Interchanging Idioms

This weekend Miguel Harth-Bedoya is guest conducting the Colorado Symphony Orchestra through some great Classical pieces of music by Mozart and Beethoven and adding a touch of modern music to the mix with a piece he personally commissioned, Fiesta! Amid his busy schedule he took time to sit down and chat with me for a few moments about the upcoming performance, the music and how it all ties together. Prior to the interview I had heard of Miguel Harth-Bedoya’s charming personality from several members of the Colorado Symphony. He is not only enjoyable to work with as a conductor, but engaging and friendly. In my review of his performance at Vail Music Festival I commented "Harth-Bedoya danced his way through the Habanera third movement"; meeting him in person the sparkling personality seems to suggests he dances through life as well. The concert pairs Beethoven’s ‘Eroica’ Symphony and Mozart’s 5th Violin Concerto with a modern piece by Jimmy Lopez, Fiesta! . When I

This unique series of chamber concerts is a collaboration between two of St. Louis ’ most vital arts organizations: the Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts and the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra. For the series, SLSO Music Director David Robertson selects works that relate to various the mes to be found in the Pulitzer exhibitions, thus inviting a stimulating dialogue between music, visual art, and architecture. In 2009-2010, the September 30 concert will be performed in conjunction with Ideal [Dis-Placements: Old Masters at the Pulitzer, with contemporary music that creates echoes of “old masters” composers. All other concerts this season will be presented in conjunction with Urban Alchemy/Gordon Matta-Clark, which will be on exhibit at the Pulitzer from October 30, 2009 through June 5, 2010. Trained as an architect, Matta-Clark used neglected structures slated for demolition as his raw material, providing new ways of perceiving space, and creating metaphors for the human condition. Ro

Beethoven’s Coriolan Overture Replaces Berlioz’s Roman Carnival Overture, On An Otherwise Unchanged Program Including Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 2 With Evgeny Kissin; New York Premiere Of John Williams’s On Willows And Birches , With Legendary Harpist Ann Hobson Pilot; And Debussy’s La Mer Daniele Gatti will lead the Boston Symphony Orchestra in the opening night concert of the 2009-10 Carnegie Hall season, Thursday, October 1, at 7 p.m. BSO Music Director James Levine had to withdraw from all his conducting appearances this week, including the Carnegie Hall opener, due to immediate unanticipated back surgery for a herniated disc. For the first concert of the 119th Carnegie Hall season, Daniele Gatti will open the program with Beethoven’s Coriolan Overture, replacing the originally programmed Berlioz Roman Carnival Overture, and close with Debussy’s La Mer . Virtuoso pianist Evgeny Kissin will join Mr. Gatti and the BSO for Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 2. Mr. Gatti will also

Bso Assistant Conductors Shi-Yeon Sung And Julian Kuerti To Share Conducting Responsibilities For The Saturday, October 3 Symphony Hall Program Of Music By Beethoven, Carter, Debussy, Williams, And Ravel BSO Music Director James Levine has had to withdraw from his upcoming conducting appearances tonight, September 29, and Saturday, October 3, at Symphony Hall in Boston, and Thursday, October 1, at Carnegie Hall in New York, due to immediate unanticipated back surgery for a herniated disc. Boston Symphony Orchestra Assistant Conductor Shi-Yeon Sung will conduct tonight’s performance of Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms and Mozart’s Requiem with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Tanglewood Festival Chorus. Boston Symphony Orchestra Assistant Conductors Julian Kuerti and Shi-Yeon Sung will split the program on Saturday, October 3, which honors Ann Hobson Pilot’s 40-year tenure as harpist with the BSO. Mr. Kuerti will conduct the first half of the program, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 4.

The poignant and tragic love story of Robert and Clara Schumann told in words and music released on Opus Arte September 29th DVD sales to support the vital work of the Royal Opera House Education Program On September 29th, Opus Arte presents Twin Spirits , the story of the passionate romance and subsequent marriage between composer Robert Schumann and piano prodigy Clara Wieck, available on DVD and Blu-Ray disc. This production from the Royal Opera House brings together nine diverse performers of the highest caliber: Sting, an artist who defies simple classification, joins his wife, actress and producer Trudie Styler to read from the letters between Robert and Clara. Their story, narrated by Sir Derek Jacobi, is illustrated and interwoven with music composed by Robert – whose spirit is embodied by pianist Iain Burnside, baritone Simon Keenlyside and violinist Sergej Krylov – and by Clara, who is evoked by pianist Natasha Paremski, soprano Rebecca Evans, and cellist Natalie Clein.

