PRESS CONTACTS:
Laura Farmer, 410.783.8024
lfarmer@BSOmusic.org

Alyssa Porambo, 410.783.8044
aporambo@BSOmusic.org

BSO Concertmaster Jonathan Carney and
Principal Cellist Dariusz Skoraczewski Perform
Brahms' Double Concerto for Violin and Cello, Oct. 26-28

Cornelius Meister leads works by Mozart and Strauss

Baltimore, Md. (September 26, 2012) - Guest conductor Cornelius Meister returns thanks to popular demand to lead the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (BSO) in a program of Mozart, Brahms and Strauss on Friday, October 26, 2012 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, October 28 at 3 p.m. at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall and Saturday, October 27, 2012 at 8 p.m. at the Music Center at Strathmore. The concert includes Brahms' final work for orchestra, his Double Concerto for Violin and Cello, featuring BSO Concertmaster Jonathan Carney and Principal Cellist Dariusz Skoraczewski. The concert also includes one of Mozart's great symphonies, No. 35, the "Haffner" and Strauss' masterful tone poem Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks.

German conductor Cornelius Meister returns due to popular demand from audiences, BSO musicians and music critics alike. Meister's BSO debut in April 2011 earned praise from the Baltimore Sun: "Wow. That sure was fun. … The music came alive in ways that struck me as unusually fresh and absorbing. …The orchestra sounded eager and inspired."

Composed in the summer of 1887, the Double Concerto is Johannes Brahms' final work for orchestra. The Concerto was written for cellist Robert Hausman and Brahms' estranged friend, violinist Joseph Joachim. The work was partially a friendly gesture on Brahms' part to reconcile his relationship with the violinist after their friendship had suffered following Joachim's divorce from his wife Amalie, with whom Brahms had sided during the divorce.  Throughout the work, Brahms makes use of an A-E-F motif, a re-imagining of F-A-E, which stands for the personal motto of Joachim: Frei aber einsam ("free but lonely").

Although now considered one of Mozart's great symphonies, the Haffner Symphony did not start its life as a symphony, but as a serenade to be played for the wedding of Marie Elizabeth Haffner. He refashioned it into a symphony to honor ennoblement of Sigmund Haffner, at the prompting of the Haffner family. Although very busy, Mozart completed the commission, which he later reworked into the symphony we know today. It received its first public performance on March 23, 1783 at the Vienna Burgtheater.

Richard Strauss' playful tone poem Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks depicts the pranks and adventures of Till Eulenspiegel, a German folk hero. The work is comprised of two main themes representing the hero, a lilting melodic line ending in three long, loud descending notes played on horn and a mischievous crafty clarinet theme depicting Till Eulenspiegel as a talented prankster. These themes follow him through the German countryside as he rides a horse through the market overturning carts and goods, pokes fun at the Teutonic Clergy (as played by the violas), flirts and chases girls, and mocks academics (represented by the bassoon section).

Cornelius Meister, Conductor
Cornelius Meister, born in Hannover in 1980, was appointed Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra in 2010. Each season he directs the orchestra in concert series both in Vienna's prestigious Musikverein and the Konzerthaus, for the Wiener Festwochen with live TV-broadcasts, at the Salzburg festival as well as recordings and tours throughout Europe and Asia.

At the end of the 2011/12 season, Cornelius Meister completed an impressive seven years as Music Director of the City of Heidelberg, of both the Heidelberg Philharmonic Orchestra and the Opera House. In 2007, he was honoured by the German Association of Music Publishing for the best German concert programming of a season (in Heidelberg). He furthermore was acknowledged for his extensive development achieved in education programs.
Cornelius Meister is guest conductor with such orchestras as the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic Orchestra Manchester, Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Orchestre de l'Opéra national de Paris and in the USA with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra and Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, the latter resulting in an immediate reinvitation. In his native Germany, he appears with the DSO Berlin at the Berlin Philharmonie, the Radio-Sinfonie Orchestra Berlin, the NDR Symphony Orchestra Hamburg as well as the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the latter replacing Seiji Ozawa.

