BEETHOVEN FESTIVAL
Beethoven's Violin Concerto

Friday, May 30, 2008 at 10:30AM
Saturday, May 31, 2008 at 8PM
JoAnn Falletta
Michael Ludwig, violin

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Corigliano - Fantasia on an Ostinato
Beethoven - Violin Concerto
Beethoven - Symphony No.7
 

Program Description

Looking back from our own time, the concert begins with American composer John Corigliano's Fantasia on an Ostinato, based on a fragment from Beethoven's seventh symphony. Then follows the celestial expanse of Beethoven's Violin Concerto, a work of resplendent poetic power, rendered by BPO concertmaster Michael Ludwig. In turn, the walls of Kleinhans will indeed resonate with Beethoven's Symphony No.7, the work Wagner described as "The Apotheosis of Dance."

Artist Profile

Michael Ludwig- BPO Concertmaster Michael Ludwig has appeared as soloist with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, The Philadelphia Orchestra and the Boston Pops, collaborating with such conductors as Sir Georg Solti, Joseph Silverstein and John Williams. Michael maintains an active schedule throughout the United States and abroad as a soloist with major orchestras, recitalist and chamber musician. As a chamber musician, he has been invited to perform with several important artists, including Christoph Eschenbach, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Yefim Bronfman, Sarah Chang and Jean-Yves Thibaudet. Michael is a member of both the Philadelphia Chamber Ensemble and the Mondrian Ensemble.

Michael was appointed Concertmaster of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra in September 2006 after serving as Associate Concertmaster of The Philadelphia Orchestra since 1993. In his inaugural season as BPO Concertmaster, he has performed as a featured soloist at a Classical subscription concert and an Artpark concert. Additionally, he has performed as concertmaster for Peter Nero and The Philly Pops, as well as such prestigious musical acts as YES, The Moody Blues and Rod Stewart. In January 2001, Michael was named to the faculty of RowanUniversity as Adjunct Professor of Violin. He was appointed the Sterne Virtuoso Artist-in-Residence for the 2004-05 academic year at SkidmoreCollege. Michael is regularly invited to give master classes at the LuzerneMusicCenter in Luzerne, NY, and serves on the faculty of the School of Orchestral Studies in Saratoga Springs, New York. He has been a faculty member of the National Youth Orchestra Festival, The University of the Arts in Philadelphia and TempleUniversity's Preparatory Division. Michael has served as a member of the board of directors of the Philadelphia Youth Orchestra. He is currently a member of the Artistic Advisory Board for Access to Art, Inc.

An aspiring conductor, Michael has pursued studies with the renowned conductor and pedagogue Gustav Meier. In 2003, he was a conducting fellow at the Conductors Institute of South Carolina and participated in the International Conductors Workshop in Sofia, Bulgaria. Michael serves as the Associate Conductor of the Lansdowne Symphony Orchestra. Since 2004, he has been a visiting conductor at the LuzerneMusicCenter. In April of 2005, Michael conducted the Skidmore College Orchestra. He returned to Sofia, Bulgaria in August '05 to participate in the International Conductors Workshop, as well as appear as violin soloist in the Dvorak Violin Concerto and Romance. In October, Michael conducted a subscription concert and two education concerts with the Bismarck-Mandan Symphony Orchestra in Bismarck, North Dakota and returned there in November as violin soloist.