Press Releases

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

WHO: Hilary Hahn with the Austin Symphony Orchestra
WHEN: April 14 & 15, 2006 - 8:00 p.m.
WHERE: Bass Concert Hall
TICKETS: $19-$42
CONTACT: Don Hill, Director of Public Relations - 476-6064 x 213

AUSTIN SYMPHONY CELEBRATES SPRING, BEETHOVEN FESTIVAL WITH VIOLIN VIRTUOSO

Season Sponsor: JPMorganChase
Concert Sponsors: Frost Bank and McGinnis, Lochridge & Kilgore, LLP
Media Sponsors: Time Warner Cable/News 8 Austin, Austin American-Statesman and KVET 98.1 FM

"...she must be reckoned among the most important of today's violinists..." - The San Francisco Chronicle

Austin audiences will continue to "Experience the Excellence" of the Austin Symphony's 95th concert season on April 14 & 15 when Maestro Peter Bay and the ASO celebrate Spring with a preview of its upcoming two-year cycle of Beethoven symphonies. International violin sensation Hilary Hahn returns to Austin as the ASO's special guest guest in a night of lush, verdant beauty that features the music of Rautavaara, Glazunov and Beethoven. Frost Bank and McGinnis, Lochridge & Kilgore, LLP proudly sponsor this concert.

PROGRAM
Rautavaara - Cantus Arcticus (Concerto for Birds and Orchestra), Op. 61
Glazunov - Violin Concerto in A Minor, Op. 82
Beethoven - Symphony No. 6 in F Major, Op. 68 "Pastorale"

Maestro Bay begins the evening with the Concerto for Birds and Orchestra of Einojuhani Rautavaara. A 20th-century composer, Rautavaara is one of the most colorful and diverse figures in Finnish music. Since the 1950s, Rautavaara has been steadily gaining in international esteem, especially in the 1990s. His Cantus Arcticus or Concerto for Birds and Orchestra, is a melding of acoustic instruments and electronic bird sounds.

The evening continues when American violinist Hilary Hahn takes center stage. At the age of 25, Grammy® Award-winning Hahn is one of the most compelling artists on the international concert circuit. Known for her intellectual and emotional maturity, she was named "America's Best" young classical musician by Time Magazine in 2001, and appears regularly with the world's great orchestras in Europe, Asia and North America. Admitted to Philadelphia's Curtis Institute of Music in 1990 at the age of ten, Hilary Hahn made her major orchestra debut a year-and-a-half later with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. Her 1993 Philadelphia Orchestra debut was followed by engagements with the Cleveland Orchestra, New York Philharmonic and Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. In March 1995, at age 15, Ms. Hahn made her German debut playing the Beethoven Violin Concerto with Lorin Maazel and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, in a concert broadcast on radio and television throughout Europe. Two months later, she received the Avery Fisher Career Grant. In 1996, Ms. Hahn completed the graduation requirements for her bachelor's degree at Curtis, signed an exclusive recording contract with Sony Classical, and made her Carnegie Hall debut in New York as soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra. Ms. Hahn will be peforming Alexander Glazunov's Violin Concerto in A Minor. Completed in 1904, this concerto was written when Glazunov was at the height of his powers as a composer.

After a brief intermission, Maestro Bay conducts the "Pastorale" Symphony No. 6 of Ludwig von Beethoven. The performance of this symphony gives a preview of an upcoming two-year "festival" of Beethoven symphonies, concertos and other works to be performed by the Austin Symphony beginning next season, culminating in its inaugural season at the new Joe R. and Teresa Lozano Long Center for the Performing Arts in Fall 2008.

Concertgoers can enjoy "Concert Conversations" with Bob Buckalew at 7:10 pm in the hall. These discussions provide an in-depth look at the composers and works being performed, including commentary on the social climate in which they were composed.

Performances for Hilary Hahn with the Austin Symphony are April 14 & 15, 8:00 p.m. at Bass Concert Hall. Tickets range from $19 to $42. Student rush tickets are also available 20 minutes prior to performance for $5 cash and current student ID. Charge tickets online at www.austinsymphony.org where you will find interactive seating maps, price options and a wealth of concert information. Tickets are also available at the Austin Symphony Box Office, 11th & Red River or call 476-6064 or 1-888-4-MAESTRO (toll-free).