Simone porter program

Thursday

SEP 28

Page 12

7:30 pm

KU Symphony Orchestra with special guest

Simone Porter, violin

and guest conductor,

Jung-Ho Pak

Sponsored by

Pioneer Ridge Senior Living Communities offer an unparalleled care experience including assisted living, nursing care and our state-of-the-art rapid recovery.

We are pleased to sponsor tonight’s Judy Collins appearance, and are excited to showcase the newest addition to the Pioneer Ridge campus: Pioneer Ridge Independent Living coming in winter 2016.

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SEP 28 | KUSO w/ Simone Porter, violin

Program Concert Overture 2012 (Anniversary Overture). . . . . . . . Philip Glass (1937–present) Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 35. . Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840–1893)

20-minute Intermission Symphony No. 8 in G major, B. 163 (Op.88). . . . . . . . . .Antonín Dvořák (1841–1904) Please see your pre- and post-performance emails for program notes.

Simone Porter, violin Violinist Simone Porter has been recognized as an emerging artist of impassioned energy, musical integrity and vibrant sound. After performing last season with Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the LA Times declared Porter “on the cusp of a major career.” Elsewhere, her performances have been described as “bold,” (Seattle Times) and “virtuosic,” (London Times) and at 19 years of age, Porter has already appeared with the New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Houston Symphony and Los Angeles Philharmonic, under the baton of renowned conductors, including Yannick Nezet-Seguin, Nicolas McGegan, Ludovic Morlot and Donald Runnicles. Porter made her professional solo debut at age 10 with the Seattle Symphony and her international debut with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at age 13.

In June 2016, Simone Porter was featured at the American Film Institute’s Lifetime Achievement Award: A Tribute to John Williams in a solo performance of music from Schindler’s List, with Maestro Gustavo Dudamel and members of the American Youth Symphony; this featured program was broadcast nationally on the TNT Network. Summer 2016 also brought her debut at Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart Festival, performing Mozart with Louis

SEP 28 | KUSO w/ Simone Porter, violin

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Langree, and return engagements to both the Aspen Festival with Nicolas McGegan and Grand Teton Festival with Donald Runnicles. The 2016–2017 season included Porter’s debuts with the San Diego Symphony and Charles Dutoit, the Pittsburgh Symphony and Leonard Slatkin, and the New York Youth Symphony at Carnegie Hall. She also enjoyed engagements with the Minnesota Orchestra, as well as the Vancouver, Indianapolis, Nashville, Utah and Edmonton Symphonies.

Simone Porter was named a recipient of an Avery Fisher Career Grant in March 2015. This prestigious honor came in a year that included return engagements with the Seattle Symphony and the Aspen Music Festival, her solo debut with Orquestra Sinfônica Brasileira, a Ravinia Festival recital debut, and a performance in Bogota, Colombia, with Gustavo Dudamel and the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra. The 2015–2016 season marked her return to the Los Angeles Philharmonic, this time on the Walt Disney Concert Hall stage with Maestro Dudamel, and her debuts with the Detroit, Berkeley and Des Moines Symphonies; Baltimore and Hartford Symphony Orchestras; Rochester Philharmonic; and Florida Orchestra. NPR’s Performance Today also named her as Young-Artist-in-Residence for fall 2015.

Porter has been heard on the renowned syndicated NPR radio program From the Top, hosted by acclaimed pianist Christopher O’Riley and featuring America’s best young classical musicians. She has also been featured on the popular national APM radio program Performance Today, recorded live at Aspen’s Harris Hall in 2011. Porter made her Carnegie Hall debut on the Emmy Award-winning TV show From the Top: Live from Carnegie Hall. Other TV appearances include the BBC documentary The World’s Greatest Musical Prodigies, which aired in the United Kingdom in June 2009, and a feature on Seattle’s Kiro 7 TV’s Quarterly Magazine, In Color.

Raised in Seattle, Washington, Porter studied with Margaret Pressley as a recipient of the Dorothy Richard Starling Scholarship, and was then admitted into the studio of the renowned pedagogue Robert Lipsett, with whom she presently studies at the Colburn Conservatory of Music in Los Angeles. Her summer studies have included the Aspen Music Festival for seven years, Indiana University’s Summer String Academy, and the Schlern International Music Festival in Italy.

Simone Porter plays on a 1745 J.B. Guadagnini violin on generous loan from The Mandell Collection of Southern California.

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Jung-Ho Pak, guest conductor Jung-Ho Pak is currently artistic director and conductor of the Cape Cod Symphony Orchestra, and music director emeritus of the New Haven Symphony Orchestra. He has been conductor of the World Youth Symphony Orchestra at Interlochen Arts Camp since 2003. Formerly music director of the San Diego Symphony, he helped guide the orchestra’s emergence from bankruptcy to financial success. Pak has been music director with the University of Southern California, San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Colburn School of Music, University of California, Berkeley, Emmy-nominated Disney Young Musicians Symphony Orchestra, International Chamber Orchestra, and Diablo Ballet. He has conducted in Europe, Soviet Union, South America and Asia. Pak is a frequent speaker on television and radio about the relevance of art in society and the importance of music education, and clinician and guest conductor at national music festivals.

KU Symphony Orchestra Founded in 1904, the orchestra program is one of the oldest in the nation.

Dean Skilton first assembled a group to form a rudimentary ensemble and the KU Symphony Orchestra (KUSO) has grown during the ensuing 100-years.

The KUSO serves the university community and the greater Lawrence area, while reaching out to audiences in nearby cities. The orchestra provides music majors with the highest quality preparation for a career in music. It is also open to qualified students with majors other than music. In addition to its regular concert season, popular events include the annual Collage concert and KU Holiday Vespers.