Bakersfield Symphony Orchestra
Tickets available at all AXS locations, AXS.com, The Rabobank Arena Box Office, or charge by phone 800-929-7849
APRIL 8TH DON’T CRY FOR ME
A romantic program filled with music that inspired songwriters of our time. Did you know that the third movement of Brahms’s brilliant Violin Concerto was the inspiration for the song Don’t Cry for Me Argentina? A true master-piece paired with Tchaikovsky’s powerful, intimate and touching Sixth Symphony.
MUSIC
JOHANNES BRAHMS
Violin Concerto
PYOTR ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY
Symphony No. 6
A violinist with an international reputation, Velinzon has performed with such distinguished conductors as James Levine, Kurt Masur, Sir Colin Davis and Christoph von Dohnanyi. As a guest concertmaster he has appeared with the Pittsburgh Symphony, London Philharmonic, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Seoul Philharmonic, Germany’s WDR Symphony Orchestra and NDR Radio Philharmonic.
In the sphere of chamber music, violinists Gil Shaham and Hilary Hahn, as well as cellist Wendy Warner, have numbered among Velinzon’s partners. Since arriving in Seattle, he has performed with the Seattle Chamber Music Society.
In Boston he is a long-standing member of the Walden Chamber Players, a co-founder of the LiveArts string quartet and has appeared with the Boston Symphony Chamber Players. In New York, he performs frequently with the Jupiter Chamber Players. In 2010 Velinzon made his critically acclaimed debut at London’s Wigmore Hall with the Soloists of the London Philharmonic Orchestra.
Velinzon’s recent solo highlights include critically acclaimed performances of the Brahms Violin Concerto with the Seattle Symphony under the baton of Ludovic Morlot, and the Schnittke Violin Concerto with the Seattle Symphony as well as appearances with University of Washington Symphony Orchestra and Cascade Symphony Orchestra.
Born in St. Petersburg, Russia, Alexander Velinzon graduated from the Leningrad School for Gifted Children. After moving to the United States, he studied with renowned pedagogue Dorothy DeLay at The Juilliard School, where he earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees. His success at the Heida Hermanns Competition, Tibor Varga Competition and at the Artist International Young Artists Auditions, led to his New York recital debut at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall. On that occasion The Strad praised him as “very musical and intensely serious.”
Velinzon’s New York concerto debut came in 1999, when he performed Paganini’s Concerto No. 1 with the Jupiter Symphony. He played at New York City Center as both soloist and concertmaster for the Paul Taylor Dance Company, and has performed concertos with the Absolute Ensemble and Metamorphoses Orchestra in New York, the Rondo Chamber Orchestra touring the United States and Venezuela, and appeared with the National Symphony of Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic.
He joined the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 2000 and became Assistant Concertmaster in 2005, before being appointed Seattle Symphony’s David & Amy Fulton Concertmaster in 2012.