Contemporary music specialist explores the expressionist legacy in recital
Courtesy photo.
SUMMARY
- Sun, Feb 25 | 4 p.m. | Campbell Hall
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- The acclaimed violinist and champion of living composers will perform a varied program of composers past and present alongside pianist John Novacek
- Arrive early for a pre-concert talk at the Mosher Alumni House by Derek Katz, UCSB Associate Professor of Musicology FREE to event ticket holders
- Join Leila Josefowicz and UCSB students for a masterclass in the Lotte Lehmann Concert Hall on Feb 26 at 12:30 PM, FREE and open to public observation
- $65 / $45 / $25 / $15 UCSB students (Current student ID required)
- Tickets & Info: www.ArtsAndLectures.UCSB.edu
“Josefowicz is magnificent… whether negotiating ferocious technical challenges or playing with gentle lyrical wonder.” The Strad (U.K.)
SANTA BARBARA — UCSB Arts & Lectures presents Leila Josefowicz, violin on Sunday, February 25 at 4 p.m. at Campbell Hall. An invaluable advocate for living composers, Leila Josefowicz has premiered dozens of new works for violin including concertos written expressly for her by John Adams, Esa Pekka-Salonen and many others. Josefowicz’ program illuminates the path to contemporary music that travels through expressionism. Works by Debussy and Szymanowski transport us to a lush, harmonic fantasy world, while those by Tüür and Stravinsky continue our journey into a more visceral realm that delights us with unexpected humor, excitement and passion.
Program
Debussy: Violin Sonata in G Minor, L. 140
Szymanowski: Mythes, op. 30
Erkki-Sven Tüür: Conversio for Violin and Piano
Stravinsky: Divertimento from Le Baiser de la fée
ABOUT LEILA JOSEFOWICZ
Leila Josefowicz’ passionate advocacy of contemporary music for the violin is reflected in her diverse programs and enthusiasm for performing new works. A favorite of living composers, Josefowicz has premiered many concertos, including those by Colin Matthews, Luca Francesconi, John Adams and Esa-Pekka Salonen, all written specially for her.
Artist-in-Residence of Iceland Symphony Orchestra for the 2023-2024 season, Josefowicz will perform Helen Grime’s Violin Concerto with Daniel Bjarnason and Bartók’s Violin Concerto No.2 with Eva Ollikainen, as well as present a solo recital at Harpa Hall. Elsewhere, Josefowicz’ season includes engagements with Die Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Musikkollegium Winterthur, London Philharmonic Orchestra and Lahti, Milwaukee, Taipei and Antwerp symphony orchestras. Josefowicz also presents the world premiere of Jüri Reinvere’s Concerto for Violin and Harp alongside Trina Struble and The Cleveland Orchestra, and tours Germany and Austria with Junge Deutsche Philharmonie with concerts in Berlin, Vienna and Dresden.
Highlights of recent seasons include appearances with Berliner Philharmoniker; Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich; Royal Concertgebouworkest; Konzerthausorchester Berlin; Dresden Philharmonie, Oslo, Helsinki and Los Angeles Philharmonic orchestras; NDR Elbphilharmonie; the Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, Cleveland and Philadelphia orchestras, where she worked with conductors at the highest level including Matthias Pintscher, John Storgårds, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Louis Langrée, Hannu Lintu and John Adams.
Josefowicz enjoyed a close working relationship with the late Oliver Knussen, performing various concerti, including his violin concerto, together over 30 times. Other premieres have included Matthias Pintscher’s Assonanza with Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, John Adams’ Scheherazade.2 with New York Philharmonic, Luca Francesconi’s Duende – The Dark Notes with Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra and Steven Mackey’s Beautiful Passing with BBC Philharmonic.
Together with John Novacek, with whom she has enjoyed a close collaboration since 1985, Josefowicz has performed recitals at world-renowned venues such as New York’s Zankel Hall and Park Avenue Armory, Washington D.C.’s Kennedy Center and Library of Congress and London’s Wigmore Hall, as well as in Reykjavik, Trento, Bilbao and Chicago. This season their collaboration continues with recitals in California, appearing at Festival Mozaic, UC Santa Barbara, San Francisco Performances and Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Colburn Celebrity Recital series.
