PETER ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY (1840-1893)
Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 35 (1878)
Joseph Kotek, a young violin student of Tchaikovsky’s at the Moscow Conservatory, worked with the composer in Switzerland during the period of the Violin Concerto’s creation, playing through the sketches as they were written. In the hope that Leopold Auer, respected head of the violin department at the St. Petersburg Conservatory, would premiere the work, Tchaikovsky initially dedicated it to him; but Auer pronounced it “impossible to play” and turned down the inaugural performance. His judgment seemed like the kiss of death for the concerto, and its premiere would be delayed another three years until a former classmate, Adolf Brodsky, finally agreed to play it. A grateful Tchaikovsky decided to dedicate the concerto to him. Upon hearing the premiere in Vienna in 1881, the feared critic Eduard Hanslick described the concerto as “music that stinks to the ear” and “beats the violin black and blue.” The audience applauded Brodsky but hissed the work itself. Despite these trials and tribulations, and the critics’ opinions notwithstanding, Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto has gloriously survived and stands as one of the most beloved in the repertoire. Even Leopold Auer later championed the work, performing it and teaching it to his students. Characterized by ravishingly beautiful passages, graceful melodies, and dizzying virtuosity, this masterpiece has spoken heart-to-heart to generations of adoring audiences.

ANTONÍN DVORÁK (1841-1904)
Symphony No. 8 in G Major (1889)
The Symphony No. 8 is something of a landmark in the compositional life of its creator, Antonín Dvorák. His career had been fostered and his works championed by none other than Johannes Brahms, and Brahms’s Germanic influence was powerful. But with this next-to-last symphony Dvorák would strike out in a new direction, both in terms of loosening the formal Germanic structures and expressing his identity as a Bohemian composer. Just how far his change in direction had gone is evident in the fact that the composer broke with his publisher Simrock (who was insisting that Dvorák use the German spelling of his first name, which Dvorák did not want to do). And to add insult to financial injury, Simrock publishers offered to pay him less for his Eighth Symphony than they had paid for the Seventh. His renown was on the upswing, not just in Europe, but in the US as well, where he conducted the present symphony in Chicago in 1893. He once admitted the ease with which he could create a seemingly endless stream of tunes, saying, “Melodies simply pour out of me”—something that is certainly evident in this work. He always thought of himself as a simple man of the soil, enjoying his walks in the Bohemian forests. Harold Schoenberg called him “the happiest and least neurotic of the late Romantics… With Handel and Haydn, he is the healthiest of all composers.” His peaceful summer retreat at Vysoká no doubt served as the inspiration for the gorgeous melodies that seem to cascade one after another in the opening movement, and for the Bohemian flavors that come into play in the lovely Adagio. A waltz-like rhythm can be heard in the third movement, and the Finale, introduced by a trumpet fanfare, is a theme and variations that features exuberant brass calls all around before coming to a rousing conclusion.

Xian Zhang became music director of La Verdi (the Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi) at the start of the 2009–10 season. In April 2009 she conducted that orchestra in a concert at the Salla Nervi of the Vatican City for the Pope and President of the Republic of Italy. Prior to this appointment, she served as the New York Philharmonic’s Associate Conductor (and the first holder of the Arturo Toscanini Chair) for three years, having previously held the position of Assistant Conductor.

In Europe, future highlights include debuts with Amsterdam’s Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra; Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, where her program includes the world premiere of Mikko Heiniö’s Moon Concerto; and Orchestre National de Belgique, with whom she will appear at the Europalia Festival. Other European engagements include the London Symphony Orchestra, Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia at the Verona Festival, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Residentie Orkest, and the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra. She will also conduct the NDR Sinfonieorchester Hamburg, SWR Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart, and Vienna Symphony at the 2011 Bregenz Festival, and the ORF Radio Symphonie Orchester Wien at the Vienna Konzerthaus.

In North America, upcoming engagements include her debuts with the New Jersey and National Symphony Orchestras; The Minnesota Orchestra; and a return to the Juilliard Orchestra, following her recent tour with the ensemble to China. Last season she appeared with the Chicago, Toronto, and Indianapolis symphony orchestras and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. As an opera conductor, Xian Zhang made her debut with Puccini’s La bohème for English National Opera in spring 2007, and conducted Puccini’s Turandot in Beijing in May 2009.

Born in Dandong, China, Xian Zhang made her professional debut conducting Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro at the Central Opera House in Beijing at the age of 20. She trained at Beijing’s Central Conservatory, earning both her bachelor and master of music degrees, and served one year on its conducting faculty before moving to the United States in 1998.

Violinist Jennifer Koh, winner of the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow in 1994, will perform György Ligeti’s Violin Concerto (with a cadenza written for her by John Zorn) with the Ensemble Contrechamps in Geneva and at the Holland Festival at Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw during the 2005–06 season. She also appears with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Czech Philharmonic, Honolulu Symphony, Oberlin College’s Contemporary Ensemble, Curtis Orchestra in Philadelphia and New York, and Pacific Symphony Orchestra, among others. In recital she appears at Lincoln Center, The Supreme Court Recital Series in Washington, Philadelphia Art Museum, and Ventura Music Festival, and in chamber music performances at the 92nd Street Y. Last season’s highlights included appearances at the Grant Park Festival and Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival; a tour with the New World Symphony; and performances with the San Diego and Singapore Symphony Orchestras. In recital she was heard on the San Francisco Performances Series, Metropolitan Museum of Art, and at Oberlin College. A committed educator, Ms. Koh has also won high praise for her Music Messenger outreach program, which takes her to classrooms throughout the country. She has recorded chaconnes by Bach, Barth, and Reger for Cedille Records, and violin concertos by Gian Carlo Menotti (for Chandos), Nielsen (for Kontrapunkt), and Klami (for BIS). She is making her New York Philharmonic debut in these concerts in the parks.