Hilary Hahn, violin

Saturday, February 9 8pm
Herbst Theatre
Premium $75/$59/$39

The Shenson Virtuosi Violin Series is made possible by Fred M. Levin and Nancy Livingston, the Shenson Foundation

BEETHOVEN: Sonata No. 4 in A minor, Opus 23
BACH: Sonata No. 2 in A minor for Solo Violin, BWV 1003

Selected shorts by Mason Bates, David Lang, Edgar Meyer, Krzysztof Penderecki, Valentyn Silvestrov, Mark Anthony Turnage, Du Yun and others.

Hilary Hahn had already made a substantial name for herself in the music world by… Show more the time she decided to commission new, short pieces by living composers to add to the rich tradition and repertoire usually reserved for encores. The result was In 27 Pieces: The Hilary Hahn Encores and she brings a selection of them to the SF Performances recital stage, paired with iconic sonatas by Bach and Beethoven.

Violinist Hilary Hahn’s probing interpretations, technical brilliance, and commitment to new music and the commissioning process have not only made her one of the most sought-after artists of our time, but also brought her love of classical music to a diverse audience. Although only 32 years old, her international fame and recognition, including two Grammies, multiple Diapason “d'Or of the Year” and “Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik” prizes, and the 2008 Classic FM / Gramophone Artist of the Year, are a testament to her talent and drive.

Hahn appears regularly with the world’s elite orchestras and on the most prestigious recital series. During the 2010-2011 season, she embarked on a demanding recital tour covering 56 cities across four continents. After a planned tour in Japan in April 2011 was canceled due to the March tsunami disaster, Hahn organized four benefit concerts in the US to help aid the recovery, continuing her constant efforts to heighten the relevance of music to contemporary culture and world events.

Hahn begins her 2011-2012 season with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra in its opening gala concert performing Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto No 1 in E Minor. This year marks the 20th anniversary of her major orchestra debut. She will continue appearing with orchestras throughout the season, including the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, the NDR Radiofhillarmonie de Hannover, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, the Camerata Salzburg, and the Pittsburgh, Houston, San Francisco, Montreal, and Alabama symphony orchestras. Hahn will tour the US in the fall, premiering the first half of her commissioning project premiere In 27 Pieces: The Hilary Hahn Encores with long-time recital partner Valentina Lisitsa at the piano. Hahn will then concertize through Germany, France, Spain, and Eastern Europe.

In the 15 years since she began recording, Hahn has released 12 feature albums on the Deutsche Grammophon and Sony labels, in addition to three DVDs, an Oscar-nominated movie soundtrack, an award-winning recording for children, and various compilations. In repertoire as diverse as Bach, Stravinsky, Elgar, Beethoven, Vaughan Williams, Mozart, Schoenberg, Paganini, Spohr, Barber, Bernstein, Korngold, and others, her recordings have received every critical prize in the international press, and have met with equal popular success. All have spent weeks on Billboard’s Classical Top Ten list. A recent concerto recording, which paired Schoenberg and Sibelius, debuted at No. 1 and spent the next twenty-three weeks on the Billboard classical charts. This acclaimed album brought Hahn her second Grammy: the 2009 Award for Best Instrumental Soloist Performance with Orchestra. Her first Grammy win came in 2003 for her Brahms and Stravinsky concerto album. In a special project last season, Hahn’s former teacher, composer Jennifer Higdon, wrote a Pulitzer Prize-winning concerto for her. The piece was released in September 2010, along with works by Tchaikovsky. In October 2011, Hahn will release her newest album, Charles Ives: Four Sonatas.

Hahn shows her commitment to contemporary music with her In 27 Pieces: The Hilary Hahn Encores. For this project, she has commissioned over two dozen composers to write short-form pieces for acoustic violin and piano. She will premiere these works over the 2011-12 and 2012-13 seasons, recording them along the way for release in the 2013-2014 season. Hahn remains one of the few performers dedicated to recording every new piece she commissions. Nearly a decade ago, Hahn began to notice that new encore pieces were not being showcased as much as other types of contemporary works. Shorter pieces remain a crucial part of every violinist's education and repertoire, and Hahn believes potential new favorites should be encouraged and performed as well. Twenty-six leading composers from around the world will be featured in the project, and the final, twenty-seventh composer will be decided in a non-traditional fashion later in the year.

Hahn has appeared on the covers of all major classical music publications and has been featured in mainstream periodicals such as Vogue, Elle, Town and Country, and Marie Claire. In 2001, she was named “America’s Best Young Classical Musician” by Time. And in January 2010 she appeared as guest artist, playing Bartok and Brahms, on The Tonight Show With Conan O’Brien.

An engaging personality, Hahn is an avid writer and interviewer, posting journal entries and information for young musicians and concertgoers on her website, hilaryhahn.com. In video, she produces a YouTube channel, youtube.com/hilaryhahnvideos, and serves as guest host for the contemporary classical music blog Sequenza21. Elsewhere, her violin case comments on life as a traveling companion, on Twitter: twitter.com/violincase. In addition, Hahn has participated in a number of other musical projects and collaborations. In 2004, she was a soloist on the Oscar-nominated soundtrack to the film The Village. She has made guest appearances on two albums by the alt-rock band …And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead and on Grand Forks by Tom Brosseau, and she has collaborated and toured with folk-rock singer-songwriter Josh Ritter.

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