National Philharmonic Presents All Brahms Concert At The Music Center at Strathmore

[Howard Hartman]

National Philharmonic Presents All Brahms
Concert At The Music Center at Strathmore

North Bethesda, MD, February 16, 2010 – The elegant violinist Chee-Yun will perform Brahms’s riveting Violin Concerto in an All Brahms program with the National Philharmonic, conducted by Piotr Gajewski, on Saturday, March 20 at 8:00 pm and Sunday March 21 at 3:00 pm, at the Music Center at Strathmore. The program will also include Brahms’s Hungarian Dance No. 5 and Symphony No. 2.

Ms. Yun is a charismatic violinist who is deeply passionate about her art. She performs regularly with the world's foremost orchestras, including the Philadelphia Orchestra, London Philharmonic and National Symphony, and has worked with world class conductors, including Michael Tilson Thomas, Neeme Järvi and Pinchas Zukerman. Reviews of Ms. Yun have described her performances as "engrossing, masterly," with "staggering virtuosity and musicality."

Chee-Yun studied with Nam Yun Kim, Dorothy DeLay, Hyo Kang and Felix Galimir. She received the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant and was a winner of the Young Concert Artists International Auditions. In 1993, Chee-Yun returned to Korea to receive the `Nan Pa´ award, the country's highest musical honor.

The first work on the program is Brahms’s Hungarian Dance No. 5, one of a set of 21 dance tunes based on Hungarian folksongs. Each dance has been arranged for a variety of instruments and ensembles, the most famous being No. 5. This particular work is based on a csárdás, a traditional Hungarian folk dance popularized by bands in Hungary.

Ms. Yun will perform as soloist in Brahms’s daunting Violin Concerto, written in 1878 and dedicated to the composer’s close friend, the famous violinist Joseph Joachim.

The technical demands on the soloist are great, with use of broken chords, rapid scale passages and rhythmic variation. It was Brahms’s only violin concerto and is considered one of the most important works in the violin repertoire.

Brahms’s Symphony No. 2 in D, Opus 73 was written in 1877 during a visit to Austria. The composer spent some fourteen years completing his first symphony, but the premiere of his Symphony No. 2 followed within months. This second symphony is more cheerful and lyrical than the first, and often likened to the pastoral mood of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6.

A free pre-concert lecture will be offered one hour before each performance in the Education Center at the Music Center at Strathmore. To purchase tickets to National Philharmonic’s concerts on March 20 at 8 pm and March 21 at 3 pm, please visit nationalphilharmonic.org or call the Strathmore Box Office at (301) 581-5100. Tickets are $29-$79; kids 7-17 are FREE through the ALL KIDS, ALL FREE, ALL THE TIME program (sponsored by The Gazette). ALL KIDS tickets must be purchased in person or by phone.

Chee Yun Aquasmile