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April in Oberlin: Artist Recital Series Presents a Roster of Stars OBERLIN, OHIO (March 6, 2008) — The Oberlin Conservatory of Music’s esteemed Artist Recital Series resumes in April with a spring brew of baroque, contemporary, and classical music. Oberlin’s magnificent Finney Chapel, with its superb acoustics, will be the stage for such luminaries as double bassist Edgar Meyer and pianist Amy Dorfman, frequent collaborators; pianist Angela Hewitt; violinist Hilary Hahn and singer/songwriter Josh Ritter ‘99, who are reuniting after a 2007 summer tour; and Sweden’s mezzo-soprano Anne Sofie von Otter. Finney Chapel is located on the southwest corner of Lorain St. (Route 511) and N. Professor St., across from Tappan Square. Finney Chapel is wheelchair accessible. Edgar Meyer and Amy Dorfman The New Yorker characterizes the three-time, Grammy-Award winning Edgar Meyer as “the most remarkable virtuoso in the relatively unchronicled history of his instrument.” San Diego magazine calls Meyer simply “the best bassist alive.” In September 2007, Meyer released his Best of Edgar Meyer album, whose tracks featured prominently in Ken Burns’s epic on World War II, The War, which aired that same month on the Public Broadcasting System. Meyer has also collaborated with other artists, including Joshua Bell, Lyle Lovett, and Yo-Yo Ma, with whom he recorded the best-selling Appalachia Waltz and Appalachian Journey for the Sony label. On April 1 at 8 p.m., Meyer, a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship recipient, teams with the premier soloist and chamber musician Amy Dorfman, performing a classical repertoire and transcriptions in the first half of the concert and Meyer’s own compositions in the second half. Dorfman, who has received numerous awards for her playing, including first prize in the Fischoff Chamber Music Competition, is Associate Professor of Piano at the Blair School of Music at Vanderbilt University. She has been collaborating with Meyer for 20 years at such venues as Alice Tully Hall and Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw. Angela Hewitt The praise for pianist Angela Hewitt is ebullient. She is “the pre-eminent Bach pianist of our time,” according to the Guardian. The Sunday Times’ Paul Driver, writing about Hewitt’s Wigmore Hall recital in 2003, says, “The Canadian pianist is one of the reliably mesmerizing musicians of the day. You sit entranced … it would have been more accurate to say I was floating just below the ceiling.” A Sunday Times review from 2005 describes Hewitt’s 11-year project to record all the major keyboard works of Bach—including the Goldberg Variations, the Keyboard Concertos, and Brandenburg Concerto No. 5—on 18 CDs for Hyperion as “one of the record glories of our age.” In 2006, Hewitt was voted “Artist of the Year” in the prestigious Gramophone Awards. Hewitt will perform Bach’s The Well-Tempered Clavier, Books I and II, in two separate concerts: on Friday, April 4, at 8 p.m., she will play Book I; and on Sunday, April 6, at 3 p.m., she will play Book II. Hilary Hahn and Josh Ritter In the summer of 2007, two diverse musicians got together and made great music on a whirlwind tour that included such music fests as Ravinia in Chicago, Verbier in Switzerland, the Aspen Music Festival, and the Eastern Music Festival in Greensboro, North Carolina. The joint performances took the audiences by storm. Each of the artists—Hilary Hahn and Josh Ritter—has cultivated an enormous, avid following with their performances and recordings. The Grammy-Award winning Hahn is one of the most popular artists on the international concert circuit. She was named “America’s Best Young Classical Musician” by TIME magazine in 2001. “Hahn … never fails to dazzle in performance,” wrote the Los Angeles Times. She appears regularly with the world’s great orchestras in Europe, Asia, and North America. Hailing from the small town of Moscow, Idaho, Oberlin alumnus Ritter crafts songs that are rare gifts of natural, intuitive beauty. The New York Times, Details magazine, USA Today, and the Associated Press have described what makes Ritter’s music so compelling by invoking comparisons to a young Springsteen or Leonard Cohen. Says Steve Morse of the Boston Globe, “[Ritter has] a richly textured voice that was by turns subtle and powerful.” On Thursday, April 10, at 8 p.m., Hahn and Ritter will recreate the dynamic program from their summer 2007 tour that includes both original and traditional compositions. Ritter will perform his refreshing, intellectual songs, and Hahn will perform the most celebrated works from the solo violin repertoire; the two will also play together. Ritter’s program includes “Wings,” “Baby,” “That’s Not All,” “Girl in the War,” “Potter’s Wheel” (inspired by Schubert’s “Gretchen am Spinnrade”), “Kathleen,” “The Temptation of Adam,” and “Thin Blue Flame.” Hahn will perform Bach’s Sonata for Solo Violin No. 2 in A Minor, BWV 1003; Ysaÿe’s Sonata for Violin Solo No. 3 in D Minor “Ballade”, Op. 27, No. 3; Paganini’s Caprice No. 24 for Solo Violin, Op. 1; and Milstein’s Paganiniana for Violin. In addition, Ritter and Hahn will both perform versions, in separate interpretations, of two famous works: “The Last Rose of Summer” and “The Oak Tree King,” which is an adaptation of