Canadian violinist, exraordinary soloist Anantawan features beloved works
Symphony Classics – familiar works that have stood the test of time and become classics in the symphonic repertoire – will be featured in the Okanagan Symphony’s March concert series, titled that same way. The Mendelssohn Violin Concerto, Prokofiev’s Classical Symphony, and Mozart’s Symphony No. 31, known as the “Paris,” promise an evening of exceptional music.
This concert is exceptional in other ways.
Adrian Anantawan was educated at the Curtis Institute of Music, Yale, and Harvard. His teachers have included Itzhak Perlman, Pinchas Zukerman, and Anne-Sophie Mutter. He’s performed extensively across Canada as a soloist with the orchestras of Toronto, Nova Scotia, Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Montreal, Edmonton and Vancouver and has given feature recitals at the Aspen Music Festival and Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall.
These are impressive credentials. But Anantawan has reached the heights of musical accomplishment as a violinist even though he was born without a right hand. He has adapted his bow technique with the use of a highly sophisticated prosthetic and has attained incredible virtuosity.
Anantawan also performs, teaches, and speaks around the world as an advocate for disability and the arts. “I love that he combines his love of playing and understanding of adaptation to create unique programs for students of all kinds of disability,” says OSO Music Director Rosemary Thomson. “He will bring a unique perspective to Mendelssohn’s romantic Violin Concerto.”
The Violin Concerto is a beautifully polished work of art, combining sureness of construction with passion, warmth and playfulness. Mozart and Prokofiev were both trailblazing composers with irrepressible spirits. Mozart wrote his Paris Symphony at 22, and Prokofiev, 150 years later borrowed Mozart’s stylistic energy composing his Classical Symphony at the age of 26. Both works bring a youthful energy that generates great excitement. A sweet, rapturous orchestral interlude entitled ‘Night and Love,’ a movement from the “ode-symphony” Ludus pro patria by French composer Augusta Holmès, rounds out the program.
As well as three performances with the
OSO in mainstage concerts, Anantawan will be the featured guest for the OSO’s Symphony School Shows, The Power of Music, which will be presented to almost 4000 students in three cities the following week. “I am thrilled to share the stage with Adrian, not just on our main stage performance, but also in these School Shows for elementary students,” says Thomson.
Repairs to the flood-damaged stage at the Vernon & District Performing Arts Centre are not yet completed, meaning that the March 5 performance will take place at Vernon’s Trinity United Church.
Patrons who have previously purchased tickets for this performance should contact TicketSeller to obtain a replacement. Patrons should also be aware that there are no reserved seats at Trinity — general seating only.
Contact the KCT Box Office at 250-4698940 for Kelowna performance, Friday, March 3 at 7:30 at the Kelowna Community Theatre, and Penticton performance Saturday, March 4 at 7:30 p.m. at the Cleland Community Theatre. Call TicketSeller at 250-549-7469 for the Vernon on Sunday, March 5 at 7 p.m. at Trinity United Church.