Grammy Award-winning violinist coming to Wheaton
February 19, 2009
A Grammy Award-winning violinist who was recently honored as the 2008 Classical FM Gramophone Artist of the Year will showcase her talents as part of the college's Mary Bloor Loser '42 Concert Series.
Hilary Hahn, who is in the midst of a worldwide concert tour that will touch down in nine countries, will perform in Cole Memorial Chapel on Thursday, February 26 accompanied by pianist Valentina Lisitsa.
Recording with Deutsche Grammaphon, Hahn has released five albums in the past six years, including a recent recording of Schoenberg and Sibelius violin concertos that spent 23 weeks on the Billboard classical charts. Her 2002 recording, Brahms & Stravinsky: Violin Concertos, won a Grammy for Best Instrumental Soloist with Orchestra.
Hahn performs as a guest soloist with many of the world's major orchestras. She also has played in many other settings. She was the featured soloist in Pope Benedict XVI's 80th-birthday at the Vatican in April 2007, and the violinist on the Oscar-nominated soundtrack to M. Night Shyamalan's 2004 horror film The Village.She also has traveled beyond classical music, performing with singer-songwriters Josh Ritter and Tom Brosseau and with the band … And You Will Know Us By The Trail of the Dead.
The internationally acclaimed pianist Lisitsa, who records on the Audiofon label, will accompany Hahn on pieces by Ives, Brahms and Bartók, among others.
Admission to the concert, which begins at 8 p.m., is free, but tickets are required and can be reserved by calling 508-286-3515. Following the concert, Lisitsa and Hahn will sign autographs at a reception in the May Room of Mary Lyon.
The Loser Musical Series was established by Thomas N. Loser and Ann Bloor, husband and mother of the late Mary Bloor Loser '42, to honor her love of music and of Wheaton. For nearly 20 years, the series has brought established artists, including The Vienna Choir Boys (1989), Yo-Yo Ma, cello with Kathryn Stott, piano (1991), Sweet Honey in the Rock (1996), and more recently, The King's Singers (1998, 2003 and 2008).