In the early years of this international career, Cornelius Meister has made important opera house debuts: at the age of 21 he gave his debut at the Hamburg opera, followed by the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, the New National Theatre Tokyo, the San Francisco Opera, the Deutsche Oper Berlin and last season at the Royal Opera House Copenhagen with Wagner's Tristan and Isolde. In 2007, he conducted a fantastically received new production of Wagner's Siegfried at the Latvian National Opera where he will return in 2013, to lead their new production of Wagner's complete "Ring" cycle.

Cornelius Meister studied piano and conducting at the Hannover University with Konrad Meister, Martin Brauß and Eiji Oue and at the Salzburg Mozarteum with Dennis Russell Davies and Karl Kamper.  As a pianist, he has given concerts in Europe and the USA. He is prize-winner of the "Deutsche Musikwettbewerb" as well as the "Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival"

Jonathan Carney, Violin
BSO Concertmaster Jonathan Carney begins his ninth season with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra after 12 seasons in the same position with London's Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

Born in New Jersey, Mr. Carney hails from a musical family with all six members having graduated from The Juilliard School. After completing his studies with Ivan Galamian and Christine Dethier, he was awarded a Leverhulme Fellowship to continue his studies in London at the Royal College of Music.

After enjoying critically acclaimed international tours as both concertmaster and soloist with numerous ensembles, Mr. Carney was invited by Vladimir Ashkenazy to become concertmaster of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in 1991. He was also appointed concertmaster of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra in 1994 and the Basque National Orchestra in 1996. Recent solo performances have included concertos by Bruch, Korngold, Khatchaturian, Sibelius, Nielsen, the Brahms Double Concerto and Vaughan Williams' The Lark Ascending, which was featured as a live BBC broadcast from London's Barbican Hall. He has made a number of recordings, including concertos by Mozart, Vivaldi and Nielsen, sonatas by Brahms, Beethoven and Franck, and a disc of virtuoso works by Sarasate and Kreisler with his mother Gloria Carney as pianist. New releases include Beethoven's Archduke and Ghost trios, the cello quintet of Schubert and a Dvorak disc with the Terzetto and four Romantic pieces for violin.

Mr. Carney is passionate about music education and currently serves as artistic advisor for the Maryland Classic Youth Orchestras. He is also an artist in residence at the Baltimore School for the Arts, one of the country's premier high schools, and also serves on its Board of Directors.

Dariusz Skoraczewski, Cello
Principal cellist Dariusz Skoraczewski has delighted audiences of many concert halls in America and Europe with his great artistic and technical command of the instrument. As a soloist he has performed with numerous orchestras in the US including the Montgomery Symphony, Alexandria Symphony, Arlington Philharmonic, Lancaster Symphony and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.

As a chamber musician, Skoraczewski has appeared in many chamber music concert series including the Candlelight Series, Music at the Great Hall in Baltimore and the Barge Music Festival in New York City. In November of 2005 he gave his Carnegie Hall debut, which was sponsored by the La Gesse Foundation. The cellist is also a member of a critically acclaimed ensemble - the Monument Piano Trio.

Skoraczewski is a laureate of various international competitions such as the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, the Leonard Rose Competition in Washington D.C. and the Rostropovich Competition in Paris.

Dariusz began his musical education at the age of six and spent his school years in Warsaw, Poland where his teachers were Professor Z. Liebig and Professor A. Zielinski. He completed his higher education as a scholarship recipient at the Peabody Conservatory of Music in Baltimore and studied under the supervision of world-renowned cellist Stephen Kates.

The cellist's repertoire is extremely diverse and includes compositions from early Baroque to the present. His debut CD "Cello Populus" is a collection of solo pieces from the 20th and 21st centuries and includes works of Hindemith, Ligeti, Crumb, Penderecki and others. 

COMPLETE PROGRAM DETAILS
Friday, October 26, 2012 at 8 p.m. - Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall
Saturday, October 27, 2012 at 8 p.m. -Music Center at Strathmore
Sunday October 28, 2012 at 3 p.m. - Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall

Cornelius Meister, conductor
Jonathan Carney, violin
Dariusz Skoraczewski, cello
 
Brahms: Double Concerto for Violin and Cello
Mozart: Symphony No. 35, "Haffner"
R. Strauss: Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks

Tickets range from $23 to $63 and are available through the BSO Ticket Office, 410.783.8000 or BSOmusic.org.

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