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AN EVENING OF MUSIC FROM PALERMO
By Fred Plotkin
The Artists
The Berlin Philharmonic -- among the greatest orchestras in the world -- created a new tradition, the "Europakonzert," the Europe Concert, in 1991. With the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the subsequent reunification of East and West Germany, the city of Berlin became a focal point for the aspirations of a united Europe. To mark this milestone, the orchestra has journeyed to cities such as St. Petersburg, Istanbul, and now Palermo to present concerts that recognize the common cultural bonds across the European continent and the role music plays in them. Founded in 1882, the Berlin Philharmonic was led in its early years by Joseph Joachim (1831-1907), a conductor and violinist for whom Johannes Brahms wrote the concerto on this evening's program. Other famous composers who have conducted the orchestra include Brahms, Edvard Grieg, Pyotr Tchaikovsky, Gustav Mahler, and Richard Strauss. It has enjoyed long relationships with its principal conductors, including Arthur Nikisch (1895-1922), Wilhelm Furtwängler (1922-1945/1947-1954), Herbert von Karajan (1955-1989), and Claudio Abbado (1989-2002).
Claudio Abbado (born in Milan in 1933) is considered one of the world's preeminent conductors. He began his career by winning the Koussevitsky Prize at Tanglewood in 1958 and followed it up with another prestigious prize, the Mitropulos Conducting Award, in New York in 1963. From 1968 to 1980, he was the music director of La Scala and in the 1970s and '80s, a regular conductor of the Vienna Philharmonic, the Chicago Symphony, and the London Symphony Orchestra. He also founded the European Youth Orchestra in 1978 and the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra in 1986. With the death of Herbert von Karajan in 1989, the musicians of the Berlin Philharmonic elected Abbado to the post of principal conductor. Though not known nearly as well in the United States as he should be, Abbado is a luminary in European music circles, and his performances and recordings are the stuff of legend. Abbado's hands and gestures are famously beautiful and expressive, as can be witnessed throughout this program, especially in the second (Largo) movement of Dvorák's "Symphony No. 9."
The gifted violinist Gil Shaham, born in Illinois in 1971, grew up in Israel, where his family had emigrated when he was two years old. He started violin lessons at the age of seven and made his highly acclaimed debut when he was 10, playing Vivaldi's "Four Seasons" with the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra under conductor Alexander Schneider. When his family returned to the United States, he studied with the legendary Dorothy DeLay at the Juilliard School in New York. A sought-after performer, Gil Shaham appears with all of the world's leading orchestras and conductors, plays chamber music, and gives solo recitals. He performs with the 1699 "Countess Polignac" Stradivarius, which is rumored to have once belonged to Benjamin Franklin's Parisian mistress.
Top banner photos: Palermo's San Cataldo church and featured soloist Gil Shaham. |
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From 1989 to 2002, Claudio Abbado served as principal conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic. |
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The venerable orchestra began with a little more than 50 musicians in 1882. |
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