Columbus Symphony's BEETHOVEN: PASTORAL SYMPHONY to Feature Guest Violinist and Pulitzer Prize-Winning Composer Caroline Shaw

Even though they are two centuries apart, composers Ludwig van Beethoven and Pulitzer Prize-winning Caroline Shaw both speak with a provocative voice that is raw, earthy, and dug deep from the soul. Conducted by CSO Music Director Rossen Milanov, the full program will include Haydn's Symphony No. 59 ("The Fire"), an original Caroline Shaw composition for violin and orchestra titled Lo, and Beethoven's Symphony No. 6 ("Pastoral"). Shaw will be the featured guest violinist in Lo.

The Columbus Symphony presents Beethoven: Pastoral Symphony at the Southern Theatre (21 E. Main St.) on Friday and Saturday, October 20 and 21, at 8pm. Tickets start at $10 and can be purchased at the CAPA Ticket Center (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 CAPA Ticket Center will also be open two hours prior to each performance.

Prelude - Patrons are invited to join Christopher Purdy in the theatre at 7pm for a 30-minute, pre-concert discussion about the works to be performed.

Postlude - After the Friday performance, patrons are invited to join the musicians of the Columbus Symphony at Thurber's Bar in the adjacent Westin Hotel (310 S. High St.). After the Saturday performance, patrons are encouraged to stay and participate in a talk-back with Caroline Shaw from the stage of the Southern Theatre.

Additional - At 2pm on Sunday, October 22, Beethoven enthusiasts are invited to meet at the Grange Insurance Audubon Center (505 W. Whittier St.) for a free, Pastoral Symphony-inspired, hour-long, guided walk through the Scioto Audubon Metro Park, culminating in a performance of a Beethoven string quartet by Columbus Symphony musicians.

About CSO Music Director Rossen Milanov

Respected and admired by audiences and musicians alike, Rossen Milanov is currently the Music Director of the Columbus Symphony Orchestra, Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra, Princeton Symphony Orchestra, and the Orquesta Sinfónica del Principado de Asturias in Spain.

Milanov has established himself as a conductor with considerable national and international presence. He has appeared with the symphonies of Colorado, Detroit, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, Baltimore, Seattle, and Fort Worth, as well as the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center and Carnegie Hall "Link Up" education projects with Chicago's Orchestra of St. Luke's and Civic Orchestra.

Internationally, Milanov has collaborated with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra de la Suisse Romand, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Aalborg, Latvian, and Hungarian National Symphony Orchestras. He has also conducted orchestras in Toronto, Vancouver, Mexico, Colombia, Sao Paolo, Belo Horizonte, New Zealand, and the KwaZulu-Natal Philharmonic in South Africa. In the Far East, he has appeared with the symphonies of NHK, Sapporo, Tokyo, and Singapore, the Hyogo Performing Arts Center Orchestra, the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Hong Kong Philharmonic.

Milanov has collaborated with some of the world's preeminent artists, including Yo-Yo Ma, Itzhak Perlman, Joshua Bell, Midori, Christian Tetzlaff, and André Watts. During his 11-year tenure with the Philadelphia Orchestra, he conducted more than 200 performances. In 2015, he completed a 15-year tenure as Music Director of the nationally recognized training orchestra Symphony in C in New Jersey. In 2013, he completed a 17-year tenure with the New Symphony Orchestra in his native city of Sofia, Bulgaria. His passion for new music has resulted in numerous world premieres of works by composers such as Derek Bermel, Richard Danielpour, Nicolas Maw, and Gabriel Prokofiev among others.

Noted for his versatility, Milanov is also a welcome presence in the worlds of opera and ballet. Most recently, he collaborated with Komische Oper Berlin (Shostakovich's Lady Macbeth of Mtzensk), Opera Oviedo (Spanish premiere of Tchaikovsky's Mazzepa and Bartok's Bluebeard's Castle that was awarded best Spanish production for 2015), and Opera Columbus (Verdi's La Traviata).

An experienced ballet conductor, he has been seen at New York City Ballet and collaborated with some of the best-known choreographers of our time such as Mats Ek, Benjamin Millepied, and most recently, Alexei Ratmansky in the critically acclaimed revival of Swan Lake in Zurich with the Zurich Ballet and in Paris with the La Scala Ballet.

Milanov studied conducting at the Curtis Institute of Music and the Juilliard School where he received the Bruno Walter Memorial Scholarship.

About composer Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)

German composer and pianist Ludwig van Beethoven was a crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras of Western art music, and remains one of the most famous and influential of all composers. His Symphony No. 6, also known as the Pastoral Symphony, was completed in 1808, and was first performed in the Theater an der Wien on December 22, 1808. Beethoven was a lover of nature who spent a great deal of his time on walks in the country. He frequently left Vienna to work in rural locations. He said the Sixth Symphony was "more the expression of feeling than painting," a point underlined by the title of the first movement.

About composer Caroline Adelaide Shaw (b. 1982)

Shaw is a New York-based musician, and the youngest ever winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Music for her enigmatic composition Partita for 8 Voices. Her career defies categorization-she performs as a violin soloist, chamber musician, and as a vocalist in the Grammy-winning ensemble Roomful of Teeth. Recent commissions include works for Carnegie Hall, the Guggenheim Museum, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra with Jonathan Biss, and mezzo-soprano Anne Sofie Von Otter. She also frequently collaborates with Kanye West. Currently a doctoral candidate at Princeton, Caroline also studied at Rice and Yale. Shaw's 2015 composition for violin and orchestra, Lo, has two continuous movements speckled with her signature gestures and textures that are densely layered and inventive.

www.columbussymphony.com

CALENDAR LISTING

The Columbus Symphony presents BEETHOVEN: PASTORAL SYMPHONY

Friday & Saturday, October 20 & 21, 8 pm

Southern Theatre (21 E. Main St.)

Even though they are two centuries apart, composers Ludwig van Beethoven and Pulitzer Prize-winning Caroline Shaw both speak with a provocative voice that is raw, earthy, and dug deep from the soul. Conducted by CSO Music Director Rossen Milanov, the full program will include Haydn's Symphony No. 59 ("The Fire"), an original Caroline Shaw composition for violin and orchestra titled Lo, and Beethoven's Symphony No. 6 ("Pastoral"). Shaw will be the featured guest violinist in Lo. Tickets start at $10 and can be purchased at the CAPA Ticket Center (39 E. State St.), all Ticketmaster outlets, andwww.ticketmaster.com. To purchase tickets by phone, please call (614) 228-8600 or (800) 745-3000.www.columbussymphony.com

Photo credit: Alex Lee

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