Hagerstown, MD—The elegant Baroque mastery of Antonio Vivaldi’s Le Quattro Staggioni (The Four Seasons) will be paired with the smooth, sultry rhythms of Argentine tango master Astor Piazzolla’s The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires when the Maryland Symphony Orchestra presents “A Soloist for All Seasons,” its second masterworks concert of the season, on Saturday, November 10 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, November 11 at 3 p.m. at the historic Maryland Theatre in downtown Hagerstown. 

The concert, with guest artist violinist Tim Fain, is a multi-media event that will also feature the photography and paintings of advanced arts students from the Barbara Ingram School for the Arts and poetry and sonnet readings by television and radio personality, Robert Aubry Davis.  The artwork, depicting the four seasons, will be projected on a screen behind the orchestra and be on display in the lobby of the theatre.  Davis will read sonnets written by Vivaldi to be matched with each of his four concertos celebrating spring, summer, autumn and winter.  The words of Argentine poet, essayist and short-story writer Jorge Luis Borges will also be read to complement each of the tango movements in Piazzolla’s suite. 

With his adventuresome spirit and vast musical gifts, violinist Tim Fain has emerged as a mesmerizing new presence on the music scene.  The “charismatic young violinist with a matinee idol profile, strong musical instincts, and first rate chops” (Boston Globe) was most recently seen on screen and heard on the soundtrack of the new hit film Black Swan, and heard as the sound of Richard Gere’s violin in Fox Searchlight’s feature film Bee Season.  Selected as one of Symphony and Strad magazines’ “Up-and-Coming Musicians,” Fain captured the Avery Fisher Career Grant and a Young Concert Artists international Award.”  As The Washington Post recently raved, “Fain has everything he needs for a first-rate career.”

He electrified audiences at debuts with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, at Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart Festival and with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s.  He has also appeared with the Mexico City and Oxford (UK) Symphonies, Cincinnati Chamber Symphony, Brooklyn and Hague Philharmonics, and the Curtis Symphony Orchestra in a special performance at Philadelphia’s Kimmel Center.  In addition, he was the featured soloist with the Philip Glass Ensemble at Carnegie Hall in a concert version of Einstein on the Beach and recently toured Europe in a duo-recital program with Philip Glass.  His multi-media evening Portals premiered to sold-out audiences in New York, Los Angeles and at its Midwestern premiere at Omaha’s KANEKO.  The centerpiece of the evening is Partita for solo violin, a new work written especially for him by Philip Glass, and also features collaborations with Benjamin Millepied (choreographer, dancer and star of Black Swan), Leonard Cohen, film maker Kate Hackett, and with radio personality Fred Child and pianist Nicholas Brittel appearing on screen. 

A native of Santa Monica, California, Fain is a graduate of The Curtis Institute of Music, in Philadelphia, where he studied with Victor Danchenko, and The Juilliard School, where he worked with Robert Mann.  He performs on a violin made by Francesco Gobetti, Venice 1717, the “Moller,” on extended loan from Clement and Karen Arrison through the generous efforts of the Stradivari Society of Chicago. 

Robert Aubry Davis is the creator and host of “Millennium of Music,” a program dedicated to music from the thousand years before Bach.  The program is carried by more than 100 public radio stations nationwide.  He has been host and moderator of WETA-TV’s Emmy Award-winning weekly arts discussion program, “Around Town,” since its inception in 1986.  Davis can also be heard on Vox, XM Satellite Radio’s opera and classical vocal music channel. 

The Barbara Ingram School for the Arts, located in Hagerstown’s Arts & Entertainment District, provides students in grades 9 through 12 with a rigorous, comprehensive, college preparatory curriculum rooted in intense, pre-professional training in the arts.  Students that submitted images for this project were:  Gideon Beebe, Tyresha Carter, Nahja Collins, Helen Domsky, Lauren Giannola, Skyler Hall, Liana James, Derrick Johnson, Kayla Keeler, Lindsey Long, Erin Mettille, Mary O’Connell, Carly Reagan, Abigail Recabo, Annika Rochefort, Andrew Sandeen, Alex Snyder, Patrick Soper, Amanda Zabala. 

 Program notes and audio clips of the musical selections being performed are available on the Maryland Symphony Website.  All ticket holders are welcome to attend “Prelude” which takes place one hour before each concert.  During this half-hour program, Music Director Elizabeth Schulze shares information on featured composers and works that will enhance concert-goers enjoyment and appreciation of the concert.  Guest artists also participate in “Prelude.” 

Tickets, starting at $15, may be purchased online, by phone at 301-797-4000 or at the MSO office at 30 W. Washington Street.  Students in grades one through 12^th grade are admitted free to all Masterworks Concerts.  Student Rush tickets for college students (no reservations accepted) are also available at the Maryland Theatre box office, on the afternoon or evening of the performance, for $5.  Seat selection is at the discretion of box office personnel. 

“A Soloist for All Seasons” is sponsored by Jim and Georgia Pierne.  The Artist Sponsors are Dr.& Mrs. Robert K. Hobbs.  Additional support is given by Marshfield Associates.  Student tickets are generously underwritten by contributions from Susquehanna Bank and MSO Music Director Elizabeth Schulze.  

The Maryland Symphony Orchestra is supported by a grant from the Maryland State Arts Council, an agency dedicated to cultivating a vibrant cultural community where the arts thrive.  The Maryland Symphony Orchestra is the area’s premier professional orchestra, dedicated to providing musical performances that educate and entertain, while enhancing the cultural environment of Western Maryland and the surrounding region. 

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