Industry News
Shostakovich Elegy for Solo Viola by Steven R. Gerber Presented on Feb. 9
For Immediate Release
Contact: Jeffrey James Arts Consulting
(516) 586-3433 or jamesarts@worldnet.att.net
Steven R. Gerber’s Elegy on the Name 'Dmitri Shostakovich' for solo viola will be presented by Matthew Jones twice on Tuesday, February 9 – 1 PM at the Palmer Building on the campus of University of Reading, in Reading, U.K. and 6:30 PM that same day by Mr. Jones at the Weston Gallery of the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in Cardiff, Wales. Other composers on the February 9 concerts include Fyodor Druzhinin, Matthew Hindson, Paul Patterson, Enid Luff and Hilary Tann.
Mr. Gerber has written this about his work, “Elegy on the Name ‘Dmitri Shostakovich’ (1991) was written for the Russian violist Elena Ozol…She asked me to write a work for solo viola, and since Shostakovich was her favorite composer I decided one day to play around with the letters of Shostakovich’s name and came up with two motifs that I liked...I was very pleased when one violist who played the piece told me that at that moment it sounded to her as if Shostakovich himself were coming out of the grave.” The work is available for free download at http://www.stevengerber.com/scores.htm.
For more about the University of Reading concert, visit http://www.reading.ac.uk/. More about the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama performance at http://www.rwcmd.ac.uk/.
Hailed by The Strad magazine as ‘a worthy successor to Lionel Tertis, Matthew is violist of the Bridge Duo and the Debussy Ensemble. Recent recital and chamber music venues include London’s Wigmore Hall and South Bank, and the Forbidden City Concert Hall in Beijing; with duo partner Michael Hampton he made his critically acclaimed Carnegie Hall recital debut in 2008. He was also a member of the Badke String Quartet when they won the 2007 Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition, and performs regularly with Ensemble MidtVest in Denmark, an innovative ten-piece chamber ensemble whose work includes classical and contemporary performance and recording, improvisation and collaborations with other art forms.
Matthew is professor of viola at Trinity College of Music, London, and professor of violin, viola and chamber music at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama and Charterhouse International Music Festival. For more information about him, visit http://www.matt-jones.com.
New York-based composer Steven R. Gerber’s music has gained international attention as a result of three CD releases (on Chandos, Koch and Arabesque), featuring several of his major orchestral works, including the Symphony No. 1, Clarinet, Viola, Violin and Cello concertos and Spirituals for Orchestra. Mr. Gerber has written for a number of fine soloists including Jon Manasse for the clarinet concerto, Yuri Bashmet for the viola concerto, Kurt Nikkanen for the violin concerto and Carter Brey for the cello concerto. His work has been performed by groups such as the San Francisco Symphony (Vladimir Ashkenazy conducting), Louisville Orchestra, Knoxville Chamber Orchestra, the Fine Arts Quartet, the National Chamber Orchestra, Washington Metropolitan Philharmonic and the Russian Philharmonic.
His latest CD is Steven R. Gerber – Chamber Music, (Naxos CD 8.559618). Recorded by violinists Kurt Nikkanen, Cho-Liang Lin and Cyrus Beroukhim, cellist Brinton Smith and pianist Sara Davis Buechner, this is a superb collection of 9 of the composer’s finest chamber works, including the Shostakovich Elegy. More about it at http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.559618. His latest Online Update can be read at http://www.jamesarts.com/releases/jan10/SG_nws_012610.pdf. Visit his website at http://www.stevengerber.com.
He is represented by Jeffrey James Arts Consulting. For a CD sampler of Steven R. Gerber’s music or more information, contact them at 516-586-3433 or jamesarts@worldnet.att.net.
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Contact: Jeffrey James Arts Consulting
(516) 586-3433 or jamesarts@worldnet.att.net
Steven R. Gerber’s Elegy on the Name 'Dmitri Shostakovich' for solo viola will be presented by Matthew Jones twice on Tuesday, February 9 – 1 PM at the Palmer Building on the campus of University of Reading, in Reading, U.K. and 6:30 PM that same day by Mr. Jones at the Weston Gallery of the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in Cardiff, Wales. Other composers on the February 9 concerts include Fyodor Druzhinin, Matthew Hindson, Paul Patterson, Enid Luff and Hilary Tann.
Mr. Gerber has written this about his work, “Elegy on the Name ‘Dmitri Shostakovich’ (1991) was written for the Russian violist Elena Ozol…She asked me to write a work for solo viola, and since Shostakovich was her favorite composer I decided one day to play around with the letters of Shostakovich’s name and came up with two motifs that I liked...I was very pleased when one violist who played the piece told me that at that moment it sounded to her as if Shostakovich himself were coming out of the grave.” The work is available for free download at http://www.stevengerber.com/scores.htm.
For more about the University of Reading concert, visit http://www.reading.ac.uk/. More about the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama performance at http://www.rwcmd.ac.uk/.
Hailed by The Strad magazine as ‘a worthy successor to Lionel Tertis, Matthew is violist of the Bridge Duo and the Debussy Ensemble. Recent recital and chamber music venues include London’s Wigmore Hall and South Bank, and the Forbidden City Concert Hall in Beijing; with duo partner Michael Hampton he made his critically acclaimed Carnegie Hall recital debut in 2008. He was also a member of the Badke String Quartet when they won the 2007 Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition, and performs regularly with Ensemble MidtVest in Denmark, an innovative ten-piece chamber ensemble whose work includes classical and contemporary performance and recording, improvisation and collaborations with other art forms.
Matthew is professor of viola at Trinity College of Music, London, and professor of violin, viola and chamber music at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama and Charterhouse International Music Festival. For more information about him, visit http://www.matt-jones.com.
New York-based composer Steven R. Gerber’s music has gained international attention as a result of three CD releases (on Chandos, Koch and Arabesque), featuring several of his major orchestral works, including the Symphony No. 1, Clarinet, Viola, Violin and Cello concertos and Spirituals for Orchestra. Mr. Gerber has written for a number of fine soloists including Jon Manasse for the clarinet concerto, Yuri Bashmet for the viola concerto, Kurt Nikkanen for the violin concerto and Carter Brey for the cello concerto. His work has been performed by groups such as the San Francisco Symphony (Vladimir Ashkenazy conducting), Louisville Orchestra, Knoxville Chamber Orchestra, the Fine Arts Quartet, the National Chamber Orchestra, Washington Metropolitan Philharmonic and the Russian Philharmonic.
His latest CD is Steven R. Gerber – Chamber Music, (Naxos CD 8.559618). Recorded by violinists Kurt Nikkanen, Cho-Liang Lin and Cyrus Beroukhim, cellist Brinton Smith and pianist Sara Davis Buechner, this is a superb collection of 9 of the composer’s finest chamber works, including the Shostakovich Elegy. More about it at http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.559618. His latest Online Update can be read at http://www.jamesarts.com/releases/jan10/SG_nws_012610.pdf. Visit his website at http://www.stevengerber.com.
He is represented by Jeffrey James Arts Consulting. For a CD sampler of Steven R. Gerber’s music or more information, contact them at 516-586-3433 or jamesarts@worldnet.att.net.
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