Premieres Gil Shaham, Leon Botstein, The Orchestra Now

• Scott Wheeler (b. 1952): Birds of America:
• 1 Wheeler: Birds of America: Quietly Soaring 08:23
• 2 Wheeler: Birds of America: Adagietto 05:06
• 3 Wheeler: Birds of America: Allegro vivo 05:00
• Anver Dorman (b. 1975): Violin Concerto No. 2 "Nigunim":
• 4 Dorman: Violin Concerto No. 2 "Nigunim": I. Adagio Religioso 06:03
• 5 Dorman: Violin Concerto No. 2 "Nigunim": II. Scherzo 03:59
• 6 Dorman: Violin Concerto No. 2 "Nigunim": III. Adagio 07:25
• 7 Dorman: Violin Concerto No. 2 "Nigunim": IV. Presto 04:19
• Bright Sheng (b. 1955): Let Fly:
• 8 Sheng: Let Fly 28:16
• Total Runtime 01:08:31

Info zu Premieres

Performing three concertos written specifically for him, violinist Gil Shaham is joined by conductor Leon Botstein and The Orchestra Now (TON), Bard College’s graduate orchestral masters. Scott Wheeler’s "Birds of America" (Violin Concerto No. 2) was premiered in 2021. The birds making appearances in the concerto include a hawk, a whippoorwill, loons, a mourning dove, and a downy woodpecker. Winner of the 2018 Azrieli Prize for Jewish Music, Avner Dorman’s "Nigunim" (Violin Concerto No.2) was originally commissioned as Sonata No. 3 for violin and piano by New York’s 92nd Street Y, Gil, and his sister, pianist Orli Shaham. Gil premiered the orchestrated version that appears on this album with CityMusic Cleveland, conducted by Dorman, in 2014. Chinese-American composer Bright Sheng’s violin concerto "Let Fly" had its premiere in 2013 with Shaham and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, led by legendary conductor Leonard Slatkin. The title of the work was inspired by an aural image of the violin melody flying off into the air. BELOW: Gil Shaham plays Scott Wheeler’s “Birds of America” (Violin Concerto No. 2)

Gil Shaham, violin
The Orchestra Now
Leon Botstein, conductor

Gil Shaham
is one of the foremost violinists of our time; his flawless technique combined with his inimitable warmth and generosity of spirit has solidified his renown as an American master. The Grammy Award-winner, also named Musical America’s “Instrumentalist of the Year,” is sought after throughout the world for concerto appearances with leading orchestras and conductors, and regularly gives recitals and appears with ensembles on the world’s great concert stages and at the most prestigious festivals.

Highlights of recent years include the acclaimed recording and performances of J.S. Bach’s complete sonatas and partitas for solo violin. In the coming seasons in addition to championing these solo works he will join his long time duo partner pianist, Akira Eguchi in recitals throughout North America, Europe, and Asia.

Appearances with orchestra regularly include the Berlin Philharmonic, Boston Symphony, Chicago Symphony, Israel Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, Orchestre de Paris, and San Francisco Symphony as well as multi-year residencies with the Orchestras of Montreal, Stuttgart and Singapore. With orchestra, Mr. Shaham continues his exploration of “Violin Concertos of the 1930s,” including the works of Barber, Bartok, Berg, Korngold, Prokofiev, among many others.

Mr. Shaham has more than two dozen concerto and solo CDs to his name, earning multiple Grammys, a Grand Prix du Disque, Diapason d’Or, and Gramophone Editor’s Choice. Many of these recordings appear on Canary Classics, the label he founded in 2004. His CDs include 1930s Violin Concertos, Virtuoso Violin Works, Elgar’s Violin Concerto, Hebrew Melodies, The Butterfly Lovers and many more. His most recent recording in the series 1930s Violin Concertos Vol. 2, including Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto and Bartok’s Violin Concerto No. 2, was nominated for a Grammy Award. He will release a new recording of Beethoven and Brahms Concertos with The Knights in 2020.

Mr. Shaham was born in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, in 1971. He moved with his parents to Israel, where he began violin studies with Samuel Bernstein of the Rubin Academy of Music at the age of 7, receiving annual scholarships from the America-Israel Cultural Foundation. In 1981, he made debuts with the Jerusalem Symphony and the Israel Philharmonic, and the following year, took the first prize in Israel’s Claremont Competition. He then became a scholarship student at Juilliard, and also studied at Columbia University.

Gil Shaham was awarded an Avery Fisher Career Grant in 1990, and in 2008 he received the coveted Avery Fisher Prize. In 2012, he was named “Instrumentalist of the Year” by Musical America. He plays the 1699 “Countess Polignac” Stradivarius, and lives in New York City with his wife, violinist Adele Anthony, and their three children.

Dieses Album enthält kein Booklet