The Hamburg Symphony Orchestra, Jeffrey Tate, Conductor, with Guy Braunstein, Violin

"Musik ist alles. Weil alles musik ist"

Saturday, January 21, 2012
Mechanics Hall - Performance 8:00 PM, Pre-concert Talk 7 PM

Tickets: $46, $43, students $20 /$15 at door. See "Ordering Tickets" for more info

“From the warmth of the first horn chords and the airy lightness of the violins in the first movement, to the grandeur of the finale, the Hamburg’s performance was all one hoped for. There were moments when sections or individuals shone... when the orchestra itself seemed to dance." —Newsday

Founded in 1957, the Hamburg Symphony Orchestra is a highly recognized and greatly respected component of Europe's cultural life. The 2007 US tour marked the orchestra's United States debut. Music Worcester proudly presents this outstanding orchestra to the Worcester Music Festival stage at Mechanics Hall on Saturday evening, January 21, 2012.

In the spring of 2008, Jeffrey Tate joined the Hamburg Symphony Orchestra as its new Chief Conductor. An English conductor, he first studied at Cambridge and qualified as a doctor, then worked at Covent Garden (1970-77), Bayreuth, Cologne Opera and from 1979 at the Met; his début was at Göteborg (Carmen, 1978), and he first conducted at the Met in1980 (Lulu) and Covent Garden in 1982 (Zauberflöte). He has held posts as music director at Cologne and as guest conductor at Geneva and (from 1986) Covent Garden; he became principal conductor of the English Chamber Orchestra in 1985. He was named to the position of principal conductor of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden effective in September 1986, the first person in the House's history to have that title. He was principal conductor of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra from 1991 to 1995. In 2005, he was appointed music director of the San Carlo Theatre of Naples.

Violinist Guy Braunstein was born in Tel-Aviv, Israel and studied under Pinchas Zuckerman, among many others. He was the youngest ever appointed concertmaster of the Berlin Philharmonic, a position currently held while also enjoying guest engagements throughout the world.

Program

Vaughan Williams: Wasp Overture

Brahms: Violin Concerto, Op.77

Dvorak: Symphony No.7, D-minor, Op.70

About the Artists

The Hamburg Symphony Orchestra was founded in 1957. The first principal conductor of the Orchestra was Robert Heger. His successors included Imre Kertesz, Carlos Kalmar and Miguel Gómez-Martinez. At the beginning of the 2004/2005 season Andrey Boreyko became the orchestra’s new principal conductor. Closely observed both at home and abroad, his appointment by the orchestra has succeeded in creating a unique and exciting artistic cooperation.

The Hamburg Symphony Orchestra has the privilege of being the only orchestra with its residence in the Hamburg Music Hall. The orchestra has worked with conductors such as Charles Mackerras, Christian Thielemann, Peter Ruzicka, Horst Stein, Ralf Weikert and Sebastian Weigle. Some of the world’s finest soloists, such as Christian Tetzlaff, Elisabeth Leonskaja, Frank Peter Zimmermann, Edita Gruberova, Placido Domingo and Grace Bumbry, have made guest appearances with the orchestra over the last years.

The Hamburg Symphony regularly plays some twenty operas and ballets each season at the Hamburg State Opera House. The Orchestra has gained a sound international reputation on numerous tours to countries including Great Britain, Italy, France, Spain, Scandinavia, Poland and Turkey. Recordings with the Hamburg Symphony Orchestra have appeared on Dabringshaus und Grimm, edel classics and Deutsche Grammophon (Deutscher Schallplattenpreis ECHO Klassik).

Additionally the orchestra offers for many years now a very successful subscription series of children’s concerts. The legendary annual open-air concerts held in the central courtyard of Hamburg’s town hall are always sold out. The Hamburg Symphony Orchestra is a highly recognized and greatly respected component of Europe’s cultural life.

Violinist Guy Braunstein was born in Tel Aviv, Israel, and studied the violin under the guidance of Chaim Taub and later in New York with Glenn Dicterow and Pinchas Zuckerman. He started performing as an international soloist and a chamber musician at a young age and has since played with the Israel Philharmonic, Tonhalle Zurich, Bamberg Symphony, Copenhagen Radio and Frankfurt Radio Orchestras, as well as the Philharmonica de la Scalla, Berliner Philharmoniker and many others.

His success brought him quickly to the world's most important venues and he has collaborated with musicians such as Issac Stern, András Schiff, Zubin Mehta, Maurizio Pollini, Vladimir Fedoseyev, Yefim Bronfman, Daniel Barenboim, Lioba Braun, Sir Simon Rattle, Mitsuko Ushida, Andrey Boreyko, Lang Lang, Jonathan Nott, Emmanuel Ax, Gary Bertini, Pierre Laurent Aimard, Semyon Bychkov and Angelika Kirschlager.
Between 2003 and 2007 Guy held the position of Professor of Music in the University of the Arts (Universität der Kunst) in Berlin and since 2006 has been the Music Director of the Rolandseck Festival in Germany where he has welcomed international stars such as Emmanuel Pahud, Hélène Grimaud, Amihai Grosz and François Leleux.

Guy was the youngest person to be appointed concertmaster of the Berliner Philharmoniker in 2000, a position which heralded his debut as an orchestral member and he currently retains this position, working with the Berliner Philharmoniker for 4 months of the year.
Further highlights of his solo 2010-11 season include concerto performances with the Israel Symphony, Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg, Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz, Pannon and Sofia Philharmonic Orchestras. He will also play/conduct the Halle Staatskapelle and perform chamber music and recitals in London, Paris, Berlin, Luxemburg, Jerusalem, Frankfurt, Croatia and Poland. In recent years Guy has been a devoted member of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra and will tour with them towards the end of the 2010-11 season. Guy plays a rare violinmade by Francesko Roggieri in 1679.

Maestro JEFFREY TATE studied medicine at the University of Cambridge and qualified as a doctor at St. Thomas' Hospital in London. However, music had always been a great interest, and in 1970 he joined the music staff at Covent Garden, where he worked with Solti, Davis, Kleiber, and others. In 1976 he assisted Boulez at Bayreuth in the centenary celebration of The Ring, and he also worked with Karajan in Salzburg. He rose to prominence immediately after his public conducting debut with Carmen at the Gothenburg Opera.

Tate conducts regularly in the world's leading opera houses and festivals with a repertoire based on Mozart, Strauss, Wagner, and French opera. At the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, he has conducted new productions of Lulu, Peter Grimes, and The Ring with the Orchestre National de France. Recent seasons have included Parsifal in Bonn; Die Walküre at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires; The Flying Dutchman at Rome Opera; and his triumphant debut at La Scala with Peter Grimes and Rosenkavalier, where he returned to conduct Tannhäuser during the 2004/05 season. Future projects include The Marriage of Figaro and Candide at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples, and Ariadne auf Naxos and Salome at the Grand Théâtre de Genève.

Tate has appeared with the world's leading orchestras, including the London Symphony, the Berlin Philharmonic, the Boston Symphony, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, the Israel Philharmonic, and many others.

His numerous recordings include Tales of Hoffman, Lulu, Mozart's Piano Concertos with Mitsuko Uchida, all of the Mozart Symphonies with the English Chamber Orchestra, the major orchestral works of Elgar with the London Symphony Orchestra, and the complete A Midsummer Night's Dream of Mendelssohn with the Rotterdam Philharmonic.