Guest Artists
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Jean-Yves Thibaudet
Piano
Gil Shaham
Violin
Joshua Bell
Violin
Jon Nakamatsu
Piano
Orion Weiss
Piano
Warren Vache
Trumpet
Steven Morgan
Vocalist
Michael Lowe
Vocalist
Kevin Puts
Composer
Erich Kunzel
Conductor
Steven Reineke
Composer
Jon Nakamatsu, Piano
edgar M. Bronfman Chamber series
monday, july 28, 2008 & Wednesday, july 30, 2008
Having become a Sun Valley favorite, Jon Nakamatsu returns for his third summer to perform in the first two Edgar M. Bronfman Chamber Music Series concerts.
One of the most sought-after pianists of his generation, Nakamatsu is a frequent concerto soloist, chamber musician, recording artist and solo recitalist throughout the United States, Europe and Japan. He enjoys a continuously expanding career based on a deeply probing and illuminating musicality as well as a quietly charismatic performing style.
Nakamatsu will join the Sun Valley String Quartet (Jeremy Constant and Paul Brancato, violins, Adam Smyla, viola, and Steven Honigberg, cello) to perform Schumann’s Piano Quintet, Beethoven’s Cello Sonata No. 4 and Stanley Silverman’s Piano Trio.
Warren Vache, TrumpetFriday, AUGUST 1, 2008
Warren Vaché is a supremely accomplished, versatile and rare performer. He has been astounding audiences worldwide for decades with his superb cornet, trumpet and flugelhorn stylings. Through live performances and recordings, along with stage, screen, radio and television appearances, he conveys incredible warmth through his burnished tone and intelligent improvisations. Vaché has performed at every major jazz venue and festival throughout the globe from club dates at Condon's and the Blue Note to the Newport Jazz Festival, the North Sea Jazz Festival and Perugia in Italy, including concerts at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, The Vienna Opera, and the Royal Festival Hall in London. Vaché will collaborate with the Sun Valley String Quartet in his first-ever Sun Valley appearance.
Gil Shaham, ViolinSunday, AUGUST 3, 2008
Violinist Gil Shaham is internationally recognized by audiences and critics alike as one of today’s most virtuosic and engaging classical artists. He is sought after throughout the world for concerto appearances with celebrated orchestras and conductors, as well as for recital and ensemble appearances on the great concert stages and at the most prestigious festivals. Shaham’s last performance with the Sun Valley Summer Symphony was the Brahms’ Double Concerto with Cellist Jian Wang in 2000. He will perform Brahms’ Violin Concerto this summer to celebrate the opening of the Music Pavilion. Shaham’s instrument is the 1699 “Countess Polignac” Stradivarius.
Kevin Puts, ComposerSunday, AUGUST 3, 2008
Hailed by the press as “one of the best young composers in America,” Kevin Puts has had works commissioned and performed by leading orchestras, ensembles and soloists throughout North America, Europe and the Far East. Known for his distinctive and richly colored musical voice, Mr. Puts has received many of today’s most prestigious honors and awards for composition. His compositions have been performed by the world’s foremost orchestras including the New York Philharmonic, Houston Symphony, Atlanta Symphony, St. Louis Symphony, the Boston Pops, and the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. This summer, the Sun Valley Summer Symphony will give the world premiere of a work Puts is writing in celebration of the new Music Pavilion.
Jean-Yves Thibaudet, PianoTHURSDAY, AUGUST 7, 2008
A Sun Valley favorite, pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet returns this summer for his third consecutive summer. Thibaudet continues to bring joy to audiences around the globe with his elegant style, depth of color, and brilliant technique. The 2007-08 season takes him to sixteen countries spanning five continents, with appearances including tours with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Luxembourg, London Philharmonic Orchestra, and Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte Carlo, as well as concerts with London’s Philharmonia Orchestra, the NHK and Singapore Symphony Orchestras, among others. In 2007-08, Thibaudet gives recitals in Paris’s Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, Carnegie’s Zankel Hall in New York and Chicago’s Symphony Hall. Jean-Yves Thibaudet is the recipient of the 2007 Victoire d’Honneur, a lifetime career achievement award and the highest honor given by France’s Victoire de la Musique. An exclusive recording artist for Decca, he has earned the Schallplattenpreis, the Diapason d’Or, Choc de la Musique, a Gramophone Award, two Echo awards, and the Edison Prize.
