September 1, 2002
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Portland, Ore. … Canadian violinist Karen Gomyo headlines the second Oregon Symphony Classical Concert as she performs Bruch's Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor, Op. 26, with Associate Conductor Norman Leyden on Oct. 5 through 7 at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall. The concert also includes Haydn's Symphony No. 96 ("Miracle"), Blacher's Variations on a Theme of Paganini, and Liszt's Les Prludes. Gomyo, currently 20 years old, has performed with the National Symphony under Christopher Hogwood and the Minnesota Symphony Orchestra with Eiji Oue. She replaces Oregon Symphony Concertmaster Michael Foxman, who is on leave this year, for this concert. Media support is provided by The Oregonian.
The concert opens with Haydn's Symphony No. 96 ("Miracle"), one of 10 symphonies Joseph Haydn composed during his later years in London. The concert continues with Gomyo and the Bruch Concerto, written when the composer was a teenager. Already a seasoned player, Gomyo gave her first performance at the age of 5, won the Young Concert Artists International Auditions at the age of 15, and was the youngest artist ever to perform in the Young Concert Artists Series in New York.
The second half of the concert opens with Blacher's Variations on a Theme of Paganini, a fresh take on the popular theme made famous by Rachmaninoff's well-known variations of the same name. The concert concludes with the ever-popular tone poem Les Préludes by Franz Liszt, who is credited with inventing the symphonic poem, a one-movement composition of loose structure that endeavors to illustrate texts, paintings or even abstract ideas through music.
In addition to pre-concert talks one hour before the concert, Oregon Symphony Classical concerts regularly include additional opportunities for listeners to learn more about the music and the orchestra. These activities include:
One hour before the concert Conducting Assistant Jonathan Pasternack will discuss the works to be performed.
Associate Conductor Norman Leyden will discuss the program from the podium in "Saturday Interactive." Media support for "Saturday Interactive" is provided by KINKfm102.
Audience members will be invited to stay for a 15-20 minute panel discussion with Conducting Assistant Jonathan Pasternack and violinist Karen Gomyo. Media support for "Sunday Post-Concert Discussion" is provided by KBPS.
Performances are scheduled for Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 5th and 6th, at 7:30 p.m. and Monday, Oct. 7, at 8 p.m. at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert. Tickets range in price from $16 to $72 and may be purchased at the Oregon Symphony Ticket Office (923 S.W. Washington), Monday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. or charged by phone at 503-228-1353 or (800) 228-7343. Tickets also may be purchased at all Ticketmaster outlets (503-790-ARTS) or through Ticketmaster Online, via the Symphony's Web site at www.orsymphony.org. Service fees may apply.
Canadian violinist Karen Gomyo won the 1997 Young Concert Artists International Auditions just one week after her 15th birthday, and was awarded the Norwalk Symphony Soloist Prize by Music Director Jesse Levine. The following year, she became the youngest artist ever to be presented in the Young Concert Artists Series in New York, in a critically acclaimed debut as recipient of the Summis Auspiciis Prize. The Young Concert Artists Series also presented her Washington, DC recital debut at the Kennedy Center and her New York concerto debut with the New York Chamber Symphony at Alice Tully Hall, playing the Barber Violin Concerto. This season, she performs with the Houston Symphony, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra under Mario Venzago, the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, and the Colorado Music Festival Orchestra under the direction of Junichi Hirokami.
Ms. Gomyo has appeared as soloist with the Minnesota Orchestra conducted by Eiji Oue and Claus Peter Flor, the National Symphony Orchestra conducted by Christopher Hogwood, the Indianapolis Symphony, the San Antonio Symphony, the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra and the Tokyo and Hiroshima Symphony Orchestras. Under the baton of Joseph Swensen, she has performed with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and the Norrköping Symphony Orchestra of Sweden, including a concert in Vienna and a recent tour of Sweden and Hungary. Performances as soloist with U.S. orchestras this season include Tchaikovsky with the Pacific Symphony Orchestra; Sibelius with Symphony 21 at New York's Merkin Concert Hall; Brahms with South Carolina's Long Bay Symphony; Beethoven with the Mankato (MN) Symphony; and Mozart with the Modesto Symphony.
Through Young Concert Artists, Ms. Gomyo gave a five-city recital tour of Japan, including a concert at Suntory Hall in Tokyo, and she has performed at The Louvre in Paris, on the Ravinia Rising Stars Series, on the Seattle Symphony Recital Series and on the La Jolla Chamber Music Society's Prodigy Series. She has appeared at the Aspen Music Festivals in Japan and in Aspen, where she performed with cellist Lynn Harrell, at the Usedom Music Festival in Germany, at Bargemusic and the Bard Festival in New York, at the Mostly Mozart Festival at Avery Fisher Hall in a pre-concert recital, and for the 50th Anniversary of the United Nations.
Ms. Gomyo has been heard in New York on WQXR and WNYC Radio, and throughout the U.S. on National Public Radio's "Performance Today." Last season, she was featured with YCA alumnus cellist Carter Brey on A & E Television's "Breakfast with the Arts," in segment celebrating the 40th anniversary of Young Concert Artists.
Born in Tokyo in 1982, Ms. Gomyo moved to Montreal in 1984. She began to play in public soon after her first violin lessons at the age of five. After playing for the noted teacher Dorothy DeLay in a master class in Chicago at the age of ten, Miss DeLay invited her to study on full scholarship at The Juilliard School. Ms. Gomyo continued her studies at the University of Indiana/Bloomington, working with (YCA alumnus) Mauricio Fuks, and will now begin her work as part of the studio of Donald Weilerstein at the New England Conservatory of Music.
Karen Gomyo is a recipient of support from the Jack Romann Special Artists Fund of YCA. She has been awarded grants from the Heckscher Foundation, the Edward John Noble Foundation, the Dorothy Richard Starling Foundation, the Clarisse B. Kampel Foundation, the Brady Dougan Foundation, the Cho Chang Tsung Foundation, the Salon de Virtuosi, and continuing support from the Bagby Foundation for the Musical Arts. Ms. Gomyo plays the rare "Ex Foulis" Stradivarius of 1714 that is on permanent loan to her from a private sponsor.