Where: Weinberg Center for the Arts
When: Friday, April 9 2011
Time: 8 p.m.
Cost: $25-$35
Contact: 410.783.8000
BSO Concertmaster Jonathan Carney performs and leads
Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons, April 9

Also on the program is Piazzolla’s The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires

Baltimore, Md. (March 8, 2011) – Baltimore Symphony Orchestra’s (BSO) Concertmaster Jonathan Carney will be soloist and lead the BSO in Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons on Saturday, April 9 at 8 p.m. at the Weinberg Center for the Arts. Also on the program will be Piazzolla’s colorful The Four Seasons of Buenos.  Please see below for complete program details.

Vivaldi’s most famous composition The Four Seasons are a collection of violin concertos he composed in 1725 based on a series of sonnets by Vivaldi that depict the seasons.  The music has become immortalized through Vivaldi’s creative use of colorful instrumentation to portray the seasons.  Vivaldi penned four poems, one for each season, to accompany each concerto and even notated the scores to describe precisely what the music illustrates.  Examples include “the barking dog” which “woofs” in the violas during Spring and Autumn’s drunken reveler depicted in a raucous violin solo.

Astor Piazzolla’s tango-inspired The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires was written as four individual works composed from 1965 to 1970 and was not originally intended to pay homage to Vivaldi or be performed as a suite.  Originally scored for violin, electric guitar, piano, bass and bandoneon (a large-button accordion that is a common folk instrument in Latin America), Piazzolla’s Four Seasons was re-orchestrated in the 1990s by Leonid Desyatnikov for Russian violinist Gidon Kremer, who began intertwining the work with Vivaldi’s own Four Seasons.  This arrangement, performed by the BSO in this concert, features a highly virtuosic part for solo violin and full string orchestra.

Jonathan Carney, violin and leader
BSO Concertmaster Jonathan Carney begins his ninth season with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra after 12 seasons in the same position with London’s Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

Born in New Jersey, Mr. Carney hails from a musical family with all six members having graduated from The Juilliard School in New York. After completing his studies with Ivan Galamian and Christine Dethier, he was awarded a Leverhulme Fellowship to continue his studies at the Royal College of Music in London.

After enjoying critically acclaimed international tours as both concertmaster and soloist with numerous ensembles, Mr. Carney was invited by Vladimir Ashkenazy to become concertmaster of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in 1991. He was also appointed concertmaster of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra in 1994 and the Basque National Orchestra in 1996. Recent solo performances have included concertos by Bruch, Korngold, Khatchaturian, Sibelius, Nielsen, the Brahms Double Concerto and Vaughan Williams’ The Lark Ascending, which was featured as a live BBC broadcast from London’s Barbican Hall. He has made a number of recordings, including concertos by Mozart, Vivaldi and Nielsen, sonatas by Brahms, Beethoven and Franck, and a disc of virtuoso works of by Sarasate and Kreisler with his mother Gloria Carney as pianist. New releases include Beethoven’s Archduke and Ghost trios, the cello quintet of Schubert and a Dvorak disc with the Terzetto and four Romantic pieces for violin.

Mr. Carney first performed with the BSO during the 2001-2002 season as concertmaster during the Orchestra’s European Tour (November-December) and on three subscription weekends, most notably with his moving interpretation of Richard Strauss’ Ein Heldenleben.

COMPLETE PROGRAM INFORMATION
BSO at Frederick Performances: Orchestra Series
Saturday, April 9, 2011 at 8:00 p.m.—Weinberg Center for the Arts

Jonathan Carney, violin and leader

Vivaldi: The Four Seasons
Piazzolla: Four Seasons of Buenos Aires

Tickets range from $25 to $35. Tickets are available through the BSO Ticket Office, 877.BSO.1444, 410.783.8000 or BSOmusic.org.