DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH (1906-1975)
Festive Overture (1954)
This vibrant, energetic overture is aptly named—perhaps reflecting the circumstances of its composition. Shostakovich’s friend, Lev Lebedinsky, recounts that the conductor of the Bolshoi Theater Orchestra visited the composer’s apartment with an urgent request for a piece to celebrate the 37th anniversary of the October Revolution. Not missing a beat, Shostakovich started writing and handing off the pages as they were completed. Said Lebedinsky: “The speed with which he wrote was truly astounding. Moreover, when he wrote light music he was able to talk, make jokes and compose simultaneously…He laughed and chuckled, and in the meanwhile work was under way and the music was being written down.”

SERGEI RACHMANINOFF (1873-1943)
Piano Concerto No. 2 (1900-1901)
After the underwhelming response to his First Symphony and an unhappy love affair, Rachmaninoff suffered from severe depression and bouts of drinking. He received help, thanks to the ministrations of Nikolai Dahl, a psychiatrist who used a new type of treatment called hypnotherapy. Rachmaninoff’s renewed self-confidence and creativity yielded this concerto, dedicated in gratitude to the doctor. “What I try to do when writing down my music, is to make it say simply and directly what is in my heart.” Its emotional appeal, sweeping melodies and Romantic passion have made it a big hit then as now. (You’ll recognize the theme that became the song “Full Moon and Empty Arms.”)

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.

Bramwell Tovey is acknowledged around the world for his artistic depth, and warm, charismatic personality on the podium. He has been the popular host and conductor of the New York Philharmonic’s Summertime Classics series at Avery Fisher Hall since its founding in 2004. Mr. Tovey’s tenures as music director of the Vancouver Symphony, Luxembourg Philharmonic, and Winnipeg Symphony orchestras have been characterized by his work in the opera, choral, and British repertoire. He is also a composer and pianist, and has received three Juno Awards — two for Classical Album of the Year, and one for Classical Composition of the Year (Requiem for a Charred Skull) — in addition to a 2007 Grammy Award. He is the first artist to win a Juno in both conducting and composing.

Last year Bramwell Tovey was named principal guest conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl. He also works frequently with the Toronto Symphony, Montreal Symphony, Royal Philharmonic, and Bournemouth Symphony orchestras, among many others. A champion of contemporary music, Mr. Tovey developed the highly regarded New Music Festival in Winnipeg during his tenure as music director. In the summer of 2008 he conducted the world premiere of his latest piece, Urban Runway, a co-commission of the New York and Los Angeles Philharmonics. He is currently writing a full-length opera, The Inventor, for the Calgary Opera, to be premiered in January 2011.

Bramwell Tovey has been awarded numerous honorary degrees, including a fellowship from the Royal Academy of Music in London; honorary doctorates of law from the universities of Winnipeg and Manitoba, and Kwantlen University College; and a music fellowship from the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto. In 1999 he received the M. Joan Chalmers National Award for Artistic Direction, a Canadian prize awarded to artists for outstanding contributions in the performing arts. Mr. Tovey last conducted the New York Philharmonic in July 2008 at the Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival, following his conducting/hosting duties at the Orchestra’s Summertime Classics series.

JOYCE YANG
Piano, born in 1986 in Seoul, South Korea
Though Joyce Yang attends the College Division of The Juilliard School (having received Presidential Honors and a full scholarship) her career is already in full swing. Her first teacher was her aunt who gave Joyce Yang her first piano as a present on her 4th birthday, and she was soon winning national competitions in her native South Korea. She entered the Korean National Conservatory, and at age 10, she began to make concerto and recital appearances. In 1997 she moved to the U.S. to begin studies at Juilliard’s pre-college division, winning its Concerto Competition. Her victories at other competitions have garnered her opportunities to perform with many orchestras, including the Philadelphia Orchestra, the National Symphony, and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. When she was just 19, Joyce Yang won the silver medal at the Twelfth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in June 2005, (the youngest entrant at this prestigious piano event), was awarded Best Chamber Music Performance and Best Performance of a New Work, received $20,000, three years of US concert engagements, and a compact disc recording opportunity. She also is featured in In the Heart of Music, the film documentary about the competition. She made her New York Philharmonic debut in November 2006, and that same season also appeared with the symphony orchestras of Houston, Indianapolis, Fort Worth, Colorado, Kansas City, Colorado Springs, and Orlando, and gave numerous recitals throughout North America and in Europe, including appearances at The Kennedy Center and the Tonhalle in Zurich, Switzerland. Her desire for “anonymity” when playing runs counter to the star culture of many performers: “I think the best performance is when people don’t even know I’m there, when the connection between the music and the audience is so intense that the performer doesn’t exist. When I’m playing, that’s the highest goal for me. This is what it’s supposed to be like, (knowing) what the music is about, rather than remembering who I am. When I touch the audience by music, it’s something so indescribably beautiful, a heart to heart.”

“The recital’s blazing finish, which earned Yang a standing ovation, proved that she is one of the most gifted young pianists of her generation. The large audience should feel privileged to have witnessed her artistry at close range.” (The Flint Journal), after the 2005 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition

“Joyce Yang … won the audience’s heart right from the start. … She’s a brilliant pianist and a million-volt presence onstage.” (Dallas Morning News)

JAMES EHNES
Violin, born in 1976 in Brandon, Manitoba/Canada
It’s not everyone who shares a birthday with Mozart, but James Ehnes does. To celebrate the composer’s 250th birthday along with his own 30th, the violinist released a recording of Mozart’s complete works for violin and orchestra: the five Violin Concertos, the Adagio, K. 261, the Rondo K. 269, and the Rondo K. 373. About this “dream project” he says: “I had a lot of help from a lot of people. I was able to put together my own orchestra, order the music—everything, even make the hotel reservations for everyone to come to Toronto!” He’s looking forward very much to playing the Glazunov Violin Concerto and is honored that Maestro Maazel invited him to be the soloist. “I think it’s one of his favorites because it has some very special associations with his own career.” The Concerto is tricky to put together—“it requires a close rapport between soloist and conductor in terms of balances and interpretation, and it has a lot of notes!” Yet the work is “friendly for the audience. It’s immediately appealing, even if you’ve never heard it before.” James Ehnes’s debut with the Philharmonic a couple of years ago was a momentous occasion, because he not only played before an audience of 45,000 people in Central Park, but right afterwards he proposed to his then-girlfriend, now-wife, Kate, in view of TV cameras. In his free time he’s been reading The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro; and Wagner’s Ring is loaded on his CD player. James Ehnes plays the “Ex Marsick” Stradivarius of 1715 and gratefully acknowledges its extended loan from the Fulton Collection.

“James Ehnes makes a simply glorious sound.” The Strad