The Astonishing Rachel Barton Pine

Guest Artist Sponsored By:

January 12, 2013, 7:30 PM

Sacramento Community Center Theater
Michael Morgan, Conductor
Rachel Barton Pine, Violin

Concert Program

Be sure to check Guest Artists under the Our Musicians tab to learn more about Rachel Barton Pine.

Violinist Rachel Barton Pine has broken through every possible stereotype people may have of a modern classical musician. She plays Sibelius-Violin Concerto in D Minor. Also on the program is Brahms- Symphony No. 4 and a new Overture by critically-acclaimed Northern California composer Nolan Gasser.

The Finnish Violinist Sibelius completed Violin Concerto in D Minor Opus 47 in the summer of 1903. At the time Sibelius’ finances and drinking bouts were causing concern, and this seemed to affect the concerto’s premiere. The soloist had trouble with the difficult solo part, and the orchestra had problems of its own. Sibelius revised the work, which received its first Berlin performance on October 19, 1905 with none other than Richard Strauss conducting. The work is a unique example of the Violin Concerto genre and demands extreme virtuosity and physical stamina. Many a soloist has taken a bow with the hairs of the violin bow hanging in shreds.

The Symphony No. 4 in E minor, Op. 98 by Johannes Brahms is the last of his symphonies. The work was given its premiere on October 25, 1885 with Brahms himself conducting. Progressive rock group ‘Yes’ keyboardist Rick Wakeman used part of the symphony on the instrumental “Cans and Brahms” from the 1971 album Fragile. This symphony seems particularly appropriate on a bill featuring Rachel Barton Pine, who has crossed adventurously and comfortably into the realm of rock and roll.

Nolan Gasser is a critically acclaimed composer, pianist, and musicologist – most notably, the architect of Pandora Radio’s Music Genome Project. His current projects include an opera, The Secret Garden, commissioned by San Francisco Opera (for 2013), a musical, Benny and Joon, in partnership with H2H Productions and MGM On Stage, and a book on the interrelation of music and science. Joel Selvin, Music Critic of the San Francisco Chronicle, has called him, “a remarkably gifted composer, pianist, and arranger; he is a mass of music: classical, jazz, rock, blues… he never fails to blow my mind.”

(programs and artists subject to change)