October 8, 2004
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Portland, Ore. … British composers pay homage to their country as Music Director Carlos Kalmar and the Oregon Symphony present an evening of music by Elgar and Vaughan Williams, featuring Elgar’s Cello Concerto with cellist Alban Gerhardt on Nov. 6, 7 and 8 at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, with an added performance on Nov. 9 at Willamette University’s Smith Auditorium in Salem. Media support is provided by The Oregonian. Lufthansa is the exclusive airline sponsor for the Symphony’s Classical series.
The concert features Vaughan Williams’ first purely orchestral symphony, “A London Symphony,” which incorporates actual sounds of London, including the chiming of Big Ben and the calls of lavender sellers, as well as the hustle and bustle of the London streets. The concert will open with Elgar’s arrangement of Bach’s Fantasia and Fugue in C minor, which the composer scored to showcase the sound of a modern orchestra. Kalmar says he is eager to introduce this orchestral transcription of Bach to Oregon audiences. “Elgar’s transcription used a large orchestra and a Romantic approach to the music of Bach, but he allows the original music to live while using his own unique language,” he explains.
Gerhardt joins Kalmar and the Symphony to perform Elgar’s elegiac Cello Concerto in E minor, the last work Elgar completed before the death of his wife in 1919. Its haunting, introspective quality serves as Elgar’s musical commentary on the devastation and losses of World War I.
Gerhardt made his Symphony debut in 2002 with Kalmar, on the concert that confirmed Carlos’ appointment as Music Director of the Oregon Symphony. On that concert they performed Barber’s Cello Concerto, which they subsequently recorded together with the Jeunesses Musicales World Orchestra on the Amati label. Gerhardt returns with Elgar’s best-known concerto, whose unforgettable melodies were made famous by the legendary English cellist Jacqueline DuPré.
Oregon Symphony Classical concerts regularly include additional opportunities for listeners to learn more about the music and the orchestra. These activities include:
Pre-concert Talks: Music Director Carlos Kalmar and KBPS host Shaun Yu will lead a discussion one hour before the concert of the works to be performed. Media support for “Pre-Concert Talks” is provided by Classical Millennium.
Saturday: Music Director Carlos Kalmar will speak briefly from the podium in “Saturday Interactive.” Media support for “Saturday Interactive” is provided by KINKfm102.
Performances are scheduled for Saturday and Sunday, Nov. 6 and 7 at 7:30 p.m. and Monday, Nov. 8 at 8 p.m. at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, with an additional performance at 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 9 at Salem’s Smith Auditorium at Willamette University. Tickets range in price from $18 to $80 and may be purchased at the Oregon Symphony Ticket Office (923 S.W. Washington), Monday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. or charged by phone at (503) 228-1353 or (800) 228-7343. Tickets also may be purchased at all Ticketmaster outlets (503-790-ARTS) or through Ticketmaster Online, via the Symphony’s Web site www.orsymphony.org. Service fees may apply.
After winning several prestigious international competitions, Alban Gerhardt’s career was launched with an invitation to play with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra (1991). Since then, he has worked with many of the world’s leading orchestras and conductors. These include the Leipzig Gewandhaus, St Petersburg Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Bavarian Radio Symphony, Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, Jeunesse Musicale World Orchestra, as well as with the Hamburg Philharmonic, Netherlands Philharmonic, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Beethovenhalle Orchestra of Bonn, National Orchestra of Belgium, Orchestre Philharmonique de Nice, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Bamberg Symphony, Vienna Tonkònstlerorchester and the Spanish National Orchestra. Conductors with whom he has collaborated include Masur, Bychkov, Eschenbach, Neeme Järvi, Yakov Kreizberg, P Järvi, Foster, Luisi, Sir Neville Marriner, Masur, Lazarev, Sinaisky, Vänskä. He has toured Japan and gave a recital in Tokyo’s Suntory Hall as well as concerto performances with the Shinsei Symphony and Nagoya Symphony Orchestras.
A frequent guest at major international music festivals, he has participated at the Schleswig-Holstein and Weimar Festivals in Germany, the Colmar Festival in France, Davos ( Switzerland), Kuhmo ( Finland) and various festivals in Portugal and Sweden. In the United States he has appeared at the Spoleto and Newport Festivals performing with artists such as Peter Serkin, Frank Peter Zimmermann, Anne-Marie McDermott and the Vogler Quartet. Since he made his highly acclaimed debut in the UK in March 1997, he has returned many times to the Wigmore Hall (Millennium Concert, BBC series etc). He made his debut with the London Philharmonic Orchestra in 1998 with two performances of Tchaikovsky’s “Rococo Variations” at the Royal Festival Hall. Selected by the BBC for their New Generation Artists scheme in 1999/2000 and 2000/2001, he has also worked with the BBC Philharmonic, BBC National Orchestra of Wales and BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestras many times, as well as with the City of Birmingham Symphony and Royal Scottish National Orchestras. Festival appearances include recitals at Bath, Aldeburgh (Proms), Cheltenham and Edinburgh and four appearances at the Proms (Shostakovich Concerto No 1, Dvorak Concerto, Beethoven Triple, Chamber Music Prom).
Born in Berlin into a musical family, Alban Gerhardt played piano and cello at a young age, excelling in both instruments. He pursued his career as cellist when he was 20 years old, studying in Berlin with Markus Nyikos and at the Cincinnati Conservatory with the LaSalle Quartet and Tokyo Quartet. He earned his Master’s Degree at the Cologne Musikhochschule where he studied with Boris Pergamenschikov and Frans Helmerson.
Recent CD releases include the Barber Concerto with the Jeunesses Musicales World Orchestra/Carlos Kalmar (Amati), Michael Berkeley Cello Concerto with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales/Hickox (Chandos), Brahms Cello Sonatas with Markus Groh (Harmonia Mundi), and a CD of “Spanish Encores” for EMI’s Debut series. He has also recorded Bridge’s “Oration” with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales/Hickox, which will be released later this season on Chandos.
