Saturday, September 04, 2004

Shaham and more

Gil Shaham is great!

Violinist Gil Shaham is internationally recognized by audiences and many noted critics as one of today's most virtuosic and engaging classical artists. He is sought after throughout the world for concerto appearances with celebrated orchestras as well as for recital and ensemble appearances on the great concert stages and at the most prestigious festivals.
Gil Shaham won a Grammy Award for his 1998 recital album "American Scenes" with André Previn at the piano. His most recent release is "The Fauré Album" on Artemis Classics, featuring the first violin sonata (with pianist Akira Eguchi) and several shorter works. Other recent releases are "Schubert for Two" with guitarist Göran Söllscher; a Brahms disc with Claudio Abbado and the Berlin Philharmonic; John Williams' "Treesong" with the Boston Symphony; Messiaen's "Quartet for the End of Time" with Myung-Whun Chung, Mischa Maisky and Paul Meyer; and "Devil's Dance," a disc of showpieces with pianist Jonathan Feldman. His 1999 recording of Bartok's Second Concerto with Pierre Boulez and the Chicago Symphony earned two Grammy nominations.
During the 2003-04 season Mr. Shaham will tour Europe with the Philadelphia Orchestra and Christoph Eschenbach, perform with the San Francisco Symphony and Michael Tilson Thomas (both at Davies Hall and Carnegie Hall) and with the Philharmonia and Bavarian Radio orchestras, among other ensembles. His recital schedule features performances in Paris, Milan, Brussels, Madrid and New York (Avery Fisher Hall), as well as performances with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.
Gil Shaham has recorded concertos by Mendelssohn, Bruch, Paganini, Saint-Saëns, Tchaikovsky and Sibelius with Giuseppe Sinopoli leading the Philharmonia Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic; Wieniawski's Concertos Nos. 1 & 2 and Sarasate's "Zigeunerweisen" with Lawrence Foster and the London Symphony; and solo discs devoted to music by Schumann, Richard Strauss, Elgar, Ravel, Franck, Kreisler, Paganini, Saint-Saëns and Sarasate (for Deutsche Grammophon). Other recordings include two collaborations with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Vivaldi's "Four Seasons" and "Romances for Violin and Orchestra"; "Paganini for Two" with guitarist Göran Söllscher; "Dvorak for Two" with his sister, Orli; "The Fiddler of the Opera," transcriptions of opera arias; two concerto discs with Andre Previn and the London Symphony, the Barber and Korngold concertos and the Prokofiev concertos, both nominated for Grammy Awards; and "Meeting in Moscow," a pairing of the Kabalevsky and Glazunov concertos, with Mikhail Pletnev and the Russian National Orchestra.
Mr. Shaham was born in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, in 1971. In 1973 he moved with his parents to Israel, where at the age of 7 he began violin studies with Samuel Bernstein of the Rubin Academy of Music and was immediately granted annual scholarships by the America-Israel Cultural Foundation. In 1981, while studying with Haim Taub in Jerusalem, he made debuts with the Jerusalem Symphony and the Israel Philharmonic. That same year he began his studies with Dorothy DeLay and Jens Ellerman at Aspen. In 1982, after taking first prize in Israel's Claremont Competition, he became a scholarship student at Juilliard, where he has worked with Ms. DeLay and Hyo Kang. He has also studied at Columbia University.
Gil Shaham was awarded the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant in 1990. He plays the 1699 "Countess Polignac" Stradivarius and lives in New York City with his wife, the violinist Adele Anthony, and son, Elijah.

His rendition of the Butterfly Lovers Concerto was great. I need say nothing more about his Tchaikovsky Concerto in D. The thunderous applause, loud cries of "bravo!" and 5 curtain calls said it all.

This is bad, I had have dinner at Café Cartel for 2 nights in a row. And there is still a birthday dinner to attend tonight! My wallet is growing thinner and my tummy is growing fatter. Haha!

I will be going out soon for the 50-hours Music Marathon at Orchard Greens (right besides Orchard MRT). The Central Band slot is 3-4pm for the big/combo band and 4-5pm for the main band performance. If so any reader is bored and free, do go down. There will be music in the name of charity all the all way until tomorrow evening!

I shall be there back for more soon. Take care all!
fjozn at 10:30 AM