Violinist Nurit Bar-Joseph will perform Bach's Brandenburg Concertos No. 2, 3 and 4 with the National Philharmonic, under the direction of Music Director and Conductor Piotr Gajewski, on Saturday, February 25, 2012 at 8 pm at the Music Center at Strathmore. The concert will also feature Bach's Magnificat in D Major with soprano Julie Keim, mezzo-soprano Magdalena Wór, tenor Robert Breault, baritone Christòpheren Nomura and the National Philharmonic Chorale. In addition, at the helm of the orchestra will be the Philharmonic's concertmaster emeritus Jody Gatwood, who recently retired after twenty-five years with the orchestra.Few musical works are as beloved and as often performed as the six Brandenburg Concertos of J. S. Bach, which display a light side of Bach's extraordinary genius. Each of the six celebrated concertos highlights a different instrumental combination. The appealing and popular Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 features four soloists: flute, violin, oboe and trumpet, with strings and basso continuo. In the Brandenburg Concerto No. 4, Bach's unusual combination of a violin and a pair of flutes offers a range of effects from brilliant virtuosity to compelling sweetness. In 1723, Bach composed his towering masterpiece, the joyous and dramatic Magnificat, for soloists, chorus and orchestra. First performed on Christmas, the celebratory work conveys Mary's great joy and profound humility in response to the news that she had been chosen to give birth to the Messiah.
Violinist Nurit Bar-Josef, who made her solo debut with the National Symphony Orchestra in February 2001, joined the NSO as concertmaster in September 2001. She previously spent three years as assistant concertmaster of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Boston Pops and one year as assistant principal second violin with the Saint Louis Symphony. Ms. Bar-Josef received her bachelor's degree from the Curtis Institute, studying with Aaron Rosand, and was the recipient of the Fritz Kreisler Award for Violin upon graduation. She continued her studies at the Juilliard School with Robert Mann. Ms. Bar-Josef won first prize in several competitions, including the Boston Symphony Concerto Competition and Juilliard's Concerto Competition. In 1997, she made her New York debut with the Juilliard Orchestra in Avery Fisher Hall. Other solo appearances include performances with the orchestras of Boston, Saint Louis, Boston Pops, Wellesley, International Symphony Orchestra (Israel), and Corpus Christi. A participant in the Taos and Tanglewood Music Center Festivals, Ms. Bar-Josef was concertmaster of the Music Center Orchestra under Seiji Ozawa, winning the most outstanding performer award. An active chamber musician, she has performed piano quartets with André Previn at his Rising Stars Festival at Caramoor, and diverse repertoire at Tanglewood Music Center, and the festivals of Taos, Garth Newel (Virginia), Portland (Maine), Steamboat Springs (Colorado) and in Philadelphia, New York City, Israel, and Boston. As a chamber musician, Ms. Bar-Josef is a member of both the Walden Chamber Players and the Dryden Quartet, and is also a member of the new Kennedy Center Chamber Players ensemble.
A free pre-concert lecture will be offered at 6:45 pm on Saturday, Feb. 25 in the Concert Hall at the Music Center at Strathmore. To purchase tickets to the All Bach concerts, please visit www.nationalphilharmonic.org or call the Strathmore box office at (301) 581-5100. Tickets are $28-$81; kids 7-17 are FREE through the ALL KIDS, ALL FREE, ALL THE TIME program (sponsored by The Gazette). ALL KIDS tickets must be purchased in person or by phone. Photo of violinist Nurit Bar-Josef was taken by Rosalie O'Connor.
--Deborah Birnbaum, National Philharmonic
Ludovic Morlot Names Alexander Velinzon as the David & Amy Fulton Concertmaster
Music Director Ludovic Morlot announced the appointment of Alexander Velinzon as the Seattle Symphony's David & Amy Fulton Concertmaster. Velinzon currently serves as Assistant Concertmaster of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, a position he has held since 2005. He will begin his new role in Seattle in June 2012. Velinzon succeeds Maria Larionoff, who stepped down from the Seattle Symphony concertmaster role at the end of the 2010-2011 season.
"It is with immense pleasure that I welcome Alex as the new Concertmaster of the Seattle Symphony," exclaimed Morlot. "I could not have dreamed of a better match for our orchestra. He will play such a vital role in bringing the Seattle Symphony to new and thrilling artistic heights as this magnificent Orchestra continues to develop a distinctive sound and identity. I have had the privilege of working with Alex at the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and I extend a warm Seattle welcome to him and his family. I cannot wait to share many musical emotions with him on stage at Benaroya Hall. I am deeply grateful and wish to thank our Associate Concertmaster Emma McGrath, other members of the Orchestra and guest musicians for stepping in as concertmasters during my first season."
A violinist with an international reputation, Velinzon has performed with such conductors as James Levine, Kurt Masur, Sir Colin Davis and Michael Tilson Thomas. As a guest concertmaster in Europe and Asia, he has appeared with the London Philharmonic, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Seoul Philharmonic, Germany's WDR Symphony Orchestra and NDR Radio Philharmonic, and has collaborated with Semyon Bychkov, Myung-Whun Chung, and Vladimir Jurowski, among other conductors.
In the sphere of chamber music, violinists Gil Shaham and Hilary Hahn, as well as cellist Wendy Warner, have numbered among Velinzon's partners. In Boston he is a long-standing member of the Walden Chamber Players, a co-founder of the LiveArts string quartet and has appeared with the Boston Symphony Chamber Players. In New York, he performs frequently with the Jupiter Chamber Players. In 2010, Velinzon made his critically acclaimed debut at London's Wigmore Hall with the Soloists of the London Philharmonic Orchestra.
Born in St. Petersburg, Russia, Alexander Velinzon began violin lessons at the age of six and went on to graduate from the Leningrad School for Gifted Children. After moving to the U.S. in 1990, he studied with renowned pedagogue Dorothy DeLay at The Juilliard School, where he earned his bachelor's and master's degrees. His success at the Heida Hermanns Competition in Connecticut, and at the Artist International Young Artists Auditions at the Tibor Varga Competition in Switzerland, led to his New York recital debut at Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall. That occasion prompted Strad magazine to praise him as a "very musical and intensely serious" player.
Velinzon's New York concerto debut came in 1999, when he performed Paganini's Concerto No. 1 in D major with the Jupiter Symphony. He played at New York City Center as both soloist and concertmaster for the Paul Taylor Dance Company, and has performed concertos with the Absolute Ensemble and Metamorphoses Orchestra in New York, the Chappaqua Symphony, the Rondo Chamber Orchestra (in both the United States and Venezuela), and in the Dominican Republic with the National Symphony of Santo Domingo.
--Kirschbaum Demler & Associates
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