Violinist Vadim Gluzman, NPR's #1 New Classical Music Face of 2008 for his recording of the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto, performs the concerto with the Tucson Symphony Orchestra this Thursday, Friday and Sunday, Feb. 11-12 and 14.
Gluzman and the TSO, led by music director and conductor George Hanson, present the only violin concerto by one of the most beloved Romantic era composers ever.
The performances are Thursday and Friday, Feb. 11-12, at 8 p.m. and Sunday, Feb. 14 at 2 p.m. at the Tucson Music Hall.
The Tchaikovsky² program also features Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 6, "Pathétique." There will be CDs for sale, and Gluzman is signing them at all three performances.
The critics rave about Vadim Gluzman.
Hailing his recording of Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto as one of the best CDs of the year, NPR music critic Robin Gehl wrote: "As a teenager, Vadim Gluzman played for the legendary Isaac Stern, who became a source of influence and support. Now, the Ukrainian-born violinist plays his Stradivarius with nearly every major orchestra in the world. Gluzman shares Stern's technical brilliance and passion in Tchaikovsky's great concerto."
After his opening night performance with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Chicago Tribune said, "his powerful bow arm drew a wealth of silken yet intense sound from his instrument, the 1690 Stradivarius, on loan from the Stradivari Society of Chicago."
"Vadim Gluzman gave a blazing performance of the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto using the very violin once owned by the man to whom the work was dedicated in 1878," wrote the South Florida Classical Review after a performance with the Boca Raton Symphonia. "Gluzman's performance on the 1690 Stradivarius that belonged to Leopold Auer was everything a rendition of this eternally appealing concerto should be. It, and he, had it all: Beautiful tone, flawless technique, a hell-for-leather approach to its virtuosic demands, and a heartfelt identification with its most soulful moments."
Born in 1973 in the Ukraine, Vadim Gluzman began studying the violin at the age of seven.
He has collaborated with some of the world's most prominent conductors, including the late Yehudi Menuhin, Neeme Järvi, Marek Janowski, Itzhak Perlman and James DePriest. He appears throughout the world as a soloist and in a duo setting with his wife, pianist Angela Yoffe.
The Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto is one of the best-known violin concertos, and considered to be among the most technically difficult to play. Symphony No. 6, "Pathétique," is the composer's most introspective work, striking contrasts of emotional peaks and valleys.
Tchaikovsky2, with violinist Vadim Gluzman and the TSO
Thursday and Friday,
Feb. 11-12, 8 p.m.
Sunday, Feb. 14, 2 p.m.
The Tucson Music Hall
Tickets, $20 to $72, are available online at www.tucsonsymphony.org; at the Tucson Symphony Orchestra Box Office, 2175 N. Sixth Ave.; or by phone at 882-8585.
