Friday, October 22, 2010

Peters' Music News: 'Excitement at Pasadena Symphony Opening Concert: Young Artist, Antique Violin'



[James DePreist and Anne Akiko Meyers]

“Talk about enthusiasm. Pasadena Symphony’s got it: plenty of it. With Saturday’s season opener (Oct. 23) with two performances—at 2:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m., there is a new venue, the Ambassador Auditorium, a new conductor, Artistic Advisor to the Symphony, James DePreist, and a soloist, Anne Akiko Meyers, the violinist who’s as modern as you can get given that she accepts club dates as well as full-scale classical gigs.

“You probably already know about Pasadena Symphony—that it is starting its 83rd season; and that its professional corps contain first rate classical musicians, many of whom are on the A-list for studio calls. You may or may not remember that Jorge Mester is not conducting this year, but rather a season-long guest conductor list will lead this prestigious band with the lead-off leader James DePreist, currently Director of Conducting and Orchestral studies at the Julliard School in New York.”

“But I want to talk about the music program and especially the violin soloist, Anne Akiko Meyers. She recently gave up her old Stradivarius which hailed from 1730 and acquired, at bid auction, a 1697 Strad for a world-record setting price of $3.6 million. She will bring with her the 313 year-old instrument she says is full of 'power, feel and range of color' to the Ambassador Auditorium to perform Samuel Barber’s Violin Concerto, a work composed by the American in 1939. The 22 minute piece with Myers will be a knockout. With that new Stradivarius of hers, it should be dynamite.” [James DePreist (b. 1936) is profiled at http://www.JamesDePreist.com and AfriClassical.com]

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