Orion Weiss, Piano MONday, August 11, 2008
A newcomer to Sun Valley, pianist Orion Weiss is one of the most sought-after soloists and collaborators in his generation of young American musicians. His deeply felt and exceptionally crafted performances go far beyond his technical mastery and have won him acclaim from audiences, critics and colleagues in a wide range of repertoire and formats. At age 25, he continues to demonstrate his gift for communication across boundaries of style and setting.
Pianist Orion Weiss is one of the most sought-after soloists and collaborators in his generation of young American musicians. His deeply felt and exceptionally crafted performances go far beyond his technical mastery and have won him acclaim from audiences, critics and colleagues in a wide range of repertoire and formats. At age 26, he continues to demonstrate his gift for communication across boundaries of style and setting. In the 2007-2008 season, Mr. Weiss toured the US with the Orchester der Klangverwaltung Munich and appeared with orchestras including the Houston Symphony, Vancouver Symphony, and Albany Symphony. In the past two seasons, he has performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Baltimore Symphony, New World Symphony, and in duo summer concerts with the New York Philharmonic at both Lincoln Center and the Bravo! Vail Valley Festival. In 2005, he toured Israel with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Itzhak Perlman. As a recitalist and chamber musician, Mr. Weiss has appeared across the US at venues and festivals including Lincoln Center, the Ravinia Festival, Sheldon Concert Hall, the Seattle Chamber Music Festival, Chamber Music Northwest, the Bard Music Festival, and the Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival. He won the 2005 Juilliard William Petschek Award and made his New York recital debut at Alice Tully Hall that April. A native of Lyndhurst, OH, Mr. Weiss attended the Cleveland Institute of Music, where he studied with Paul Schenly. In 2004, he graduated from the Juilliard School, where he studied with Emanuel Ax.
Erich Kunzel, Guest Conductor
FRIDay, August 15, 2008 - pops night
Erich Kunzel returns for his sixth season conducting the annual Sun Valley Summer Symphony Pops Concert. Kunzel’s first conducting appearance with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, in October 1965, was a sold-out 8 O’Clock Pops concert at Music Hall. It was the beginning of a relationship with concert audiences the Cincinnati Enquirer described as “a musical love affair that works.” When the CSO Board of Trustees officially established the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra in 1977, Erich Kunzel was named the orchestra’s conductor. He has since led the ensemble to unprecedented success with music lovers worldwide who have discovered the CPO through tour performances, television programs and best-selling Telarc recordings. Kunzel will conduct an Olympic themed program in Sun Valley this summer.
Steven Reineke, ComposerFriday, August 15, 2008 - pops night
The Sun Valley Summer Symphony will premier a fanfare written by Steven Reineke to celebrate the first Pops concert in the Sun Valley Music Pavilion. Reineke is the Principal Pops Conductor of the Modesto Symphony Orchestra and serves as Music Associate and Principal Arranger/Composer of the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra. Recognized as the sound of the Cincinnati Pops, Mr. Reineke’s 100+ arrangements for that orchestra have been performed worldwide. In addition to his work for the Cincinnati Pops, Mr. Reineke has written and arranged for pops conductors Doc Severinson, Jack Everly and Michael Krajewski. Mr. Reineke’s arrangements can be heard on numerous Cincinnati Pops recordings on the Telarc label and have been broadcast nationally by PBS.