October 14th Concert Performance of Fervaal Is First of Six Performances by ASO at Avery Fisher Hall This Season, the Orchestra’s 17th as Part of “Great Performers at Lincoln Center” “Operatic rescue missions have been the most valuable element of Leon Botstein’s directorship of the American Symphony Orchestra, a trend that continues with a concert performance of d’Indy’s ‘Fervaal’” —The New Yorker The American Symphony Orchestra opens its 17th season in the “Great Performers at Lincoln Center ” series in Avery Fisher Hall on Wednesday, October 14 at 8pm, with the first U.S. performance of Vincent d’Indy’s Romantic grand opera Fervaal . Leon Botstein, the orchestra’s Music Director, conducts the concert performance. This first offering in the ASO’s 2009-2010 Lincoln Center season marks the start of the orchestra’s new policy of charging only $25 for every single ticket to its concerts. Tickets are available by calling (212) 868-9276 (9ASO) or visiting www.americansymphony.org .

Following a jet-setting summer at the festivals of Verbier, Aix-en-Provence, Lucerne, and Saratoga, plus concerts with Gustavo Dudamel in Caracas, 29-year-old Russian pianist Kirill Gerstein will perform a host of high-profile U.S. dates and debuts this season, including: Oct. 9-11: Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra debut; Hans Graf-cond. (Shostakovich: Piano Cto. No. 2) Oct. 23-25: Detroit Symphony; Charles Greenwell-cond. (Rachmaninoff: Piano Cto. No. 3) Jan. 6: Kennedy Center launch of a tour with cellist Steven Isserlis that includes San Francisco (Jan. 10) Jan. 15-17: Houston Symphony; Hans Graf-cond. (Gershwin: Rhapsody; Ravel: Piano Cto. in G) March 4-6: Chicago Symphony debut; Charles Dutoit-cond. (Rachmaninoff: Piano Cto. No. 2) March 11-13: Atlanta Symphony debut; Vassily Sinaisky-cond. (Liszt: Piano Cto. No. 2)

Deutsche Grammophon released the CD September 22 Alberto Veronesi conducts tenor Plácido Domingo, soprano Violeta Urmana and the Vienna Philharmonic in original editions and alternative versions of famous Puccini arias and ensembles, as well as little-known orchestral compositions, on a new recording released by Deutsche Grammophon September 22. The album is the first commercial recording of abandoned or variant versions of music from La Rondine, Madama Butterfly, Edgar, Manon Lescaut, La fanciulla del West , and Suor Angelica , taken from Puccini’s early stages of composition and subsequently revised scores. The works are performed from new editions by Puccini scholar Michael Kaye. Puccini Rediscovered is Alberto Veronesi’s second album in an ongoing collaboration with Deutsche Grammophon of recordings dedicated to the post-Romantic Italian operatic tradition known as Verismo. The series began in 2006 with the critically acclaimed complete recording of Puccini’s early opera Edga

The Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra premiered the fourth symphony by Arvo Pärt in January 2009 under the direction of Esa-Pekka Salonen as part of the Deutsche Grammophon Concerts. Deutsche Grammophon will release a digital download of this concert later this year. Although the piece is subtitles "Los Angeles" it is dedicated to Mikhail Khodorkovsky, a Russian oil executive with political ambitions who now sits in a Siberian prison. While the music is not necessarily cheery, there is a wish for "peace of soul and vigilance of mind" from the composer to all those imprisoned in Russia. Listening to the recording, the music is sparse and almost lyrical, but very dark - filled with anxiety. There is a depth in tone to the slow moving music, very different than the previous three symphonies Arvo Pärt has composed. In the first movement, the music slowly unfolds as if attempting to find a melody but too anguished to complete it. The second movement adds layers

