Rachel Barton Pine Performing Live at the Maryland Theatre
“Barton is the real thing, a prodigious talent with obvious personality and a clear-eyed vision. Her technical skills can make the jaw drop. She has a full, singing sweet tone and plays with a confidence and élan that make an audience's heart soar.” Chicago Sun-Times
HAGERSTOWN, Md. – October 27, 2016 – Violin virtuoso Rachel Barton Pine will perform the Shostakovich Violin Concerto, with the Maryland Symphony Orchestra, Elizabeth Schulze conducting, on Saturday November 12 at 8:00 p.m. and Sunday, November 13 at 3:00 p.m. at the historic Maryland Theatre. Tickets range from $15 - $65 and are available at marylandsymphony.org or by calling 301-797-4000.
In addition to the Shostakovich: Violin Concerto in A minor, Op. 77, the program includes the Bartok: Concerto for Orchestra.
Described by the Washington Post as a “boundary-defying performer” who has been featured on programs including PBS Newshour, The Today Show, NBC Network News’ “Making a Difference,” and CBS Sunday Morning, Pine began violin studies at age three and made her professional debut at age seven.
Today she is renowned as a leading interpreter of the great classical masterworks who has appeared as a soloist with many of the world’s most prestigious orchestras, including the Chicago, Atlanta, St. Louis, Dallas, Baltimore, Montreal, Vienna, New Zealand and Iceland Symphonies, and the Philadelphia Orchestra. She has also performed with Germany’s Göttinger Symphonie Orchester, France’s Orchestre de Bertagne, the Sacramento and New Mexico Philharmonics and City Music Cleveland.
Pine has a prolific discography of 30 CDs on the Avie, Cedille, Warner Classics, and Dorian labels. Pine began an exploration of beloved violin concertos and the concertos that inspired them with Brahms and Joachim Violin Concertos, recorded with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and conductor Carlos Kalmar. Her Beethoven & Clement Violin Concertos, recorded with The Royal Philharmonic and conducted by José Serebrier, offered the world premiere recording of Clement’s D Major Violin Concerto.
Her recording of Violin Lullabies, with pianist Matthew Hagle, debuted at number one on the Billboard classical chart.
She writes her own cadenzas to many of the works she performs, including for the Beethoven and Mozart concertos. In 2009, Carl Fischer published The Rachel Barton Pine Collection, a collection of original compositions, arrangements, cadenzas, and editions penned or arranged by Pine, which made her the only living artist and first woman to join great musicians like Fritz Kreisler and Jascha Heifetz in Carl Fischer’s Masters Collection series.
Pine holds prizes from several of the world’s leading competitions, including a gold medal at the 1992 J.S. Bach International Violin Competition in Leipzig, Germany.
Conscious of her past growing up in a financially-struggling household and grateful for the people who helped her achieve her life’s purpose of being a violinist, Pine created the Rachel Barton Pine Foundation (RBPF) to help promising artists with necessities that most scholarships overlook. RBPF pairs musicians with worthy instruments and offers grants for costs not covered by traditional scholarships including concert attire, strings, transportation to auditions and competitions, accompanist fees and sheet music. RBPF also supplies instruments and strings to 3rd world countries including Haiti, Kenya, Ghana and Nigeria and is developing a curricular series in conjunction with the University of Michigan: The String Student’s Library of Music by Black Composers.
Pine is committed to encouraging the next generation to experience the transformative power of the arts. She is cited for developing new classical music audiences through programs like visits to rock stations for live performances of heavy metal music and then classical music of the same intensity. She is a Life Trustee of the Music Institute of Chicago which named the “Rachel Barton Pine Violin Chair” in her honor. She received the prestigious 2006 Studs Terkel Humanities Service Award for her work in music education. She resides in Chicago. rachelbartonpine.com.
Tickets for the concert range from $15 to $65 for adults and children and full-time students (K-12) attend FREE. To purchase tickets, call 301-797-4000 or go online at www.marylandsymphony.org. Tickets may also be purchased at the MSO Box Office at 30 W. Washington Street, Hagerstown. The Maryland Theatre is located at 21 S. Potomac Street, Hagerstown.
Rachel Barton Pine’s appearance is made possible through the generosity of Dr. & Mrs. Robert K. Hobbs and the Maryland State Arts Council, an agency dedicated to cultivating a vibrant cultural community where the arts thrive.
