Barber, Rozsa, Bernstein, William Schuman, and Viennese violin favorites. He has been profiled on NBC's “Today,” “CBS Sunday Morning,” PBS’s “Charlie Rose,” A&E's “Breakfast with the Arts,” and in The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal.
Future plans include a U.S. tour in 2012 with the Düsseldorf Symphony and Andrey Boreyko, performing the Mendelssohn and Bruch Violin Concertos. Future tours of “The American Four Seasons”, paired with the Vivaldi “Four Seasons,” have been planned in Europe for the fall of 2011, and in Asia for the fall of 2012.
Robert McDuffie is the founder of the Rome Chamber Music Festival. He was recently awarded the prestigious Premio Simpatia by the Mayor of Rome, in recognition of his contribution to the city’s cultural life. Mr. McDuffie holds the Genelle and Mansfield Jennings Distinguished University Professor Chair at Mercer University in his hometown of Macon, Georgia. This season, the Robert McDuffie Center for Strings at Mercer University will celebrate its fourth academic year with concerts conducted by Maestro Robert Spano. Robert McDuffie lives in New York with his wife and two children. He plays a 1735 Guarneri del Gesù violin, known as the “Ladenburg.”
http://www.facebook.com/robertmcduffieviolin http://www.twitter.com/robertmcduffie http://www.youtube.com/robertmcduffieviolin
In December 2009, he gave the World Premiere of Philip Glass’ Violin Concerto No. 2, “The American Four Seasons” — a work specially written for Robert McDuffie — with the Toronto Symphony. During the 2010–2011 season, McDuffie will embark on a 30-city U.S. tour with the Venice Baroque Orchestra, pairing the Glass “Four Seasons” with the Vivaldi “Four Seasons.” The piece will have its New York premiere at Carnegie Hall on November 10.
Robert McDuffie recorded “The American Four Seasons” with the London Philharmonic and Marin Alsop on the Orange Mountain Music label. His acclaimed Telarc and EMI recordings include the violin concertos of Mendelssohn, Bruch, Adams, Glass, Barber, Rozsa, Bernstein, William Schuman, and Viennese violin favorites. He has been profiled on NBC's “Today,” “CBS Sunday Morning,” PBS’s “Charlie Rose,” A&E's “Breakfast with the Arts,” and in The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal.
Future plans include a U.S. tour in 2012 with the Düsseldorf Symphony and Andrey Boreyko, performing the Mendelssohn and Bruch Violin Concertos. Future tours of “The American Four Seasons”, paired with the Vivaldi “Four Seasons,” have been planned in Europe for the fall of 2011, and in Asia for the fall of 2012.
Robert McDuffie is the founder of the Rome Chamber Music Festival. He was recently awarded the prestigious Premio Simpatia by the Mayor of Rome, in recognition of his contribution to the city’s cultural life. Mr. McDuffie holds the Genelle and Mansfield Jennings Distinguished University Professor Chair at Mercer University in his hometown of Macon, Georgia. This season, the Robert McDuffie Center for Strings at Mercer University will celebrate its fourth academic year with concerts conducted by Maestro Robert Spano. Robert McDuffie lives in New York with his wife and two children. He plays a 1735 Guarneri del Gesù violin, known as the “Ladenburg.”
http://www.facebook.com/robertmcduffieviolin http://www.twitter.com/robertmcduffie http://www.youtube.com/robertmcduffieviolin