Artist Recital Series February 3, 2010

Oberlin College will launch the spring season of its Artist Recital Series on Wednesday, February 3, 2010, with an 8 p.m. performance in Finney Chapel by one of today’s finest pairs of classical musicians: violinist Joshua Bell and pianist Jeremy Denk.

Finney Chapel is located at 90 North Professor Street and is wheelchair accessible. Free parking is available throughout the Oberlin College campus.

Bell’s beautiful sound, virtuosic technique, and musical maturity have garnered him praise as “one of the finest musicians of his generation,” (The Washington Post), and Musical America recently named him the 2010 Instrumentalist of the Year. Denk, a 1990 graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, has attracted increasing attention in recent years; in his “thrilling” Carnegie Hall debut last season, he brought “a rare combination of command and spontaneity to his dynamic performances,” said the New York Times.

The duo will perform a program of violin sonatas from the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries by Bach, Schumann, Saint-Saëns, and Ravel. Their performance at Oberlin is one of the first stops on a U.S. tour this February and March, culminating in performances at Seattle’s Benaroya Hall, Los Angeles’ Walt Disney Concert Hall, and New York’s Carnegie Hall.

Tickets are available through Oberlin College’s Central Ticket Service (CTS). Purchase tickets online at www.oberlin.edu/artsguide; by phone at 440-775-8169 or 800-371-0178; in person at the CTS box office, located in the lobby of Hall Auditorium at 67 North Main Street in Oberlin; or by mail, by submitting the order form available on the website.

The program for this concert and other upcoming ARS concerts are as follows:

Wednesday, February 3, 2010, 8 p.m.
JOSHUA BELL, violin
JEREMY DENK, piano
J. S. Bach: Violin Sonata No. 4 in C minor, BWV 1017
Saint-Saëns: Sonata No. 1 for Violin and Piano in D minor, Op. 75
Schumann: Sonata No. 1 for Violin and Piano in A minor, Op. 105
Ravel: Sonata for Violin and Piano (1927)
Tickets: $28; Seniors and OCID $22; Students $16

Thursday, March 18, 2010, 8 p.m.
TAKÁCS STRING QUARTET
Beethoven: String Quartet No. 6, Op. 18, No. 6
John Psathas: A Cool Wind
Beethoven: String Quartet No. 7, Op. 59, No. 1 (“Razumovsky”)
Tickets: $28; Seniors and OCID $22; Students $10

Friday, April 9, 2010, 8 p.m.
THE CLEVELAND ORCHESTRA
Semyon Bychkov, conductor
Ravel: Le Tombeau de Couperin
Dutilleux: Métaboles
Schumann: Symphony No. 2
Tickets: $28; Seniors and OCID $22; Students $10

Sunday, April 11, 2010, 8 p.m.
AMERICAN BRASS QUINTET
50th Anniversary Celebration
Program to be announced
Tickets: $28; Seniors and OCID $22; Students $10