Gil Shaham to Perform One-Night-Only Concert with the Columbus Symphony

Heralded as "one of today's pre-eminent violinists" by The New York Times and recently named Musical America Worldwide's 2012 Instrumentalist of the Year, Gil Shaham is sought after throughout the world for concerto appearances with leading orchestras and conductors. This international star joins the Columbus Symphony for a one-night-only event which will be the centerpiece of the organization's annual gala celebration. Led by CSO Music Director Jean-Marie Zeitouni, the evening's program will include Beethoven's Symphony No. 7 in A Major, Op. 92, and feature Shaham in Brahms' Concerto in D Major for Violin and Orchestra, Op. 77.

The Columbus Symphony presents Gil Shaham at the Southern Theatre (21 E. Main St.) on Thursday, January 26, at 8pm. Tickets are $28-$68 and can be purchased at the Ohio Theatre Ticket Office (39 E. State St.), all Ticketmaster outlets, and www.ticketmaster.com. To purchase tickets by phone, please call (614) 228-8600 or (800) 745-3000. The Ohio Theatre Ticket Office will also be open two hours prior to each performance. Students between the ages of 13-19 may purchase $5 High Five tickets while available. College students with a valid ID can purchase $15 tickets the week of the performance.

For more information about the CSO's gala celebration, including the evening's dinner and receptions, please visit www.columbussymphony.com.

The 2011-12 Masterworks Series is made possible through the generous support of season sponsor Battelle.

About CSO Music Director Jean-Marie Zeitouni
A graduate of the Montreal Conservatory, Jean-Marie Zeitouni has emerged as one of Canada's brightest young conductors with an eloquent yet fiery style in repertoire ranging from Baroque to contemporary music. He was installed as Music Director of the Columbus Symphony in October 2010, and also serves as principal conductor and artistic director designate of I Musici de Montréal, a prestigious Canadian chamber orchestra. Jean-Marie also enjoys a long association with Les Violons du Roy, a celebrated chamber orchestra based in Quebec City, first as conductor-in-residence, then as associate conductor, and since 2008, as principal guest conductor. Over the years, he has led the ensemble in more than 200 performances in the province of Québec, across Canada, and in Mexico. In 2006, he recorded his first CD with Les Violons du Roy entitled Piazzolla which received a 2007 JUNO Award for Classical Album of the Year in the category of Solo or Chamber Ensemble. They also recorded two subsequent CDs-Bartok (2008) and Britten (2010).

About guest violinist Gil Shaham
Gil Shaham celebrated the 30th anniversary of his first public performance last year. Now 40, he is a familiar soloist on television broadcasts and has received such esteemed awards as the Avery Fisher Prize in 2008 and the Premio Internazionale of Siena's Accademia Chigiana in 1992. Praised for his uncommon balance of virtuosity and warmth, he has embarked on an imaginative retrospective of the remarkable series of violin concertos composed in the 1930s: Berg, Stravinsky, Bartók, Barber, Walton, Prokofiev Second, and Karl Amadeus Hartmann's Concerto funebre, with many others to come. He has amassed a discography of over 20 CDs for Deutsche Grammophon and now records for his own label, Canary Records. He plays the 1699 "Countess Polignac" Stradivarius.

About Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827)
Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. He is considered to have been the most crucial figure in the transitional period between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western classical music, and remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time. Symphony No. 7 in A major was the seventh of his nine symphonies. He worked on it while staying in the Bohemian spa town of Teplice in the hope of improving his health. It was completed in 1812, and dedicated to Count Moritz von Fries. At its debut, Beethoven was noted as remarking that it was one of his best works. The second movement Allegretto was the most popular movement and had to be encored. The instant popularity of the Allegretto resulted in its frequent performance separate from the complete symphony.

About Johannes Brahms (1833–1897)
German composer and pianist Johannes Brahms was one of the leading musicians of the Romantic period. Brahms spent much of his professional life in Vienna, Austria, where he was a leader in the musical scene. Today, many of his works have become staples of modern concert repertoire. A categorical perfectionist, Brahms destroyed many of his own works and left several unpublished. Violin Concerto in D major is a violin concerto in three movements composed by Brahms in 1878 and dedicated to his friend, violinist Joseph Joachim. It is Brahms' only violin concerto, and according to Joachim, one of the four great German violin concerti.

www.columbussymphony.com

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