Overture Magazine 2013-2014 March-April 2014 | Page 20

{ Program Notes Jo seph M eyer ho f f Sy m pho ny Hall B a l t i mo r e S y m p h o n y O r c h e s t r a Marin Alsop Music Director • Harvey M. And Lyn P. Meyerhoff Chair Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg Plays Shostakovich Friday, March 7, 2014— 8 p.m. Saturday, March 8, 2014— 8 p.m. Marin Alsop, Conductor Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, Violin Sergei Rachmaninoff Vocalise, opus 34, No. 14 Dmitri Shostakovich Violin Concerto No. 1 in A Minor, opus 99 Nocturne: Adagio Scherzo: Allegro non troppo Passacaglia: Andante Burlesca: Allegro con brio NADJA SALERNO-SONNENBERG INTERMISSION Sergei Rachmaninoff Symphonic Dances, opus 45 Non allegro Andante con moto (Tempo di valse) Lento assai — Allegro vivace The concert will end at approximately 9:50 p.m. Support for today's performance is provided by the Governing Members of the BSO Marin Alsop Ch r istian Stei n er For Marin Alsop’s bio., please see pg. 12. Nadja SalernoSonnenberg Highly regarded for her compelling performances, daring interpretations and dedication to her craft, Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg is one of today’s leading violinists, renowned for her work on the concert stage, in the 18 O v ertur e | www. bsomusic .org recording studio, and in her role as music director of the San Francisco-based New Century Chamber Orchestra, which she joined in January 2008. Ms. Salerno-Sonnenberg’s 2013 –2014 season includes a five-city North American recital tour with pianist Anne-Marie McDermott, and orchestral engagements in the US and abroad, as well as  New Century’s 22nd season which includes the world premiere of Michael Daugherty’s new violin concerto, Falling Water, written for her. In May 2014, she releases the eleventh recording for her record label, NSS MUSIC, an all-commissions CD with New Century Chamber Orchestra, featuring works by Clarice Assad, William Bolcom, Michael Daugherty and Ellen Taaffe Zwilich. Recent performance highlights included a successful third U.S. tour with New Century; solo appearances with the Philadelphia, National, Seattle, Vancouver, Oregon, Colorado, Milwaukee and Minnesota symphony orchestras in North America; with the NHK Symphony Orchestra in Japan and the Buenos Aires Philharmonic. Ms. Salerno-Sonnenberg’s professional career began in 1981, when she won the Walter W. Naumburg International Violin Competition. She is the recipient of an Avery Fisher Career Grant and the prestigious Avery Fisher Prize.  An American citizen, Ms. Salerno-Sonnenberg was born in Rome and emigrated to the United States at the age of eight to study at The Curtis Institute of Music. She later studied with Dorothy DeLay at The Juilliard School. Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg last appeared with the BSO in January 2012, performing Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto, with Marin Alsop conducting. About the concert: Vocalise, opus 34, no. 14 Sergei Rachmaninoff Born in Oneg near Novgorod, Russia, April 1, 1873; died in Beverly Hills, California, March 28, 1943 Though his chosen instrument, the piano, is categorized as a percussion instrument, Sergei Rachmaninoff became one of music’s most inspired melodists. His piano concertos burst with surging, soaring melodies, such as the glorious 18th variation of his Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. And alongside his instrumental works, he poured his lyrical gift into some 80 songs, whose popularity is only limited by their being in the Russian language