Augustin Hadelich, violin
With his poetic style and dazzling technique, Augustin Hadelich has established himself as a rising star among the new generation of violinists. Winner of the 2009 Avery Fisher Career Grant and gold medalist of the 2006 International Violin Competition of Indianapolis, his versatility across the entire spectrum of the violin repertory is astounding. About his recent recital at the Frick Collection, The New York Times wrote, “Mr. Hadelich stands out amid gifted young violinists for his prodigious technique, gorgeous tone and the ability to deliver well-known works with a distinctive interpretive flair.”
In August 2009, Hadelich made a sensational debut with The Cleveland Orchestra playing Lalo’s Symphonie espagnole. Cleveland has re-invited him to play the Mendelssohn Concerto in March 2011. Other upcoming highlights include his Paris recital debut at the Louvre, a BBC young artist’s debut recital at The Sage Gateshead in Newcastle, his debut with the Helsinki Philharmonic, a return engagement with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl, and debuts with the symphonies of Atlanta, Baltimore, Cincinnati, Phoenix, Seattle, Utah and Vancouver.
Hadelich made three Carnegie Hall appearances in 2008: his orchestral debut in January, performing the Brahms Double Concerto under Miguel Harth-Bedoya with cellist Alban Gerhardt and the Fort Worth Symphony; his highly successful recital debut in March; and a performance of Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 5 with the New York String Orchestra under Jaime Laredo on Christmas Eve. Other orchestral engagements include the symphonies of Alabama, Colorado, Columbus, Fort Worth, Indianapolis, Houston, Jacksonville, Kansas City, Louisville, New Orleans, Santa Barbara and Syracuse, as well as the Pacific Symphony, Rochester Philharmonic and the IRIS Chamber Orchestra in Memphis.
Outside the United States, Hadelich has performed with the Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Saarbrücken-Kaiserslautern, Dresden Philharmonic, Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo, Museumsorchester Frankfurt, Nürnberg Philharmonic, Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de México, Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo, Staatsorchester Stuttgart, Tokyo Symphony, and chamber orchestras in Budapest, Cologne, Hamburg, Lucerne and Toulouse. He has collaborated with such renowned conductors as Kazuyoshi Akiyama, Miguel Harth-Bedoya, Justin Brown, Giancarlo Guerrero, Günther Herbig, Yakov Kreizberg, Hannu Lintu, Christof Perick, Christoph Poppen, Carlos Miguel Prieto, Larry Rachleff, Stefan Sanderling, Michael Stern and Mario Venzago.
Hadelich has recorded two highly acclaimed CDs for Naxos: Haydn’s complete violin concerti with the Cologne Chamber Orchestra and Telemann’s complete Fantasies for Solo Violin. A new CD of masterworks for solo violin (including the Bartók solo sonata) was released by AVIE in October 2009. In the words of the London Times, “Now in his mid-twenties, Augustin Hadelich is fast emerging as a significant talent. This recital of music for unaccompanied solo violin, however, is a step beyond…he is both a virtuoso violinist and a deeply thoughtful one.” A second disc for AVIE will be released in 2011.
Also an enthusiastic recitalist, Hadelich has appeared at the Frick Collection (New York), the Walter Reade Theater at Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center, the Chamber Music Society of Detroit, Clark Memorial Library (Los Angeles), La Jolla Music Society, the University of Texas at Austin and Kioi Hall in Tokyo, to name a few. As chamber musician, he has been a participant at the Marlboro, Ravinia, and Seattle festivals, in addition to a collaboration with Midori at Lincoln Center’s Rose Theater.
Born in Italy in 1984, the son of German parents, Hadelich holds a graduate diploma and artist diploma from The Juilliard School, where he was a student of Joel Smirnoff. As first-prize winner of the Indianapolis Competition, Hadelich plays on the 1683 ex-Gingold Stradivari violin.
Larry Rachleff, guest conductor
Now celebrating his thirteenth season as music director of the Rhode Island Philharmonic, Larry Rachleff also serves as director of orchestras and the Walter Kris Hubert chair at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music in Houston. During his career, he has also been music director of the San Antonio Symphony.
“A take-charge maestro who invests everything he conducts with deep musical understanding” (Chicago Tribune), Rachleff is in constant demand as a guest conductor. Recent and upcoming engagements include the Utah Symphony, Houston Symphony, Seattle Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony, Kansas City Symphony, Phoenix Symphony, Dayton Philharmonic and Toledo Symphony, among many others. Summer festival engagements include Tanglewood, Aspen, Interlochen, Brevard Music Festival, Music Academy of the West, Opera Theatre of Lucca, Italy and the Grand Teton Music Festival. In 1993, he was selected as one of four American conductors to lead The Cleveland Orchestra at Carnegie Hall under the mentorship of Pierre Boulez.
Rachleff is especially noted for his rich and productive rapport with orchestra musicians. The Salt Lake Deseret News had this to say about him recently: “His interpretation (Prokofiev’s Fifth Symphony) was charged with power and passion that never waned. His reading was compelling, yet he also managed to bring out the lyricism that lies hidden beneath the boldness of the themes. What was especially remarkable, he conducted the work from memory. The orchestra played marvelously. The musicians were at the top of their game, and their rapport with Rachleff was obvious. It was a fabulous collaboration between orchestra and conductor.”
A former faculty member of Oberlin Conservatory, where he was music director of orchestras and conductor of the Contemporary Ensemble, he also served as conductor of the Opera Theatre at the University of Southern California. He has conducted and presented master classes all over the world, including the Chopin Academy in Warsaw, the Zurich Hochschule, the Sydney and Queensland, Australia conservatories, The Juilliard School, the New England Conservatory, and Royal Northern College in the United Kingdom.
Rachleff is an enthusiastic advocate of public school music education. He has conducted all-state orchestras and festivals in virtually every state in the United States as well as throughout Europe and Canada. He has also served as principal conducting teacher for the American Symphony Orchestra League, the Conductors’ Guild and the International Workshop for Conductors in the Czech Republic.
As a dedicated advocate of contemporary music, Rachleff has collaborated with leading composers including Samuel Adler, the late Luciano Berio, George Crumb, Michael Daugherty and John Harbison among others.
Rachleff lives in Houston with his wife, soprano Susan Lorette Dunn, and their young son, Sam.
