British Cellist Steven Isserlis Returns to Paramount

Media Contact:

Kristen Gleason
Director of Marketing
The Paramount Theater
215 East Main Street
Charlottesville, VA 22902
434.979.1922 ext. 103
kristen@theparamount.net

For Immediate Release

January 10, 2007

World-renowned cellist Steven Isserlis is returning to The Paramount on Tuesday, February 20, 2007 at 8:00 pm.  Charlottesville’s second "Isserlis and Friends” concert is being presented by the Virginia Chamber Music Foundation, which brought the cellist’s critically acclaimed performance to the Paramount during the theater’s opening season in 2005.  The February 20th concert will feature music by the great Russian composers Tchaikovsky, Shostakovich, and Glazunov, and by Czech composer Janácek.

Honored by Queen Elizabeth II as a “Commander of the British Empire” for his contributions to music, Steven Isserlis performs to sold-out concert halls around the globe.  He has been hailed by The Times (London) as “a great romantic among cellists” who brings passion, tenderness, and eloquence to his performances.  Isserlis appears frequently as soloist with many of the world’s most prestigious orchestras and enjoys regular collaborations with conductors Vladimir Ashkenazy, Sir Colin Davis, and Christoph Eschenbach, and with such artists as Martha Argerich and Joshua Bell.

“Steven Isserlis and Friends” concerts are known for their outstanding music-making and congenial atmosphere. Joining Isserlis on February 20th will be pianist Ya-Fei Chuang, violinists Jennifer Frautschi and Colin Jacobsen, violinist and violist Tim Summers, violist Nicholas Cords, and cellist Raphael Bell.  All have thriving international careers and regularly perform with today’s premier ensembles, including Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Project, Joshua Bell and Friends, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and the Mahler Chamber Orchestra.  Several are frequent performers and audience favorites at the Charlottesville Chamber Music Festival, the annual series of concerts presented by the Foundation. 

“Isserlis and Friends” offers audiences a variety of musical experiences: solo performances by England’s pre-eminent cellist as well as some of the best music ever written for chamber ensembles.  Isserlis will perform Shostakovich’s cello sonata and Janácek’s Pohádka (“Fairy Tale”) with pianist Chuang.  The sonata by Shostakovich will especially give the cellist an opportunity to demonstrate the passionate playing for which he is celebrated. “Souvenir de Florence,” which Tchaikovsky wrote as a joyful tribute to the city that charmed him, is a string sextet scored for two violins, two violas, and two cellos.  Isserlis will be joined in this piece by Bell, Cords, Frautschi, Jacobsen, and Summers.  A Valse by Glazunov will complete the program.

Tickets for the February 20th concert are $35 and $22 ($10 for students) and are available online or through The Paramount’s Box Office at 434.979.1333.  Seats are also available from the Virginia Chamber Music Foundation’s box office at 434-295-5395 or www.cvillechambermusic.org.