Violinist Hilary Hahn will return to Symphony Center on Sunday, April 12 at 3:00 p.m. for a solo recital of works by Bach, Schumann, Debussy and Cage, as well as selections from her acclaimed album In 27 Pieces: the Hilary Hahn Encores, which won a Grammy Award earlier this year. Pianist Cory Smythe, who was her artistic collaborator on the recording, will join her for this Symphony Center Presents program.
Earlier today, Hahn announced the release of her newest album: Mozart 5, Vieuxtemps 4 - Violin Concertos, on the Deutsche Grammophon label. This is her first recording with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen and Paavo Järvi, after performing and touring with this ensemble and conductor for many years.
For their upcoming recital program at Symphony Center, Hahn and Smythe will perform several selections from In 27 Pieces. These include "Light Moving" by Pulitzer Prize-winning American composer David Lang; and "Speak, Memory," inspired by the work of 20th century Russian novelist Vladimir Nabokov and written by Russian-American composer, poet, visual artist and writer Lera Auerbach.
Lang's encore takes a cue from the name of a furniture moving company started by young composers Philip Glass and Steve Reich in the 1960s, called "Chelsea Light Moving." Lang has said, "Their company didn't last too long, but I have always loved the spirit of it, and the name. And somehow my piece reminded me of that time, that place and that sound."
Hahn commented "These two works are very different pieces, displaying distinctive characters within their brief durations. 'Light Moving' toys with the relative roles of violin and piano, as well as melody, harmony, and rhythm. The violin accompanies the piano in this piece, and the quick-moving, repeating yet subtly evolving patterns in both instruments create a crystalline effect," she said.
"Speak, Memory is named for the autobiographical memoir by Nabokov," Hahn continued. "The emotions in Auerbach's version oscillate from evocative to mysterious, from fragile to dramatic. When I play it, I feel like I am musically illustrating an old silent movie."
Hahn's musical collaborator, pianist Cory Smythe, is a core member of the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), based in Chicago and New York. Smythe has also appeared as a soloist and in chamber music performances at Lincoln Center's Mostly Mozart Festival, New York's Bang on a Can Marathon and with members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra on their MusicNOW series.
Hahn will sign CDs in the Grainger Ballroom following the April 12 program at Symphony Center. For more information about this program, please visit cso.org.