4 Performances Only: November 7, 10, 13 & 15 DENVER, CO— A poet explores a surreal dreamscape as he recalls his lost loves in Opera Colorado’s production of Offenbach's The Tales of Hoffmann , playing for four performances only at the Ellie Caulkins Opera House, November 7 through the 15. Tickets, ranging in price from $30 to $160 are available at OperaColorado.org or by calling 800.982.ARTS. Created by director Renaud Doucet and production designer André Barbe, the opera is a vivid flight of the imagination about a poet named Hoffmann who is in love with four unforgettable women. The hero travels to a mad scientist’s laboratory, the surreal home of a fragile young singer, and a Venetian brothel, but encounters evil villains who seek to ruin his chance at love. Offenbach’s lush music fuels the visual style of the stage design, inspired by graphic artist M.C. Escher, and the lavish costumes, inspired by 19th century French couture. This will be Opera Colorado’s first perform

Baltimore, Md. (September 28, 2009)—Music Director Marin Alsop and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra will perform a program featuring George Gershwin classics with French pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet as soloist at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall on Thursday and Friday, November 12 and 13 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, November 15 at 3:00 p.m. and at The Music Center at Strathmore on Saturday, November 14 at 8:00 p.m. The program includes Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue , Concerto in F, “I Got Rhythm” Variations, Overture to Girl Crazy and Overture to Of Thee I Sing . Gershwin’s music fuses classical traditions with the American vernacular, a characteristic that highlights the BSO’s season-long theme of exploring cultural roots. Receiving excellent reviews from the Washington Post for conveying “vigor,” “sensitivity” and “star power” during his performance of “Rhapsody” and Concerto in F with the BSO in the spring of 2008, Thibaudet now returns for another evening of “power-Gershwin.” Thibaudet w

Remarkable Theater Brigade’s (RTB) upcoming October 1st Carnegie Hall Season Opening of Opera Shorts: 10-minute Operas. Under the Musical Direction of Christian McLeer and Noby Ishida with Monica Harte, Julia Amisano, Jamin Flabiano, Scott Roche, Elizabeth Bell, Laura Federici, Kevin Ginter, Olga Shyp, Jocelyn O'Toole, Sara Dougherty and many more, the RTB will present a variety of short little operas to be enjoyed by the entire family. Some of the composers writing for RTB include Seymour Barab, Tom Cipullo, Patrick Soluri, Rob Voisey, Anne Phillips, George Brunner, Ben Bierman and of course, Christian McLeer. Remarkable Theater Brigade is dedicated to creating and presenting new works for theatrical performances in New York City. They exist as a not for profit company founded in 2002, and its team has created and produced exciting and impressive new musical productions including orchestral works, operas, ballets, musicals and electro-acoustic works as well as taking children’

NEW YORK, NY – On September 29th, Decca will release a new recording in which violinist Janine Jansen fulfills a long-held ambition to record Benjamin Britten's Violin Concerto alongside the most monumental of all violin works, the Beethoven Violin Concerto. Janine Jansen regularly thrills audiences with both her startlingly fresh interpretations of repertoire staples and remarkable takes on lesser-known works. The Times of London recently put it succinctly that "Whenever a violin repertory piece needs revitalizing, there’s one simple solution. Hire Janine Jansen to play it." Janine records these concerti with two different orchestras to fully explore two very different sound worlds: the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen for the Beethoven and the London Symphony Orchestra for Britten. Paavo Järvi conducts both performances. “To make a recording of the Beethoven and Britten Violin Concertos has been a dream of mine for years. They are two of the greatest concertos eve

Opens on October 3rd with EMI Virgin Classics Releasing Her New Recording of Rossini Arias Three Days Later Rossini is much on the menu for Joyce DiDonato’s year ahead. The mezzo begins the season with her inimitable portrayal of Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia at the Metropolitan Opera on October 3, and just a few days later, on October 6, she celebrates the release of Rossini - Joyce DiDonato – Colbran, the Muse , her second solo arias collection on EMI/Virgin Classics, for which she records exclusively. Two other opera companies are fortunate to present DiDonato’s world-famous portrayal of Rosina during the season: Los Angeles Opera, where she makes her debut on November 29, and later Milan’s La Scala, to which she returns on July 9. DiDonato’s Rosina is already legendary, having been watched by millions in opera houses, transmissions and broadcasts throughout the U.S. and the world. The much talked-about portrayal was captured and screened in an early Met: Live in HD transm

