Thursday, February 21, 2008, 8pm – Davis Concert Hall
Violin Recital
Giora Schmidt, violin
Eduard Zilberkant, piano

Three Brahms Sonatas for Violin and Piano

Sunday, February 24, 2008, 4pm – Davis Concert Hall
Fairbanks Symphony Orchestra
Eduard Zilberkant, conductor
Giora Schmidt, violin

Brahms             Concerto for Violin
Brahms             Symphony No. 1

Program Notes

Giora Schmidt

With his superb tone and pure musicianship, violinist Giora Schmidt, still in his early 20's, has already proven himself an outstanding artist with a highly promising future. His performances are marked by a commanding presence and a richness of color that earn him a reputation as a virtuoso of the "old school," whose great technique is matched by a very thoughtful musicality.

The summer of 2006 found Mr. Schmidt debuting at the Bard Music Festival in solo works of Liszt and Ernst, as well as making appearances at the Ruidoso Music Festival and returning to the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival for concerts with Yefim Bronfman, Pinchas Zukerman, Anne Sofie von Otter, et al. During the 2006/07 season Mr. Schmidt debuted with the Fort Worth Symphony, led by music director Miguel Harth Bedoya, in the Bruch Violin Concerto, and played the Sibelius Concerto in Kansas City and the Beethoven Concerto with the Long Island Philharmonic, music director David Wiley conducting. He debuted with the Toronto Symphony with the Perlman/Schmidt/Bailey Trio (partners pianist Navah Perlman and cellist Zuill Bailey), in the Beethoven Triple Concerto conducted by Itzhak Perlman. With his Trio, Mr. Schmidt made appearances in Indiana (University of Notre Dame), Utah, and California.

Significant landmarks in Giora Schmidt's 2005/06 season were his European debut at the Louvre recital series in Paris, his Far Eastern debut in a recital in Tokyo, and a debut recital recording. Throughout the season, he had performances of the Barber, Mendelssohn, and Beethoven violin concertos with several regional orchestras, in addition to his debuts with the New Jersey Symphony (Sarasate and Kreisler pieces with orchestra, led by Asher Fisch), and the San Diego Symphony (Vivaldi's Four Seasons). He continued to tour with the Perlman/Schmidt/Bailey Trio in concerts from Alaska to Florida to Arizona. Mr. Schmidt began the season with performances at the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, and returned to the El Paso Pro Musica Chamber Festival in January, where he performed Mozart's Sinfonia Concertante with the El Paso Symphony.

Mr. Schmidt began the 2004/05 season with Trio performances with of the Beethoven Triple Concerto with the Phoenix and Louisville Symphonies, followed by subscription weeks with the Columbus Symphony (Dvorak Cto.) and the Detroit Symphony (Barber Cto.). He toured with the Perlman/Schmidt/Bailey Trio throughout the year in Pennsylvania, Virginia, Florida, California, Mexico, and at the Kennedy Center in Washington. The season also marked his New York recital debut at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and solo recitals in Idaho, California, and Texas.

In recent seasons, Giora Schmidt made his Chicago Symphony debut, playing the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto, Itzhak Perlman conducting; and made his first appearances in Australia at the Australian Festival of Chamber Music in works by Beethoven, Brahms, Kodály, Pärt, Shostakovich and Schubert. As an orchestral soloist he performed with the Valdosta Symphony, a return engagement with the Southeast Iowa Symphony, and played the Barber and Bruch 1 concertos with the Israel Philharmonic in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. Chamber music concerts with the Perlman/Schmidt/Bailey Trio included a tour of California and concerts at El Paso Pro Musica, Interlochen, the Ravinia Festival, and at Bargemusic in New York. He appeared on television in the Kennedy Center Honors in a performance tribute to his teacher Itzhak Perlman, and made his solo recital debut at Ravinia on the Rising Stars series.

Mr. Schmidt has played with the Arkansas Symphony, the Orquesta Sinfonica Nacional in Cuba, and the Central Florida and Southeast Iowa symphonies, as well as with the New York Youth Symphony at Carnegie Hall. Of that concert, Allan Kozinn in the New York Times wrote: "In the Barber Violin Concerto...the orchestra matched and amplified the lush, shapely sound that Giora Schmidt brought to the solo line." In recitals and chamber music, Mr. Schmidt has performed in New York, Santa Barbara, Memphis, El Paso, and at Duke University, and has played an auspicious recital debut at San Francisco Performances.

While still a student, Mr. Schmidt performed as soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Music Academy of the West Festival Orchestra and the Haifa Youth Symphony in Israel, among others. His recital appearances included Dickinson College, Swarthmore College, Haifa University Museum and the Tel Aviv Museum of Art. In New York, he has performed at the Museum of Modern Art, the Jewish Museum, for the American Friends of the Israel Philharmonic, and for the Perlman Program in Carnegie's Weill Hall. In January 1999 he joined Itzhak Perlman and Pinchas Zukerman with the Israel Philharmonic at Carnegie Hall, and in October that year was a soloist with Mr. Perlman and Mr. Zukerman at the season opening concert of the National Arts Center in Ottawa, Canada.

Giora Schmidt recently received the Samuel Sanders Artist Award, presented to him by Itzhak Perlman at the 2005 Classical Recording Foundation Awards Ceremony at Carnegie Hall. He is the recipient of a 2003 Avery Fisher Career Grant and of numerous other prizes and awards, including First Prize in the Philadelphia Orchestra's Albert M. Greenfield Student Competition and the Concerto Competition at the Music Academy of the West. Born into a family of professional musicians, Giora Schmidt grew up in Philadelphia, also spending time in Israel. In 1996 he participated in the Ilona Feher Music Center Program with Pinchas Zukerman in Israel and has also taken part in summers at the Perlman Music Program in Shelter Island. He was a student of the late Dorothy DeL