JULY
26
FRIDAY JULY 26, 7:30PM ORCHESTRA
WHITTINGTON-PFOHL AUDITORIUM
BRAHMS 4 Brevard Music Center Orchestra Christian Zacharias, conductor/piano SCHUMANN (1810-1856) Manfred Overture, Op. 115
MOZART (1756-1791) Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor, K. 466 Allegro Romanze Rondo: Allegro assai Mr. Zacharias, piano
-INTERMISSIONBRAHMS (1833-1897) Symphony No. 4 in E minor, Op. 98 Allegro non troppo Andante moderato Allegro giocoso Allegro energico e passionato
Official piano of the Brevard Music Center
100 BrevardMusic.org
ABOUT THE ARTIST CHRISTIAN ZACHARIAS, conductor/piano “One must ‘speak’ music…” Christian Zacharias is a narrator among the conductors and pianists of his generation. In each of his elaborate, detailed, and clearly articulated interpretations, Zacharias is interested in what lies behind the notes. With his distinctive combination of integrity, unique style, surpassing linguistic expressiveness, deep musical insight and assured artistic instinct paired with his charismatic and captivating personality, Christian Zacharias has made a name for himself not only as one of the world’s leading pianists and conductors, but also as a musical thinker. Beginning as a pianist and later moving on to work as a conductor as well, his international career burgeoned through numerous widely acclaimed concerts with the world’s leading orchestras, renowned conductors not to mention several awards and recordings. Zacharias was a long-term Artistic Partner at the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra and is still deeply connected to the orchestra. He also maintains close ties with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Kammerorchester Basel, the Konzerthausorchester Berlin and the Bamberger Symphoniker. Zacharias also performs recitals in major musical centers worldwide and collaborates with like-minded musicians such as Frank Peter Zimmermann, the Leipziger Streichquartett, and Baiba Skride. Zacharias’ work in the world of music has earned him numerous awards and prizes, including the 2007 Midem Classical Award “Artist of the Year.” The French government also honored him as an “Officier dans l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres” and he was awarded for his contributions to culture in Romania in 2009. In 2016 he was named member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music. During his time as Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, his recordings with the orchestra garnered widespread critical acclaim among the international press. His most recent recordings feature the four Schumann symphonies and C.P.E. Bach’s Berlin symphonies. In 2015 and 2017, Christian Zacharias chaired the Jury of the Clara Haskil Competition and as president of the jury of the 2018 Geza Anda Competition he conducted the final concert.
ABOUT THE MUSIC ROBERT SCHUMANN (1810-1856) Manfred Overture, Op. 115 Premiered in Leipzig on March 14, 1852 under the direction of the composer. Schumann loved great literature. His father had been a publisher of pocket editions of works by Goethe, Schiller, and Byron, among others, and throughout his life Schumann was a voracious reader. Upon completing his opera Genoveva in 1848, Schumann tried to think of other ways to wed music with literature. So he decided to create a “dramatic poem with music,” and Byron’s Manfred seemed to be the perfect subject. Within a couple of days Schumann had composed the overture, and over the course of a month he had written fifteen musical numbers setting the 1,336-line poem to music in a variety of ways— including melodrama (spoken words over music), interludes, solos, and choruses. Quite satisfied with the result he wrote, “never have I