PROGRAM
Rachel Barton Pine
Saturday November 12 at 8:00 PM
Sunday November 13 at 3:00 PM
The Maryland Theatre
Elizabeth Schulze, Conductor
Rachel Barton Pine, violin
The Maryland Symphony Orchestra
Shostakovich: Violin Concerto in A minor, Op. 77
Bartok: Concerto for Orchestra
ABOUT RACHEL BARTON PINE’S VIOLIN
Rachel Barton Pine performs on the Joseph Guarnerius del Gesu (Cremona 1742), known as the “ex-Bazzini, ex-Soldat” on lifetime loan from her anonymous patron.
Guarneri and Stradivari are considered to be the two greatest violin makers of all time. “Del Gesu” violins have been the preferred instruments of many famous violinists including Paganini, Ysaye, Kreisler, Heifetz, Stern, and Zukerman. Many of these violins have special histories, and this instrument is no exception.
In 1875, an extremely talented young musician named Marie Soldat (1863-1955) decided to give up the violin to develop her talents in piano and voice. Hearing Joseph Joachim perform in Graz three years later, however, inspired her to return to the violin, and to study with him.
Marie Soldat was introduced to Brahms at Pörtschach during a summer tour of Austrian spas in 1879. After hearing her play, he arranged a benefit performance to help pay for her studies. Brahms also gave her money for a train ticket to join him and Joachim in Salzburg. When she began to play the Mendelssohn Concerto with Brahms at the piano, the strings on her violin snapped. Joachim handed her his Stradivari, and her performance was so impressive that Joachim accepted her into his class at the Hochschule für Musik in Berlin.
Soldat (later Soldat-Röger) became a member of Brahms’s inner circle and a regular chamber music partner. Their friendship continued throughout his life. The famed pianist and conductor Hans von Bülow once introduced her as “Brahms’s understudy.”
Soldat was widely considered one of the greatest violinists of her day. She studied the Brahms Concerto with both Joachim and Brahms, and it became her signature piece. She introduced it to many European cities, including Vienna in 1885, with Hans Richter conducting the Vienna Philharmonic. She gave it its second performance in Berlin, with Joachim conducting.
Brahms selected this violin for Soldat in 1897 and arranged for a wealthy Viennese businessman to purchase it and loan it to her for her lifetime. The Strad magazine, in 1910, remarked that “…[it] bears most of the characteristics we have learnt to associate with this maker in a remarkable degree. The tone is of extraordinary beauty, and suits the violinist’s virile style admirably.… The tone is full and rich, and noticeably deep on the G string. All the outlines of the fiddle seem to breathe life and strength.” Rachel believes Brahms may have chosen this violin, in part, because its voice represents most closely what he envisioned for his concerto.
After Marie Soldat passed away, her violin was bought by a collector and not heard in the world for many years. Rachel has been using it since 2002 when she recorded the Brahms and Joachim Concertos with the Chicago Symphony.
TICKET INFORMATION
Tickets for events can be purchased online at www.marylandsymphony.org; in person at the Maryland Symphony Orchestra Administrative Offices located at 30 W Washington St, Hagerstown, MD 21740 (9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday); or by calling the Box Office at 301-797-4000 during normal business hours. Group Rates are available for groups of ten or more. A discounted “Flex” subscription package (three or more concerts) is also available by calling the Box Office.
VENUE INFORMATION
Built in 1915, designed by renowned architect Thomas Lamb, the Maryland Theatre is the anchor to the Arts & Entertainment district in downtown Hagerstown. The Theatre provides comfortable seating for 1,300 at performances of country artists, comedians, children's shows, recitals, stage shows, and more. Since 1982, the Theatre has been the official home of the Maryland Symphony Orchestra. The Maryland Theatre welcomes approximately 120,000 people through her doors annually. The Maryland Theatre is located at 21 S. Potomac Street, Hagerstown, MD 21740.
ABOUT MARYLAND SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
Founded in 1982, Maryland Symphony Orchestra is celebrating its 35th season as the area’s premier professional orchestra. Under the musical direction of Maestra Elizabeth Schulze, the Maryland Symphony Orchestra is dedicated to providing musical performances that educate and entertain, while enhancing the cultural environment of Western Maryland and the surrounding region. Learn more: www.marylandsymphony.org
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MEDIA CONTACTS
Michael Harp
Maryland Symphony Orchestra
Director of Marketing & Public Relations
301-797-4000 x.101
mharp@marylandsymphony.org
Allison Van Etten
Publicist for Rachel Barton Pine
323-449-5030
Allison@ravenscroftpr.com
Jane Covner
Publicist for Rachel Barton Pine
818-905-5511
jcovner@jagpr.com