Josefowicz has released several recordings, notably for Deutsche Grammophon, Philips/Universal and Warner Classics and was featured on Touch Press’s acclaimed iPad app, The Orchestra. Her latest recording, released in 2019, features Bernd Alois Zimmermann’s Violin Concerto with Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Hannu Lintu. She has previously received nominations for Grammy Awards for her recordings of Scheherazade.2 with St Louis Symphony conducted by David Robertson, and Esa-Pekka Salonen’s Violin Concerto with Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by the composer.
In recognition of her outstanding achievement and excellence in music, she won the 2018 Avery Fisher Prize and was awarded a prestigious MacArthur Fellowship in 2008, joining prominent scientists, writers and musicians who have made unique contributions to contemporary life.
ABOUT JOHN NOVACEK
Versatile, Grammy-nominated pianist John Novacek regularly tours the Americas, Europe, Asia and Australia as solo recitalist, chamber musician and concerto soloist; in the latter capacity he has presented over 30 concerti with dozens of orchestras. Novacek was recently appointed to the piano and collaborative piano faculty of The Mannes School of Music at The New School’s College of Performing Arts.
John Novacek is a highly sought-after collaborative artist and has performed with Joshua Bell, Renaud Capuçon, Jeremy Denk, Matt Haimovitz, Leila Josefowicz, Cho-Liang Lin, Yo-Yo Ma, Truls Mørk, Elmar Oliveira and Emmanuel Pahud, as well as the Afiara, Colorado, Harrington, Jupiter, New Hollywood, St. Lawrence, SuperNova and Ying string quartets. He also tours widely as a member of the multi-faceted Intersection, a piano trio that includes violinist Kaura Frautschi and cellist Kristina Reiko Cooper. As a tireless advocate for contemporary music, Novacek has also given numerous world premieres and worked closely with composers John Adams, Kenji Bunch, Gabriela Lena Frank, John Harbison, Jennifer Higdon, George Rochberg, Robert Sierra, John Williams and John Zorn.
John Novacek took top prizes at both the Leschetizky and Joanna Hodges international piano competitions, among many others. He studied piano with Polish virtuoso Jakob Gimpel at California State University, Northridge, where he earned a Bachelor of Music degree, summa cum laude. Subsequently, he earned a Master of Music degree from New York City’s Mannes College of Music, studying with Peter Serkin in piano and Felix Galimer and Julius Levine in chamber music. Novacek’s coaches in composition included Frederick Werle, Aurelio de la Vega and Daniel Kessner.
John Novacek has recorded over 35 CDs, encompassing solo and chamber music by most major composers from Bach to Bartók, as well as many contemporary and original scores. CD titles include Road Movies (2004 Grammy nomination, Best Chamber Music Performance), Great Mozart Piano Works, Spanish Rhapsody, Novarags (original ragtime compositions), Classic Romance, Hungarian Sketches, Intersection, Romances et Meditations and, with Leila Josefowicz, Americana (Gramophone Editor’s Choice), For the End of Time, Shostakovich and Recital (BBC Music Magazine, 5 stars/June 2005’s chamber choice). 2020 saw the IBS Classical releases of Chausson’s Concert in D for Violin, Piano & String Quartet and an album of viola sonatas by Glinka, Hindemith and Schubert with Randolph Kelly.
John Novacek is a Steinway Artist
ABOUT UCSB ARTS & LECTURES
Founded in 1959, UCSB Arts & Lectures (A&L) is the largest and most influential arts and lectures organization between Los Angeles and San Francisco. A&L annually presents more than a hundred public events, from critically acclaimed concerts and dance performances by world-renowned artists to talks by groundbreaking authors and film series at UCSB and Santa Barbara-area venues. With a mission to “educate, entertain and inspire,” A&L also oversees an outreach program that brings visiting artists and speakers into local classrooms and other venues for master classes, open rehearsals, discussions and more, serving K-12 students, college students and the general public.
Leila Josefowicz is presented by UCSB Arts & Lectures in association with UCSB Department of Music
Event Sponsor: Luci & Rich Janssen
Special thanks: KCSB
For tickets or more information, call UCSB Arts & Lectures at (805) 893-3535 or purchase online at www.ArtsAndLectures.UCSB.edu.
UCSB Arts & Lectures gratefully acknowledges our Community Partners the Natalie Orfalea Foundation & Lou Buglioli for their generous support of the 2023-2024 season.