Brahms & His World

Saturday, January 14, 2017 - 7:30 PM
Macky Auditorium, CU Campus, Boulder

Sunday, January 15, 2017 - 2 PM
Pinnacle Performing Arts Complex, Denver

Boulder Philharmonic Orchestra
Michael Butterman, conductor

BRAHMS    Tragic Overture 
SMYTH    Concerto for Violin and Horn            
  Jennifer Frautschi, violin
  Eric Ruske, horn
SCHUMANN    Symphony No. 4 

Like his mentor, Robert Schumann, Johannes Brahms inspired the next generation of composers, including Dame Ethel Smyth (1858-1944), a pioneering composer, author and suffragette. Her glorious double concerto reflects his influence (and that of Strauss), while asserting her own unique compositional voice. Brilliant violinist Jennifer Frautschi returns to Boulder with her husband, Eric Ruske, for this unique gem of a duo concerto.

6:30 PM - FREE Pre-Concert Talk at Macky

EVENT OF NOTE
Meet the Artists Luncheon with Jennifer Frautschi and Eric Ruske on January 14, click for details & tickets

About Jennifer Frautschi

Two-time GRAMMY nominee and Avery Fisher career grant recipient Jennifer Frautschi has garnered worldwide acclaim as an adventurous musician with a remarkably wide-ranging repertoire. As the Chicago Tribune noted, "violinist Jennifer Frautschi is molding a career with smart interpretations of both warhorses and rarities." Equally at home in the classic and contemporary repertoire, her recent seasons have featured innumerable performances and recordings of works ranging from Brahms and Schumann to Berg and Schoenberg. She has also had the privilege of premiering several new works composed for her by prominent composers of today.

Ms. Frautschi has appeared as soloist with Pierre Boulez and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Christoph Eschenbach and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at the Ravinia Festival, and at Wigmore Hall and Lincoln Center's Mostly Mozart Festival. Selected by Carnegie Hall for its Distinctive Debuts series, she made her New York recital debut in 2004. She has also been heard in recital at the Ravinia Festival, La Jolla Chamber Music Society, Washington's Phillips Collection, Boston's Gardner Museum, Beijing's Imperial Garden, Monnaie Opera in Brussels, La Chaux des Fonds in Switzerland, and San Miguel de Allende Festival in Mexico.  www.jenniferfrautschi.com

About Eric Ruske

Horn soloist Eric Ruske was named Associate Principal Horn of The Cleveland Orchestra at the age of 20, and he also toured and recorded extensively during his six-year tenure as hornist of the Empire Brass Quintet. An active chamber musician, he has appeared with the Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society, Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, Evian Festival, Boston Chamber Music Society, and the Festival Pablo Casals both in Puerto Rico and in France. His numerous arrangements and transcriptions, including a complete edition of the Mozart Concerti, are now available from Cimarron Music. In 2012, Albany Records released The Horn of Eric Ruske, a Box Set that includes two discs of horn concerti with orchestra, three of music for horn and piano, one disc for solo horn and a disc of chamber music for horn, violin and piano. Mr. Ruske currently directs the Horn Seminar at the Boston University Tanglewood Institute and is the Professor of Horn at Boston University.  www.ericruske.com