Michael Lowe, VocalistFriday, August 15, 2008 - pops night
Michael Lowe makes his first appearance in Sun Valley this summer. Originally from Kansas, Lowe attended the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, where his studies focused on musical theatre with an emphasis in classical voice. He currently resides in New York City. Having performed with the Cincinnati Pops under the direction of Erich Kunzel, Lowe is honored to share this collaboration with Sun Valley audiences.
Steven Morgan, VocalistFriday, August 15, 2008 - pops night
Steve Morgan makes his debut at the Sun Valley Summer Symphony on Pops Night under the direction of Erich Kunzel. Morgan has also performed with the Toronto Symphony, Naples Philharmonic, North Carolina Symphony, Indianapolis Pops, and the Cincinnati Pops. With the Cincinnati Pops, he has appeared on the PBS Great Performances “Patriotic Broadway” special singing with Tom Wopat and John Schneider, soloed on the Disney/Telarc CD Magical Musicals with “Heaven’s Light” from The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and was featured at Carnegie Hall with the Karamazov Brothers during the orchestra’s “April Fools’ Day Celebration.”
Morgan will come to Sun Valley directly from the Broadway production of “Mamma Mia,” the smash hit musical from ABBA. Previously, he was featured in the original Broadway cast of “Good Vibrations,” which featured the music of Brian Wilson and The Beach Boys. Morgan has also toured nationally with The Full Monty and Seussical, the Musical and internationally with Nederlander Worldwide Entertainment under the direction of Wayne Cilento, visiting twenty countries in six months.
Joshua Bell, Violin SATURday, August 16, 2008
Joshua Bell’s 2007-08 season follows a seminal year highlighted by receiving the coveted Avery Fisher Prize and his appointment to Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music faculty. In concerts and on recordings, his charismatic artistry brings a fresh voice to the most venerable masterpieces and new works, as with release of The Red Violin Concerto CD by John Corigliano. His appearance in Sun Valley is his second – he last performed with the Sun Valley Summer Symphony in 2002.
After performances at Tanglewood, the Verbier Festival and Mostly Mozart at Lincoln Center, BBC Proms at London’s Royal Albert Hall, a European tour with Kurt Masur conducting the Orchestre National de France plus appearances with the Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and Chicago Symphonies, the Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra and the Tonhalle-Orchester. In October, he premiered a new work by Jay Greenberg with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s at Carnegie Hall. Bell concluded 2007 with the New York Philharmonic’s New Year’s Eve Gala at Lincoln Center broadcast live on PBS. A recital tour with Jeremy Denk includes Europe and the U.S. with appearances at The Kennedy Center and Carnegie Hall. Bell will also tour Europe as guest soloist with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields.
For over two decades, Bell has been captivating audiences with his poetic musicality. He came to national attention at age 14 in his orchestral debut with Riccardo Muti and the Philadelphia Orchestra. A Carnegie Hall debut, the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant and a recording contract further confirmed his presence in the music world.
“Bell is dazzling,” said Gramophone.
Bell has recorded more than 30 CDs since first signing at age 18 with London/Decca.
He joined Sony Classical-A MASTERWORKS label in 1996 resulting in a richly varied catalogue of recordings. Recently released is The Essential Joshua Bell. His Voice of the Violin continues to soar on the heels of Romance of the Violin . He received a Mercury Prize and Grammy Award for the Maw Violin Concerto. He received the Gramophone Award for his recording of the Barber and Walton Violin Concertos and Bloch’s Baal Shem. He has collaborated with numerous artists and on film scores including the Oscar-winning soundtrack for The Red Violin.
Bell received his first violin at age four and by age 12 was serious about the instrument, thanks to the inspiration of renowned violinist and pedagogue Josef Gingold.
In 1989, Bell received an artist diploma from Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. A Hollywood Bowl Hall of Fame inductee, Bell serves on the artist committee of the Kennedy Center Honors. He plays the 1713 Gibson ex Huberman Stradivarius.