The Columbus Symphony Joins Gil Shaham and the Dubuque Symphony for Grand Opening Concert, 5/11

On Saturday, May 11, the Columbus Symphony, the Dubuque Symphony, and internationally renowned violinist Gil Shaham will perform a special concert for the grand opening of the University of Dubuque's new, state-of-the-art Heritage Center. The collaboration was initiated by Columbus residents Joe and Linda Chlapaty, graduates of Dubuque and major supporters of the $30 million, 80,000 square foot campus center for fine arts, performing arts, and worship. The evening's program includes Beethoven's Seventh Symphony conducted by DSO Music Director William Intriligator which will be followed by the Brahms Violin Concerto conducted by CSO resident Associate Conductor Peter Stafford Wilson and featuring guest violinist Gil Shaham.

The concert will be held at the Heritage Center (2000 University Ave., Dubuque, IA) on Saturday, May 11, at 8pm. Tickets are $75 and can be purchased at the Heritage Center Farber Box Office or by phone at (563) 585-SHOW. The Heritage Center Ticket Office will also open 90 minutes prior to the performance.

About guest violinist Gil Shaham
Heralded as "one of today's pre-eminent violinists" by The New York Times and named Musical America Worldwide's 2012 Instrumentalist of the Year, Gil Shaham 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 the Heritage Center
The new Heritage Center is central to the Dubuque campus, providing a multitude of venues to serve students, faculty, staff, and the public. Student spaces include a café with an open-mic' stage, convenience store, ice cream parlor and lounge, mail/copy/print center, cyber café, and offices for faculty and student life.

Classrooms are dispersed throughout, including a computer lab for music composition, a visual/fine arts classroom, a choral music classroom, an instrumental rehearsal room, and numerous practice and rehearsal rooms for performers of all disciplines and abilities.

Public spaces include a 1,000-seat main hall and lobby, a 200-seat black box theater and auditorium space, and an art gallery. The main hall is designed to serve as the premier performance hall for campus, local, regional, and national troupes in music, dance, public speaking, and drama, while also providing first-class instructional facilities for the theater and performing arts programs at UD.

www.ColumbusSymphony.com