Twenty-four-year-old violist Juan-Miguel Hernandez was awarded first place in his instrument’s category at the prestigious International Johannes Brahms Competition earlier this month in Pörtschach, Austria . Each year, the International Johannes Brahms Competition draws more than 400 musicians from over 40 nations to compete in six instrument categories including viola, violin cello, piano, voice and chamber music. This year 54 violists traveled to Austria to compete in three rounds of competition, beginning August 30 with a final concert for the prize winners of each category held on September 6. Winners of the competition were chosen by a select committee of jurors and evaluated on the mastery of their instrument, musical artistry, expression and style. Mr. Hernandez adds this first place prize to a distinguished list of honors, including the Gold Achievement award of the 9th National Sphinx Competition and the 1st place award in the National Canadian Music Competition. As a solo

Guest conductor Miguel Harth-Bedoya leads the orchestra in Beethoven’s enduring Symphony No. 3, “Eroica,” one of the most important pieces in Western music. Augustin Hadelich, winner of the 2006 Indianapolis International Violin Competition, will perform Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 5, “Turkish.” Opening the program the orchestra will play the Colorado Symphony Orchestra premiere of Fiesta! by Peruvian composer Jimmy López. This is an exciting piece of and should really set the mood for a fantastic evening. All performance at Boettcher Hall. October 2 and 3 at 7:30 October 4th at 2:30

The Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra and St. Louis’ classical-music station, KFUO FM-Classic 99 (99.1 FM & www.classic99.com ) continue to find ways to bring the sounds of the SLSO to a wider audience. As previously announced - all Saturday night Wells Fargo Advisors Orchestral Series concerts will be broadcast live from Powell Hall throughout the 2009-2010 season. The first live broadcast will be the SLSO’s Opening Weekend program, with the St. Louis premiere of Osvaldo Golijov’s Azul, Principal Cello Daniel Lee as soloist, and Mahler’s Symphony No. 5. Music Director David Robertson conducts this concert, broadcast live from Powell Hall, Saturday, September 26, 2009, 8:00 p.m. CST. Live interviews at intermission this week will include David Robertson, Daniel Lee, & SLSO President Fred Bronstein. Ron Klemm from Classic 99 will host the broadcasts. All broadcasts may also be heard live on www.classic99.com . Saturday, September 26, 2009 at 8pm David Robertson, conductor

Chicago Opera Vanguard Presents the Chicago Premiere of No Exit by Boston Conservatory Composer Andy Vores (September 20, 2009 --- Chicago , IL ) Chicago Opera Vanguard, in partnership with Center on Halsted and Praxis Productions, kicks off its 2009/2010 Season with the Chicago premiere of NO EXIT by Boston composer Andy Vores. Based on Jean-Paul Sartre’s groundbreaking play, NO EXIT ’s limited 3 performance run begins Friday October 16 at Center on Halsted’s Hoover-Leppen Theatre, 3656 N Halsted St, in Chicago ’s Lakeview neighborhood. “Hell is … other people!” Jean-Paul Sartre’s classic black comedy, premiered in German occupied Paris in 1944, receives the operatic treatment! There is nowhere to run and nowhere to hide as three self-absorbed people who neither know nor like each other, are trapped together in one room… forever! Full of intense drama and sly comedy, NO EXIT is a haunting and humorous vision of damnation that you will never forget. For this modern morality

Decca Album Featuring Arias by Puccini and His Contemporaries Tops Billboard Classical Chart with Highest Sales of Any #1 Debut since March NEW YORK, NY – September 23, 2009 – Renée Fleming’s newest Decca recording, Verismo has topped the Billboard Classical Chart this week in its first week of release. The album, released September 15th, and has already sold more copies than any other #1 debut since Plácido Domingo’s March release Amore Infinito. Verismo features the iconic American soprano performing opera arias by Puccini and his contemporaries performed with the Orchestra e Coro Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi with Marco Armilliato. Along with great Puccini favorites from La Bohème, Turandot, La Rondine, Il Trittico and Manon Lescaut , the album also includes rarely heard arias by Verismo composers Mascagni, Catalani, Leoncavallo, Giordano, Cilea, and Zandonai. From the tragedy of the nun Angelica, singing of the son who never knew his mother, to the rapturous young lov