Schubert’s “Erlkönig.” Hahn and Ritter’s concert is presented with the support of the Student Assemblies Committee of Oberlin College. Anne Sofie von Otter Mezzo-soprano Anne Sofie von Otter is considered to be one of the finest singers of her generation and is sought after by many of the major conductors, orchestras, operas, and recording companies of the world. “Anne Sofie von Otter reached for top notes as you would apple blossoms. Here was ease and beauty, plus, where necessary, quiet surrender,” said the Times of London. She studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London and has performed at such great opera houses as the Metropolitan Opera, the Royal Opera House, and La Scala. Her numerous honors include the Cannes Classical Awards’ 1995 “Singer of the Year” and Gramophone’s 1996 “Artist of the Year” awards. Von Otter frequently collaborates with Swedish pianist Bengt Forseberg, who is known for his expansive repertoire and his continual interest in finding neglected music. As a soloist, chamber musician, and collaborator, Forseberg eagerly promotes music by lesser-known composers, such as Nikolai Medtner, Josef Suk, Sigfrid Karg-Elert and others, as well as rarely heard music by more well-known composers, including Fauré, Sibelius, Franck, Messiaen, Janacek, and John Ireland. Von Otter and Forseberg have made numerous recordings together, including an award-winning selection of Grieg, all on the Deutsche Grammophon label. Von Otter and Forseberg’s program for Wednesday, April 23, at 8 p.m., will open with several Scandinavian composers, including Carl Nielsen’s Sommersang, Wilhelm Stenhammar’s Melodi, Wilhelm Peterson-Berger’s Som stjärnorna på himmelen, Sigurd von Koch’s Vårnattsregnet and De vilda svanarna, and Edvard Grieg’s Lauf der Welt and Rosenzeit. Other selections include Jean Sibelius’ Reverie, Op. 58, No. 1; Blåssipan, Op. 88, No. 1; and De bågge rosorna, Op. 88, No. 2; Emmanuel Chabrier’s Joyeuse Marche; and Joseph Canteloube’s La delaïssádo, Malurous qu’o uno fenno, and Passo pel prat, all from Chants d’Auvergne, in the Auvergne dialect. On the remainder of the program, von Otter sings Johannes Brahms’s Sapphische Ode, Am Sonntag Morgen, Die Mainacht, and Ständchen; Alexander Zemlinsky’s Die drei Schwester, Op. 13, No. 1; Die Mädchen mit den verbundenen Augen, Op. 13, No. 2; and Sie kam zum Schlossgegangen, Op. 13, No. 6; Erich Korngold’s “Interlude” from Das Wunder der Heliane; Richard Strauss’ Die Nacht, Op. 10, No. 3 and Ich trage meine Minne, Op. 32, No. 1; and Gustav Mahler’s Das irdische Leben, Wo die schönen Trompeten blasen, and Lob des hohen Verstands. Ticket prices vary for each performance. Please note that a ticket purchased at the door on the day of the performance is an additional $3. For reservations or information, or to request a free brochure, please call the Oberlin Central Ticket Service’s (CTS) 24-hour reservation line at 440-775-8169 or 1-800-371-0178. The CTS box office is located in the lobby of Hall Auditorium, 67 N. Main St. (Route 58), between the Oberlin Inn and the Allen Memorial Art Museum. Box office hours are noon to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, and select Saturdays. The Oberlin Conservatory of Music sponsors the Artist Recital Series with additional support from the Friends of the Artist Recital Series. There are many benefits to becoming a Friend of the Artist Recital Series, including additional discounts on subscription packages, complimentary recordings, recognition in concert programs, and invitations to receptions with guest artists. Contributions are tax deductible. For additional information, please call 440-775-8169 or 1-800-371-0178. Media sponsorship for the Artist Recital Series is provided by WCLV 104.9-FM, Cleveland’s classical music radio station, and WCPN and WVIZ ideastream. Corporate sponsorship is provided by the DeWitt Stern Group and the Riverside Company. Detailed information about performers, dates, and times for the 2007-08 Artist Recital Series is available online at www.oberlin.edu/arseries. The Oberlin Conservatory of Music, founded in 1865 and situated amid the intellectual vitality of Oberlin College since 1867, is the oldest continuously operating conservatory in the United States. The Conservatory is renowned internationally as a professional music school of the highest caliber and has been pronounced a “national treasure” by the Washington Post. Oberlin’s alumni have gone on to achieve illustrious careers in all aspects of the serious music world. Many of them have attained stature as solo performers, composers, and conductors, among them Jennifer Koh, Steven Isserlis, Denyce Graves, Franco Farina, Christopher Robertson, Lisa Saffer, George Walker, Christopher Rouse, David Zinman, and Robert Spano. All of the members of the contemporary sextet eighth blackbird, most of the members of the International Contemporary Ensemble, and many of the members of Apollo’s Fire are Oberlin alumni. In chamber music, the Miró, Pacifica, Juilliard, and Fry Street quartets, among other small ensembles, include Oberlin-trained musicians, who also can be found in major orchestras and opera companies throughout the world. For more information about Oberlin, please visit www.oberlin.edu/con. Media Contact:
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