Anchorage Symphony to Present VIRTUOSITY Concert This Month

On Saturday, February 26th (7:30 pm), the Anchorage Symphony takes the stage for their fourth classic concert of the season, Virtuosity. This evening of musical mastery and artistic performances includes Rossini's comedic overture from The Thieving Magpie, Billy Child's new Violin Concerto No. 2 featuring powerhouse violinist Rachel Barton Pine, and Beethoven's lively Symphony No. 2.

The ASO is committed to contributing regularly to the classical repertoire by commissioning new works. In this concert, they are honored to have co-commissioned a work that reflects our time by one of America's foremost contemporary composers and GRAMMY Award-winning artist, Billy Childs. Growing up surrounded by jazz, classical, and popular music, you can hear these influences in Childs' compositions today. A piano prodigy, Childs gave public performances by age six and was admitted to the University of Southern California Community School of Performing Arts at just sixteen.

By the time he completed his Bachelor of Music degree from USC, he had become well known in the LA jazz community. Upon being discovered by trumpet legend Freddie Hubbard the two toured together, performing and recording. Childs has since recorded and performed with some of the greatest jazz musicians of his time, including J.J. Johnson and Wynton Marsalis.

While a well-regarded performer, Childs is also an in-demand composer. He has been commissioned by large orchestras such as the LA Philharmonic and Detroit Symphony; and smaller groups like The Kronos Quartet and The Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, to name a few. In 2006, he was awarded a Chamber Music America Composer's Grant, and in 2009 was the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship. He was also awarded the Doris Duke Performing Artist Award in 2013, and most recently, the music award from The American Academy of Arts and Letters in 2015. In 2016, Childs was appointed President of Chamber Music America.

Childs composed his Violin Concerto No. 2 during the first complex wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. He found himself channeling all the anxiety and uncertainty around him into a new piece of music. While in an unprecedented time, Childs also composed his new concerto a little differently. He wrote it backward, writing the third movement first.

Childs writes, "The 3rd movement, the most angular and dense of the three, was written first because agitation and edginess were the first things that occurred to me. But I knew I didn't want the piece to begin like that; I wanted it to end with that - an assertive resilience which spoke to personal triumph over our fears about COVID, American race relations, and environmental issues which were exacerbated in 2020. This was the first sentiment that prevailed in my mind as I set out to compose the piece."

His second violin concerto was composed specifically for the evening's soloist, Rachel Barton Pine. Childs writes, "I want to thank the great Rachel Barton Pine for commissioning this piece - my third composition was written especially for her. It is truly an honor to compose a piece for such a singular and extraordinary soloist. I also want to thank all of the co-commissioners for this project: the Grant Park Orchestra, the Boulder Philharmonic, the Anchorage Symphony, and the Interlochen Concert Orchestra."

Billy Childs will be joining the ASO on February 26th for their performance of his new concerto. The ASO is also delighted to once again share the stage with the "exciting and boundary-defying" (Washington Post) Rachel Barton Pine. Some may remember her superb interpretation of Vivaldi's Four Seasons in 2014 or her spectacular performance of Mozart's Violin Concerto, No. 5 in 2018. Performing on a Joseph Guarnerius del Gesu (Cremona 1742), known as the "ex-Bazzini, ex-Soldat," Pine has become a leading interpreter of the great classical masterworks and an international concert violinist. She thrills audiences worldwide with her dazzling techniques, illustrious tone, and emotional honesty.

At only ten years old, Pine began her career with the Chicago Symphony. From that defining moment, she has gone on to solo with many of the world's most prestigious symphonies, including the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic, and the Netherlands Radio Kamer Filharmonie. She also holds prizes from several of the world's leading competitions, including the gold medal at the 1992 J.S. Bach International Violin Competition in Leipzig, Germany.

Not content to just perform the notes on the page, Pine is one of the few contemporary violinists to write her own cadenzas for many of the works she performs. With The Rachel Barton Pine Collection, she became the only living artist and the first woman to join great musicians like Fritz Kreisler and Jascha Heifetz in Carl Fischer's Masters Collection series. She also has a prolific discography of 36 CDs on the Avie, Cedille, Warner Classics, and Dorian labels.

Whether from the stage, teaching students in a master class, or greeting people after a performance, Pine has an incredible ability to connect with people. During the first wave of COVID-19 quarantines, she took that charisma to the virtual world. Her online performances included Mozart's Concerto No. 1 with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and Domingo Hindoyan, a Grant Park Music Festival event where she and Billy Childs offered a preview of his new violin concerto, a Washington Performing Arts tribute honoring Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and many others.

Opening this special evening is Rossini's overture from his playful and mischievous opera La Gazza Ladra (The Thieving Magpie). Recognizable by its militaristic opening, The Thieving Magpie is a comedic opera about a classic case of mistaken identity and a stolen silver spoon. The overture opens with snare drums, which caught audience members' attention at the 1821 premiere because this was one of the first times they were heard in a symphony orchestra. Contemporary audiences may recognize the overture from such films as A Clockwork Orange or the BBC series Sherlock. It is often used in scenes as a cue that mischief is afoot.

When putting together a list of virtuosic composers and performers in the classical repertoire, you must include Beethoven. While listening to his Symphony No. 2, it is difficult to reconcile the deep depression he was experiencing when he wrote it. His hearing loss had become more pronounced, to a point where he stopped accepting invitations to social engagements. He was also beginning to realize this loss was incurable. He wrote to a physician friend of his, "that jealous demon, my wretched health, has put a nasty spoke in my wheel; and it amounts to this, that for the past three years my hearing has become weaker and weaker." This letter is the first time Beethoven admitted to anyone that he was losing his hearing.

Such was his depression that Beethoven considered ending his life, writing, "I would have ended my life. Only my art held me back. It seemed to me impossible to leave the world until I had produced all that I felt was within me." Despite this deep depression, his Second Symphony is full of vitality and humor, demonstrating his strength and resolve to seize the day. After its premiere, Hector Berlioz remarked, "this Symphony is smiling throughout." Audience members are sure to leave the Atwood Concert Hall full of Beethoven's resolve and optimism.
Tickets for Virtuosity are now available to attend in person or to experience the multi-camera, high definition live stream.

Anchorage Symphony's Virtuosity, Saturday, February 26, 2022, (7:30pm) in the Atwood Concert Hall, Alaska Center for the Performing Arts. Infrared headphones for the hearing impaired are available concert night from the House Manager on the Orchestra Level. Tickets: Adult, $52-$27; Youth, $24.75-$12.50; Senior, $46.50-$24.50; Streaming Only $39 (prices include surcharges and fees). Military, student and group discounts available. To purchase tickets, go to www.centertix.com or call 263-ARTS (2787), toll free at 1-877-ARTS- TIX.

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