The New York Metropolitan Opera, which is usually the hallmark that the rest of the country strives to obtain seems to have stumbled with their most recent production of Puccini's Tosca . The new production of Tosca under the direction of Luc Bondy received boos from the crowd - and the critics were no more favorable. "And in Act 2 of 'Tosca,' Tosca always spots the knife with which she is going to kill Baron Scarpia at a particular chord in the music; and she always sets lighted candles around his dead body before she leaves the room. It's in the score; it's in the music; it must be so. So when Luc Bondy, the director of the new "Tosca" that opened the Metropolitan Opera's season Monday night, had Tosca fail to do those things, he was virtually guaranteed a lusty chorus of boos." - Anne Midgette, Washington Post It seems not only was some of the "important" elements missing, but the performances were lackluster as well. Ten

This month, Shaham adds a captivating new title to the catalog of Canary Classics, the label he founded in 2004. The new recording, Sarasate: Virtuoso Violin Works , teams Shaham with violinist Adele Anthony, to whom he is married, in a celebration of the music of legendary Spanish violinist and composer Pablo de Sarasate (1844-1908). The Pamplona-born composer’s colorful dance- and song-inspired works are not only enormously entertaining and irresistibly appealing, but also full of sometimes hair-raising technical challenges. Shaham and Anthony both feel a deep connection to Sarasate’s music, and used the occasion of the composer’s centenary in 2008 to pay tribute to his work. One highlight of their activities included a November concert at New York ’s Lincoln Center , broadcast live on public television, at which a much-surprised Shaham was awarded the prestigious Avery Fisher Prize, presented to him by his friend and colleague, conductor Gustavo Dudamel. The season’s festivitie

The Entire Recorded Legacy of the Incomparable Cellist in a delue, Numbered, Limited Edition Box Set Commemorates his 30th Anniversary with Sony Music August 7, 2009 -- New York, NY. Comprising ninety discs, Yo-Yo Ma: 30 Years Outside the Box is a salute to Yo-Yo Ma’s monumental musical achievements and to his 30-year legacy with Sony Masterworks . The exciting story of his life and work is eloquently told in a quality hard bound book of over 312 pages, lavishly illustrated with more than 150 color and black-and-white archival photos, original album artwork, liner notes and credits. Further enriching the story of this musical giant is a warm and insightful foreword by his longtime friend and esteemed fellow artist, pianist Emanuel Ax, as well as a lengthy, insightful essay by noted critic Richard Dyer. The set is scheduled for release on October 27, 2009. Beginning with Ma’s debut recording of Saint Saëns’s Carnival of the Animals , Yo-Yo Ma: 30 Years Outside the Box includes

First professional orchestra residency at a Scottish University Residency status cements long-term relationship Concert season, music education and professional link The Scottish Chamber Orchestra (SCO) and the University of St Andrews are delighted to announce the establishment of a unique relationship, with the SCO’s new designation as Orchestra in Residence at the University of St Andrews. The two organisations have enjoyed a close relationship over many years with the SCO presenting an annual five-concert season at the University’s Younger Hall. "This is an enormously exciting development for music in St Andrews, which will not only allow us to build on our existing strengths, but further enhance our long-standing relationship with one of the country’s finest orchestras. I am delighted that St Andrews will be the first university in Scotland and among the first in the UK to be able to boast an Orchestra in Residence.” - Dr Louise Richardson, Principal and Vice-Chancellor

Live from the Stage of Powell Hall Thursday, September 24th -6-7pm (CST) The Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra & HEC-TV announced a live broadcast of a special Town Hall Meeting on September 24, 2009 from 6:00-7:00 PM CST. SLSO Music Director David Robertson and President Fred Bronstein will discuss the SLSO 2009-2010 programming and other important updates (including FY09 results) in a town hall meeting format, taking questions and comments from the live audience & via e-mail at HECTV.org . The SLSO Trombones are scheduled to perform. This town hall meeting is free and open to the public. This is the second in the new series of SLSO Town Hall Meetings. The next Town Hall Meeting will take place in January, 2010 (date TBC) where the 2010-11 SLSO season will be announced.

