Chamber Music International Presents Brilliant Young Violinist and Six Masters

Augustin Hadelich to Perform November 14th

DALLAS:  North Texas music lovers will thrill to the amazing virtuosity of brilliant young violinist Augustin Hadelich on Saturday, November 14^th, as Chamber Music International brings together seven internationally acclaimed classical artists for the second concert of CMI’s 2009-2010 season at 8:00 p.m. at St. Barnabas Presbyterian Church in Richardson.  In addition to Hadelich, the exciting event will feature Paul Rosenthal (Violin), Gregory Allen (Piano), Atar Arad and Susan Dubois (Viola) and Jungshin Lim Lewis and Nathaniel Rosen (Celli). 

            “These artists are among the top soloists in the world, and we are pleased to present them to North Texas audiences,” said Chamber Music International’s Artistic Director, Philip Lewis. “We are especially delighted to be working with Augustin Hadelich for the first time.  Our philosophy is to bring together acknowledged masters with up-and-coming young stars in a challenging program that will showcase their talents.  At only 25, Augustin is one of the hottest young violinists performing today, and we can’t wait to experience the combination of his brilliance with the six other masters.”

            With his poetic style and dazzling technique, German violinist Augustin Hadelich has established himself as a rising star among the new generation of violinists.  Winner of the 2009 Avery Fischer Career Grant and gold medalist of the 2006 International Violin Competition of Indianapolis, he also received a number of special awards at the competition.  Another prize is the use for four years of the 1683 ex-Gingold Stradivari violin and Tourte bow, which he will bring to Dallas.

            In 1999, when Hadelich was fifteen years old, a fire on his family's farm severely burned much of his upper body, including his face and bow arm. After years of operations and therapy, he started to play again in 2001.  “His remarkable recovery gives an even greater depth to his incredible talent,” said Lewis.

            Pianist Gregory Allen was the Grand Prize winner of the 1980 Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Master Competition in Tel Aviv; he also won the Second Prize at the 1978 Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels, as well as top honors in the Los Angeles Young Musicians Foundation, Washington International, and Gina Bachauer Competitions.  One of the most sought-after teachers in the country, Allen is currently Professor of Piano at the University of Texas at Austin.

            Founder of the Sitka Summer Music Festival in Alaska, recognized as one of the outstanding chamber music festivals in the United States, respected violinist Paul Rosenthal also directs the festival’s affiliated Autumn Classics and Winter Classics series in Anchorage. As soloist and chamber musician, this last season Mr. Rosenthal performed with orchestras from Alaska to New York and in recitals and chamber music series in the U.S., Canada, Germany, Holland, Scotland and the Bahamas.

            A favorite with CMI audiences, Atar Arad was born in Tel Aviv and began his early musical education there.  In 1968, he was one of a select few young virtuosos to be invited to study under the patronage of the Queen of Belgium in the renowned Chapelle Musicale Reine Elizabeth.  In July 1972, in his first appearance as a violist, he won the City of London prize as a laureate of the Carl Flesch competition for violin and viola. Two months later he was awarded the First Prize at the International Viola Competition in Geneva by a unanimous decision of the jury. Numerous concerts followed for Mr. Arad, as soloist with major orchestras and in recitals at some of Europe’s most prestigious festivals.

            Another favorite violist, Dallas’ own Susan Dubois, was chosen as a winner of Artists International’s 23rd Annual Auditions and was presented in her solo New York Recital Debut at Carnegie’s Weill Hall in April of 1996. She was also selected as the winner of the Sigma Alpha Iota International Women’s Music Fraternity 1995 Verna Ross Omdorff Career Performance Grant.  She is currently a member of the artist faculty at the University of North Texas and principal violist of the Dallas Opera Orchestra.

            Accomplished cellists Jungshin Lim Lewis and Nathaniel Rosen will complete the ensemble for the evening.  Jungshin Lim Lewis was born in Seoul, Korea where she studied cello under Bong-Cho Chun. At the age of 16, she received the highest government award for Outstanding New Artist and won First Prize in the Dong-Ah Il Bo International Competition.  She is currently Principal Cellist of the Richardson Symphony Orchestra.  Cellist Nathaniel Rosen gained American recognition upon winning the 1977 International Naumburg Competition, and international stardom the following year when he became the first American cellist ever to win the Gold Medal at the Tchaikovsky International Competition. 

            The group will perform a program of four pieces.  The evening will open with one of Mozart’s most dramatic works, Piano Quartet in G Minor, K. 478.  Next, the artists will perform Sonata for Violin and Piano, Op. 119 by F. Poulenc and Polonaise Brillante in D Major, Op. 4 by H. Wieniawski.  “These pieces will showcase Augustin Hadelich’s wonderful skill” smiles Lewis.  The concert will conclude with Brahms’ String Sextet in G Major, Op. 36, “the greatest string sextet of all time,” affirms Lewis.

            Tickets for the November 14th concert are on sale now at www.cmi-now.org.  Prices start at $10 for students; adult tickets are $30, with discounts for seniors and groups.  A limited number of tickets will be available at the door at St. Barnabas Presbyterian Church, 1220 W. Belt Line Road, the night of the event.  For more information, the public may call Chamber Music International at 972-385-7267.

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Chamber Music International presents a once-in-a-lifetime experience with timeless music.  For 24 years, the nonprofit arts organization has offered the greatest and most popular works of the Classical, Romantic, Impressionistic and Modern eras, performed by world-renowned soloists, recording artists and competition gold medalists from all parts of the globe.  CMI’s programs bring together artists to collaborate on a unique concert program.  Thus, CMI's approach is unrivaled in the Southwest, and our audiences are the only people in the world to experience each particular group of artists playing the specific musical selections on our progra