The intoxicating influences of Spain dominate both Ravel’s syncopated and sinuous Boléro and his humorous Alborada del gracioso. Continuing the travelogue is Debussy’s colorful Ibéria, and the talented Tianwa Yang tackles the exhilarating Violin Concerto composed for Jascha Heifetz by Miklós Rózsa.

Program

JoAnn Falletta, conductor
Tianwa Yang, violin

RAVEL  Alborada del gracioso
RÓZSA  Concerto for Violin and Orchestra, Op. 24
I. Allegro non troppo ma passionato
II. Lento cantabile
III. Allegro vivace

–INTERMISSION–

DEBUSSY  Ibéria from Images
I. Par les rues et par les chemins (Through Streets and Lanes)
II. Les parfums de la nuit (The Fragrances of the Night)
III. Le matin d’un jour de fête (Morning of a Feast Day)
RAVEL  Boléro

The Coffee Concert Series is presented by Highmark

Join us for a Musician’s Nightcap!

Meet us on the lower level after Saturday’s performance of Boléro for light conversations with BPO musicians and complimentary wine and bites. Our host, BPO double bassist Jonathan Borden, will be joined by fellow BPO musicians Madeline Olson, principal harpist, and flutist Linda Greene. This special event is FREE and open to all who attend Saturday’s concert.

About Tianwa Yang

Winner of the prestigious Opus Klassik Instrumentalist of the Year Award (Violin), both in 2022 for her Naxos recording of Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto Nos. 1-2 and in 2015 for her Naxos recording of Ysaÿe’s 6 Sonatas for Solo Violin – in addition to Best Up-and-Coming Artist and the Annual Prize of the German Record Critics in 2014 – Tianwa Yang is referred to as “an unquestioned master of the violin” by American Record Guide, who “rises above her competition” (Fanfare). Heralded by the Detroit News as “the most important violinist to come on the scene in many a year,” she performs with international major orchestras including the Baltimore, Nashville, Sydney, Pacific, Vancouver, SWR-Baden Baden-Freiburg, WDR-Cologne, MDR-Leipzig, HR Radio Frankfurt, Malmö, Singapore, and New Zealand Symphonies; the London, Dresden, Helsinki, Hong Kong, Malaysia, BBC, Deutsche Radio, Warsaw, and Royal Liverpool Philharmonics; and the Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne, Bayerisches Staatsorchester, Orchestre National d’Île de France, Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg, and Macau Orchestra. International concert and recital engagements take her to renowned venues across the globe, and she has given live concert broadcasts from the Schwetzingen Festival, the Berlin Philharmonic Hall, the Montpellier Festival, and Alten Oper.

As a critically acclaimed recording artist for Naxos, Ms. Yang’s most recent releases include Prokofiev’s Violin Concertos No. 1 and No. 2 with ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra and Jun Märkl, Brahms’ Violin Concerto and Double Concerto with DSO Berlin, Antoni Witt, and cellist Gabriel Schwabe; and two highly acclaimed volumes of the Complete Music for Violin and Orchestra by Wolfgang Rihm. Considered the world’s best interpreter of the music of Pablo de Sarasate since Heifetz, her complete music for violin and orchestra and for violin and piano by Sarasate are now released as two complete box sets by Naxos. A Best of Tianwa Yang album became an industry bestseller, preceded by the violin concertos of Castelnuovo-Tedesco and the complete solo sonatas by Eugène Ysaÿe, which immediately won several awards. Her Mendelssohn Violin Concertos album earned her the title of “one of the best new violinists of the new century” by MusicWeb International. Of the previously released 8 single album recordings of Sarasate’s complete works for violin, David Hurwitz of Classics Today calls Ms. Yang a “sensationally talented violinist,” while All Things Strings speaks of her “stunning effortless virtuosity” and “uncanny affinity for Spanish music.” She has also recorded Piazzolla’s Las Cuatro Estaciones Porteñas with the Nashville Symphony Orchestra, and the Vivaldi/Piazzolla Eight Seasons performed with her own ensemble.

Raised in the Chinese capital city of Beijing, Ms. Yang began studying violin at the age of four. Demonstrating unquestionable ability, Ms. Yang won six competitions as a young child. At the age of ten she was accepted to study at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing as a student of Lin Yaoji. Within one year, Hong Kong media described the young artist as “A Pride of China.” Ms. Yang recorded the 24 Paganini Caprices at the age of 13, making her the youngest artist to release the works. In 2003, Ms. Yang was awarded a scholarship by the German Academic Exchange Service to study chamber music in Germany, marking the beginning of her European career.

Ms. Yang has won several awards during her career, including the Volkswagen Foundation “Star of Tomorrow” prize from Seiji Ozawa and the 2006 Prix Montblanc. She is the recipient of two coveted Opus Klassik awards, and has received multiple accolades, awards, prizes, and top album placings for her extensive discography.

Ms. Yang is Professor of Violin at the University of the Arts, Bern, Switzerland, Professor at the Hochschule für Musik Würzburg, and is grateful to Lin Yaoji, Jörg-Wolfgang Jahn, and Anner Bylsma for the musical insight and support they have offered throughout her career. She performs on a Guarneri del Gesu (1730) on kind loan from the Rin Collection in Singapore.