Keeping Score is just one of the many educational ventures of the San Francisco Symphony . These are videos created by the SFS media team each covering a specific composer and one of their works. The production values of Keeping Score are incredible and the information is presented in a way to encourage interest for people of all ages. I've been serious studying music all my life and found the first three episodes they will present this year - Berlioz, Ives and Shostakovic - absolutely fascinating. I only wish they had been available when I was studying music history at the university level - they are that good! Yet, they are easy to understand for people of all ages and musical ability. Michael Tilson Thomas narrates the various episodes taking you through the lives of the composers. Each composer is discussed in terms of the motivation for their music and how they reach the point in their life to write the music they did. For Berlioz Michael traveled to France exploring

What better way to celebrate an Indian summer than get started with Christmas. Ok, maybe it's a bit early but the Royal Scottish National Orchestra with the RSNO Junior Chorus under the direction of Christopher Bell are recording a CD of Christmas Music. So, to help them get into the festive spirit, Chorus Manager Christine Walker and her team of volunteers have blown the dust off of the decorations boxes that wee bit earlier. There had been talk of Santa making an appearance... Can't wait for the CD!

Gustav Mahler’s almighty Resurrection Symphony took shape in the composer’s imagination for over seven years. Finally arriving in 1892, it successfully reveals his daunting attempt ‘to express precisely what words cannot’. Encased in the work’s superlative scale is the most uplifting and reassuring testament of faith from any composer; a fervent expression in music of everlasting transcendence and renewal. ‘With wings which I have won for myself…I shall soar upwards’, proclaims Mahler’s huge assembly of instruments and voices in music – which will fill all corners of the Royal Festival Hall. FREE Pre-concert event Friday 25 September at 6.15pm The London Philharmonic Orchestra's Chief Executive, Timothy Walker discusses the highlights and programming of the Orchestra's 2009-10 season with music critic Anthony Burton. Click here for further information and online bookings. Concert Details Friday 25 and Saturday 26 September 7.30pm Mahler Symphony No.2 (Resurrection)

Thursday night the Colorado Symphony Orchestra gave the world premier performance of Chris Thile’s Mandolin Concerto. This the first time ever this piece was performed – and what better person to play the mandolin than the composer and virtuoso instrumentalist Chris Thile. The concert was also a celebration of American composers featuring works by Copland, Gershwin and the Colorado Symphony’s own Composer-in-Residence William Hill. From beginning to end the program was filled with rich yet diverse music. Copland’s Suite from Billy the Kid is quintessential Americana filled with references to “Good-Bye, Old Paint”, “Old Chisholm Trail” and “Git Along Little Dogies” infused with fresh harmonies and complex orchestral textures and rhythms. Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” is perhaps the best blend of jazz and classical music ever composed utilizing only a small portion of the orchestra and yet, with Jeffery Kahane showing off his virtuoso skills as both pianist and conductor the ens

The September/October issue of Listen: Life with Classical Music features conductor Michael Tilson Thomas on the cover, celebrates the 80th birthday of American composer George Crumb, and includes interviews with musicians Leif Ove Andsnes, Joshua Bell, Angèle Dubeau, and José Serebrier. The magazine travels to Norway to report on an unusual collaboration at the Risor Chamber Music Festival, Chicago to spotlight the city’s eclectic music scene, and Toronto to cover a recording session of 17th-century music with the Canadian Brass. These are just some of the subjects in the fall issue of the new bimonthly print magazine published and distributed by the online classical music retailer ArkivMusic, The Source for Classical Music™. September/October 2009 contents of Listen magazine: Cover story: Conductor Michael Tilson Thomas talks about Mahler, Stravinsky and the future of contemporary music – in real space and cyberspace Features: At a chamber music festival in the fishing vi

Featuring 35 Performances of Masterpieces by Five of Many Great Composers Who Explored Genre in That Decade Gil Shaham’s “Violin Concertos of the 1930s” project will occupy a central place in his 2009-10 season as he joins a “who’s who” list of great conductors and orchestras on three continents – including Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Tilson-Thomas and the London Symphony Orchestra, Robertson and the New York Philharmonic, and Jansons and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra – for performances of masterpieces by Barber, Berg, Prokofiev, Stravinsky, and Walton. These works are but five of a remarkably long list of important violin concertos produced in the same decade that Shaham will perform and, in some cases, record in coming seasons. Offering a striking sonic contrast, he will also give a series of solo all-Bach recitals this season throughout Europe, including performances in London (Wigmore Hall, October 22), Istanbul (March 13, 2010), and Cologne (Philharmonie,