KSO music director candidate Steven Jarvi to conduct Dvorak’s Cello Concerto

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 31, 2016

FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Rachel Dellinger
KSO Director of Communications
Direct: 865-521-2317 Cell: 865-660-3037
[email protected]

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The Knoxville Symphony Orchestra will continue its Moxley Carmichael Masterworks Series with Dvořák’s Cello Concerto, conducted by Steven Jarvi, KSO music director candidate. The concert will take place Thursday, April 14, and Friday, April 15 at 7:30 p.m. at the Tennessee Theatre and is sponsored by Partners. Tickets start at just $15 and are available here.

Guest conductor Steven Jarvi will conduct the KSO in Adam Schoenberg’s Finding Rothko, Antonín Dvořák’s Concerto for Cello and Orchestra featuring Susie Yang, and Edward Elgar’s Enigma Variations. Throughout the KSO’s 2015-16 season six candidates will audition for the position of the next KSO Music Director. Each candidate will conduct a pair of Masterworks concerts, held monthly at the Tennessee Theatre. Read more about the KSO music director search here.

“This program revolves around the idea of musical friendship, an idea inspired by Elgar’s Enigma Variations, the featured work on the second half of the program,” Jarvi said. “This set of variations takes you on a journey through many different personalities and soundscapes. This piece can bring an audience to tears and make them laugh out loud; it is one of my absolute favorites.”

“When I thought of musical friends, my dear friend, Adam Schoenberg came to mind. Finding Rothko was the first piece of Adam’s that I became familiar with, and I have performed it many times over the course of our friendship, which began in Miami Beach at the New World Symphony in 2007. Finding Rothko is colorful, and varies from spacious, atmospheric sounds to music that is bright and optimistic. I remember Susie’s performance of the Dvořák Cello Concerto with the New World Symphony and thought she would be the perfect person to round out a night of celebrating music and friendship. It’s going to be a very special program for me.”

Jarvi is the resident conductor of the St. Louis Symphony and the music director of the St. Louis Symphony Youth Orchestra. He won the Bruno Walter Memorial Foundation Award in 2009 while the associate conductor of the Kansas City Symphony, and previously spent several years as the conducting fellow with Michael Tilson Thomas and the New World Symphony in Miami Beach, an associate conductor for New York City Opera at Lincoln Center, and apprentice conductor with the Washington National Opera at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C.

Yang made her solo debut with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at the age of 11. She won a top prize in the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition and has participated in the Juilliard Quartet Seminar and the Beethoven Intensive Quartet Seminar at the New England Conservatory of Music. Susie has performed as a soloist, orchestral and chamber musician at many music festivals, including Sarasota, Schleswig-Holstein, Music Academy of the West, Spoleto Italy and USA, Taos, Yellow Barn and Festival Mozaic. Originally from the northwest suburbs of Chicago, Susie holds degrees and numerous scholarship awards from The Juilliard School and New England Conservatory of Music.

Patrons can attend pre-concert chats at 6:30 p.m. in the concert hall before each performance. Guest performers will offer their personal perspective and audience members will have a chance for Q&A with the artists. This is a unique get-to-know-you opportunity.

Tickets may be purchased by calling 865-291-3310 or visiting the KSO website. Single tickets range from $15 to $85. Groups of 10 or more can purchase tickets at a discounted rate by calling 865-521-2337.

About the KSO

Established in 1935, the KSO has contributed to the cultural life in East Tennessee continuously for 80 years, providing excellence in musical and educational programs. The Orchestra consists of 80 professional musicians and performs 250 programs throughout the region each season, reaching audiences of more than 200,000 people. The KSO performs in traditional venues such as the Tennessee Theatre, Bijou Theatre and the Civic Auditorium as well as non-traditional places like hospitals, schools, city parks and churches.  The KSO is currently undergoing the search for a new Music Director, to be announced in 2016. For more information please visit www.knoxvillesymphony.com.