Great Violin Concertos:
Matthew Trusler Plays Mendelssohn
A multi-talented UK virtuoso
Having studied with Ruggiero Ricci, Matthew Trusler is often compared by the critics to violinists of the “golden” era. The multi-talented virtuoso performs with orchestras and in recitals and chamber concerts around the world “with effortless perfection”. He also runs his own record label Orchid Classics which supports the LTCF, a foundation he founded to provide the relief of sickness in newborn babies, and has been a film consultant. In his Hong Kong début, he will perform with the Hong Kong Sinfonietta and Music Director/ Conductor Yip Wing-sie in one of the best-loved violin concertos of all time.
The programme also features Beethoven’s delightful Symphony No 8 and local composer George Lam’s new commissioned work The Queen’s Gramophone, a 2009 imagination of old Hong Kong in the 1950s.
The concert will be held on:
6 November 2009 (Fri) 8:00pm at HK City Hall Concert Hall.
Tickets: $280, $200, $120
A celebration of Felix Mendelssohn’s 200th birthday
To celebrate the 200th anniversary of the famous composer’s birth, Hong Kong Sinfonietta presents Mendelssohn’s violin concerto in E minor – one of the five great violin concertos (among Tchaikovsky, Beethoven, Brahms and Sibelius) and a challenge for even the most accomplished violinist.
Mendelssohn was praised as the ‘Mozart of the 19th century’ by his friend and fellow famous composer, Robert Schumann. He started composing at 12, and just like Mozart, was considered a child prodigy. In his short lifespan of just 38 years, he composed a great collection of symphonies, sonatas, operas and concertos. He was also the music director/ conductor of the famous Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, which he regarded as an important milestone in his career.
In this concert, Matthew Trusler will be playing the famous concerto on a 1711 Stradivarius with one of Heifetz’s bows.
For further information, please contact Ms Amanda Mok, PR & Communications Manager:
Email：amanda.mok@hksinfonietta.org Tel: 3607 2328
For photos, please download from http://www.hksl.org/eng/media/imageLibrary.aspx or contact Ms Amanda Mok.
Hong Kong Sinfonietta
Matthew Trusler Plays Mendelssohn
Music Director/ Conductor: Yip Wing-sie
Violin: Matthew Trusler
6th November, 2009 (Fri) 8:00pm
Hong Kong City Hall Concert Hall
Tickets：$280, $200, $120
Programme
George Tsz-kwan Lam The Queen’s Gramophone (world première)
Mendelssohn Violin Concerto in E minor, Op 64
Beethoven Symphony No 8 in F, Op 63
Matthew Trusler Violin
“Dazzling playing.” Gramophone
“Matthew Trusler…whose ambiguous balance between tenderness and bitterness he judged to a nicety in an account equally notable for his flawless technical command.” Guardian Unlimited
Hailed by The Times as “an authentic, though British, virtuoso”, Matthew Trusler graduated from Philadelphia’s Curtis Institute of Music in 1998. Following the release of Trusler’s disc – Blues – The Daily Telegraph declared that “Trusler assumes the Heifetz (and Perlman) mantle with ease”. A passionate lover of the style and approach to violin playing during the Heifetz era, Trusler performs with one of Heifetz’s bows, given to him by Herbert Axelrod (who himself received it from Heifetz). Trusler has a particular affinity for the composers of that period, receiving much acclaim for his performances of concertos by Walton, Berg, Britten, Prokofiev and Korngold.
Matthew Trusler has been invited to perform as a recitalist and concerto soloist throughout Europe, Australia, the USA, Japan and South Africa. In the UK he has performed with most of the major orchestras, and has appeared further afield with the Minnesota Orchestra, NDR Hanover, Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra and Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra. Some of his personal highlights include tours with the Australian orchestras (including appearances in Perth, Queensland and Tasmania), a tour of Germany with the Academy of St Martin-in-the-Fields and Sir Neville Marriner and a tour of Mexico with Martyn Brabbins and the Philharmonia.
Alongside his concerto work Matthew Trusler is an accomplished recitalist and an avid chamber musician. Trusler has performed frequently with Wayne Marshall, and the duo’s recent disc – Blues –presents a collection of short pieces by composers directly influenced by jazz. The CD was released to huge critical acclaim, including CD of the week in The Telegraph, CD of the week on Classic FM, and Recital CD of the month in The Strad magazine. Collaborations with other eminent musicians have included Piotr Anderszewski, Martin Roscoe, Peter Donohoe, Imogen Cooper, Leonidas Kavakos, Lynn Harrell and Joseph Silverstein. Trusler has performed recitals in leading venues around the world including the Wigmore Hall in London, the Auditorium du Louvre in Paris and the Palais des Beaux Arts in Brussels.
Future collaborations include a recording of violin and viola repertoire with Lawrence Power, trio performances with Guy Johnston and Huw Watkins, and several film collaborations with conductor and composer Carl Davis, including the world première of Davis' piece for violin and orchestra, Anne Frank Remembered.
Trusler founded Orchid Classics in 2005 as a creative extension to his love of performance. Distributed internationally by Naxos, the label is developing projects with artists including Joan Rodgers, Guy Johnston, James Gilchrist and Lawrence Power. Trusler's new recording of violin concertos by Korngold and Rozsa, with the Dusseldorf Symphony Orchestra under Yasuo Shinozaki, will be released this October. Orchid Classics supports The Lenny Trusler Children's Foundation (LTCF) of which Trusler is a Founder.
Trusler has a passion for film, and has acted as a consultant on the adaptation of Norman Lebrecht's novel The Song of Names for film, the screenplay being written by Jeffrey Caine (Oscar Nominee for The Constant Gardener). Earlier this year, Trusler recorded the violin solos for the soundtrack of a new French film by director Frédéric Mermoud, Cómplices.
Matthew Trusler holds a teaching post at the Malmö Academy of Music in Sweden, and lives in Paris with his wife and young daughter.
Please visit Matthew Trusler’s website for more information：www.matthewtrusler.com
George Tsz-Kwan Lam Composer
George Lam (b. 1981) lives in Durham, North Carolina, and is pursuing a PhD in music composition at Duke University. Recently, George has been interested in writing music that directly engages with everyday life, exploring the intersection between music, theater, and documentary. George is currently working on a new documentary opera about the legacy of Durham's cigarette industry, created from collected interviews, oral histories and archival materials.
George's music has been performed by Volti (San Francisco, CA), American Opera Projects (Brooklyn, NY), Red Clay Saxophone Quartet (Greensboro, NC), Boston University Concert Band, Charles River Wind Ensemble (Boston, MA), Aspen Contemporary Ensemble, Hong Kong Voices and the Hong Kong Sinfonietta. George was a Schumann Fellow at the 2006 Aspen Music Festival and School's composition master class, as well as an Angus Allnatt Foundation Fellow at the 2004 Dartington International Summer School. Other recent fellowships and residencies include American Opera Projects' Composers & The Voice workshop series, the Virginia Arts Festival John Duffy Composers Institute, and the 2007-08 Volti Choral Arts Laboratory commissioning and residency program.
George holds degrees from the Peabody Conservatory of Music and Boston University, and is co-artistic director of Rhymes With Opera, a new opera company dedicated to bringing new opera and music-theater into unexpected spaces.
Please visit George’s website for more information about his compositions: http://www.gtlam.com
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Hong Kong Sinfonietta is the Venue Partner of the Hong Kong City Hall
Hong Kong Sinfonietta is financially supported by the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative region
Hong Kong Sinfonietta reserves the right to change the programme and artists
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