Grammy-winning guitarist Jason Vieaux to perform with Elgin Symphony Orchestra March 2-3
This weekend, Grammy Award-winner Jason Vieaux will perform the Villa-Lobos' Guitar Concerto and John Corigliano's "Troubadours" at the Elgin Symphony Orchestra concerts.
Performances are 7:30 p.m. Saturday, March 2, and 2:30 p.m. Sunday, March 3, at the Hemmens Cultural Center, 45 Symphony Way Elgin.
Guest conductor Teddy Abrams leads the colorful and vibrant program, which also features Czech composer Bedrich Smetana's "The Moldau," a musical journey along sites on one of Bohemia's rivers, and Tchaikovsky's "Francesca da Rimini," a fiery tone poem about two doomed lovers.
Tickets start at only $30; youth and students $11. Visit www.elginsymphony.org or call (847) 888-4000.
Vieaux is a guitarist that goes beyond classical. NPR describes Vieaux as, "perhaps the most precise and soulful classical guitarist of his generation." Among his extensive discography is the 2015 Grammy Award-winning album for Best Classical Instrumental Solo, Play, from which the track "Zapateado" was also chosen as one of NPR's "50 Favorite Songs of 2014 (So Far)". Vieaux has earned a reputation for putting his expressiveness and virtuosity at the service of a remarkably wide range of music, and his schedule of performing, teaching, and recording commitments is distinguished throughout the U.S. and abroad.
Vieaux has performed as concerto soloist with over 100 orchestras, including Cleveland, Toronto, Houston, San Diego, Buffalo, Auckland Philharmonia, and Orchestra of St. Luke's. Recent highlights include performances at Caramoor Festival as artist-in-residence, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, Curtis Presents, Phillips Collection, National Gallery of Art, Buenos Aires' Teatro Colon, Amsterdam's Concertgebouw, New York's 92Y, and Ravinia Festival. Recent and upcoming chamber music collaborators include the Escher Quartet; Grammy-winning mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke; violinists Anne Akiko Meyers, Kristin Lee, and Tessa Lark; acclaimed harpist Yolanda Kondonassis; and accordion/bandoneon virtuoso Julien Labro.
Vieaux's passion for new music has fostered premieres of works by Jonathan Leshnoff, Avner Dorman, Jeff Beal, Dan Visconti, David Ludwig, Vivian Fung, José Luis Merlin, and more. He recently premiered Visconti's "Living Language" guitar concerto with the California Symphony and recorded Leshnoff's Guitar Concerto live with the Nashville Symphony for a release on Naxos Records. Vieaux's recordings slated for release in 2018 included a new album with the Escher Quartet featuring Boccherini's Guitar Quintet and Aaron Jay Kernis' "100 Greatest Dance Hits" (Azica) and Jeff Beal's "Six Sixteen" guitar concerto with the Norrköping Symphony Orchestra. In addition to his Grammy-winning 2015 solo release "Play," his previous albums include "Infusion" (Azica) with accordionist/bandoneonist Julien Labro; Ginastera's Guitar Sonata on "Ginastera: One Hundred" (Oberlin Music) produced by harpist Yolanda Kondonassis; "Together" (Azica), a duo album with Kondonassis; a recording of Astor Piazzolla's music with Julien Labro and A Far Cry Chamber Orchestra; "Bach: Works for Lute, Vol. 1"; "Images of Metheny"; and "Sevilla: The Music of Isaac Albeniz." Vieaux was the first classical musician to be featured on NPR's popular "Tiny Desk" series.
In 2012, the Jason Vieaux School of Classical Guitar was launched with ArtistWorks Inc., an unprecedented technological interface that provides one-on-one online study with Vieaux for guitar students around the world. In 2011, he co-founded the guitar department at the Curtis Institute of Music, and in 2015 was invited to inaugurate the guitar program at the Eastern Music Festival. Vieaux has taught at the Cleveland Institute of Music since 1997, heading the guitar department since 2001. He is affiliated with Philadelphia's Astral Artists. In 1992 he was awarded the prestigious GFA International Guitar Competition First Prize, the event's youngest winner ever. He is also honored with a Naumburg Foundation top prize, a Cleveland Institute of Music Distinguished Alumni Award, and a Salon di Virtuosi Career Grant. He is represented by Jonathan Wentworth Associates, Ltd and plays a 2013 Gernot Wagner guitar with Augustine strings. For more information, visit www.jasonvieaux.com.
An unusually versatile musician, Teddy Abrams is the widely-acclaimed music director of the Louisville Orchestra and music director and conductor of the Britt Orchestra, as well as an established pianist, clarinetist, and composer. A tireless advocate for the power of music, Abrams continues to foster interdisciplinary collaboration with organizations including the Louisville Ballet, the Center for Interfaith Relations, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, the Speed Art Museum, and the Folger Shakespeare Library.
Abrams studied conducting with Michael Tilson Thomas, Otto-Werner Mueller and Ford Lallerstedt at the Curtis Institute of Music, and with David Zinman at the Aspen Music Festival; he was the youngest conducting student ever accepted at both institutions. Abrams is also an award-winning composer and a passionate educator - he has taught at numerous schools throughout the United States. His 2009 Education Concerts with the New World Symphony (featuring the world premiere of one of Abrams' own orchestral works) were webcast to hundreds of schools throughout South Florida.
Abrams performed as a keyboardist with the Philadelphia Orchestra, won the 2007 Aspen Composition Contest, and was the Assistant Conductor of the YouTube Symphony at Carnegie Hall in 2009. He has held residencies at the La Mortella music festival in Ischia, Italy and at the American Academy in Berlin. Teddy was a proud member of the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra for seven seasons, and graduated from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music with a Bachelor of Music, having studied piano with Paul Hersh.
The Elgin Symphony Orchestra offers programming unmatched for an entertaining, informative and relaxing cultural experience. The ESO has won Illinois Professional Orchestra of the Year an unprecedented four times - in 1988, 1999, 2005 and 2016 - and works to create an enjoyable entertainment experience that goes beyond the magnificent music performed by some of the best musicians in the region.
Area student musicians often perform in the lobby before concerts and patrons can purchase unique, music-themed gifts at the Elgin Symphony League Boutique. Preconcert chats are given by Music Director Andrew Grams, guest artists and others one hour before Classics Series performances and Saturday night patrons are invited after concerts to Mingle with the Musicians at area restaurants. There is accessible, free parking around the Hemmens Cultural Center and valet service available.
In addition, free Listeners Club lecture/discussions presented by music historian Jim Kendros are offered before ESO Classics Series concert weekends on Wednesdays at 11 a.m. at GreenFields of Geneva and 1 p.m. at the Gail Borden Public Library. Patrons can curate their own series with a "Build Your Own Series." If a patron can't make a concert, the ESO offers free exchanges to subscribers and to single ticket buyers for a small fee.
The ESO is a world-class orchestra providing quality musical explorations that are entertaining, hassle-free and conveniently located close to home in the western suburbs. The ESO-Transforming the Symphony Experience. For more information, visit www.ElginSymphony.org.