February 10, 2006
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Portland, Ore. … Pianist Yakov Kasman, who wowed audiences with his eleventh-hour bravura performance of Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3 last season returns to perform Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 1 with the Oregon Symphony led by Guest Conductor Stefan Solyom on March 11, 12 and 13 at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, with an additional performance on March 14 at Salem’s Smith Auditorium. Media support is provided by The Oregonian. Lufthansa is the exclusive airline sponsor for the Symphony’s Classical series.
Kasman stepped in as a last-minute substitute to perform Rachmaninoff’s demanding third piano concerto last season and earned himself rave reviews from critics and audience alike. This season he agreed to learn Rachmaninoff’s First Piano Concerto especially for his performances with the Symphony. The concerto, which Artistic Administrator Charles Calmer describes as “typical of Rachmaninoff’s signature beautiful sound,” features virtuoso writing for piano and dramatic accompaniment for the orchestra.
Solyom, who makes his American debut with the Symphony in these performances, leads the orchestra in the Symphony premiere of Tchaikovsky’s Orchestral Suite No. 3 in G major. Music Director Carlos Kalmar describes this four movement work as “a brilliant orchestra showcase.” Kalmar adds, “It’s his greatest symphony, but it’s light music.” The final movement, a theme and variations, features an extended solo for the concertmaster.
The concert also includes the Symphony premiere of Stravinsky’s “Dumbarton Oaks” Concerto. This work, written in 1938, features a lighthearted rhythmic texture suggestive of the Baroque style. “It’s full of humor,” says Calmer. “You’ll smile just listening for what comes next.”
Oregon Symphony Classical concerts regularly include additional opportunities for listeners to learn more about the music and the orchestra. These activities include:
Pre-concert talks: Music historian Bob Kingston and KBPS host Patrick McElroy will lead a discussion one hour before the concert of the works to be performed. Media support for “Pre-Concert Talks” is provided by Classical Millennium.
Saturday: Guest Conductor Stefan Solyom will speak briefly from the podium in “Saturday Interactive.” Media support for “Saturday Interactive” is provided by KINK fm102.
Performances are scheduled for Saturday, March 11 at 7:30 p.m., Sunday, March 12 at 2 p.m. and Monday, March 13 at 8 p.m. at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, with an added performance on Tuesday, March 14 at Willamette University’s Smith Auditorium in Salem. Tickets range in price from $20 to $85 and may be purchased at the Oregon Symphony Customer Service Office (923 S.W. Washington), Monday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. or charged by phone at (503) 228-1353 or (800) 228-7343 Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Discounted tickets for groups of eight or more are available through the Group Sales hotline at (503) 416-6380. Tickets also may be purchased at all Ticketmaster outlets (503-790-ARTS) or through Ticketmaster Online, via the Symphony’s Web site at www.orsymphony.org. Service fees may apply.
Mr. Kasman’s debut in America in 1997 as Silver Medalist in the Tenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in Fort Worth was the culmination of several competition triumphs and tours in Europe and the Middle East, including prizes at the 1991 Valentino Bucchi Competition in Rome, the 1991 London World Piano Competition, the 1992 Artur Rubinstein International Competition in Tel Aviv and the 1995 International Prokofiev Competition at St. Petersburg.
Since his American debut, he has given concerts in the United States, South America, Europe, Russia and Asia, including recitals in New York City, Boston, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Cleveland, St. Louis, Kansas City, St. Paul, Atlanta and Birmingham. He has appeared as soloist with more than fifty orchestras including the Buffalo, Oregon, Pacific, Syracuse, Memphis, Miami, Ft. Worth, Nashville and Alabama symphonies, Athens State Orchestra, the Orchestre de Lille and Orchestre Philharmonique de Montpellier in France, the Singapore Symphony, the National Symphony Orchestra of Taiwan, Orquestra Simfonica de Baleares (Spain), Daejeon Philharmonic Orchestra (South Korea) and the Moscow Philharmonia Orchestra.
Mr. Kasman has twelve studio CD recordings on the Calliopelabel. His two-CD set of the recordings of the complete sonatas of Prokofiev was awarded the “Grand Prix de la Nouvelle Academie du Disque” in France in 1996. Other CDs include solo works by Haydn, Scriabin, Stravinsky, and Rachmaninov. The International Piano Quarterly magazine recommended his CD of Moussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition” as one of 14 equally ranked best in a survey of recordings over the past 75 years. His recording of Shostakovich’s Concerto No. 1, and Schnittke’s Concerto for Piano and Strings, released in 2000, received the “Choc du monde de la musique” award in France, is rated highest for artistry and sound quality by Classics Today.com, and referred to as “superlative” in the American Record Guide. He has also recorded two CDs with Harmonia Mundi; the most recent one with the Pacific Symphony includes Piano Concerto No. 2 by Lukas Foss, released in 2001. In 2003 he completed recording of all Scriabin piano sonatas and in 2004 recorded an All-Tchaikovsky CD featuring “The Seasons” and Grand Sonata in G-Major (Rated 10/10 by ClassicsTodayFrance.com in December 2005)
Born in the city of Orel, near Moscow, Mr. Kasman began his piano studies at the age of five. A graduate and postgraduate of the Moscow Conservatory and previously a professor of piano at the Music College of the Conservatory, he is now Professor of Piano and Artist-in-Residence at the University of Alabama, Birmingham. His students are winners of regional and national competitions. For more information, visit the website www.yakovkasman.com.
Stefan Solyom has rapidly acquired an international reputation to complement his firmly established status in the musical life of his native Sweden. His appearances in the opera house and on the concert platform have drawn praise for their lyrical warmth and strong conviction, and the immediacy of his rapport and engagement with orchestral players has delighted critics, audiences and musicians alike.
Born in Stockholm in 1979, Solyom studied horn and then conducting at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm and the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki. A pupil of Leif Segerstam and Jorma Panula – two of the world’s most revered and colorful conducting teachers – he was a prize-winner at the 2000 International Sibelius Conducting Competition. His career blossomed from the start: already his work in Scandinavia and Finland has included regular engagements with the Swedish Radio Orchestra, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, Danish National Radio Orchestra, Finnish Radio Orchestra, Helsinki Philharmonic and Lahti Symphony Orchestra. In Germany he has conducted the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, MDR Leipzig Symphony Orchestra, Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra (SWR) and NDR Symphony Orchestra Hamburg.
In 1999 he made his debut with the Swedish Royal Opera, for whom he has conducted Ingvar Lidholm’s “A Dream Play,” Mozart’s “The Magic Flute,” the World Premiere of Carl Unander-Scharin’s “Christina,” Offenbach’s “The Tales of Hoffmann,” Gefors’s “Hummelhonung”and Rossini’s “The Barber of Seville.” When he conducted “The Barber of Seville”again at the Komische Oper Berlin in 2002, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung praised his treatment of the score as “light as a feather,” adding that “the whole evening sparkled with spirit and delight”. Other operatic engagements in Germany include Strauss’s “Die Fledermaus”(Komische Oper) and Gounod’s “Roméo et Juliette”(Frankfurt Opera 2004; Munich Opera, 2005). In 2005 he made his debut with Grange Park Opera in the UK conducting Mozart’s “Don Giovanni.”
Solyom has shown complete assurance in a wide range of styles, from comic operetta to Brahms Symphonies and from Rachmaninov to Sandström. Current or forthcoming engagements include debuts with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie, and Suisse Romande Orchestra, and return appearances with Frankfurt Opera (Puccini’s “Tosca”and Gounod’s “Faust”) and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra.
