Superstar Violinist Janine Jansen Returns
Jean-Robert Pre-Concert Moveable Feast on February 19
CINCINNATI-Fresh off a performance at New York’s famed Carnegie Hall on February 15, Paavo Järvi and the CSO return to present a program dubbed “String Fever” with superstar violinist Janine Jansen on Friday, February 19 and Saturday, February 20 at Music Hall. Both performances are at 8 p.m. Ms. Jansen toured Europe with the CSO in 2008 and has become a Cincinnati audience favorite. The Time of London describes her playing as “communicative, fiercely strong yet super-refined in its sensibility…” She will perform the immensely popular Brahms Violin Concerto. The program also includes Hans Rott’s Symphony in E Major, a work that foreshadows Mahler with its grand romanticism and a bombastic ending that brings the program to a thrilling close.
Recently Ms. Jansen was dubbed “Queen of the Downloads” by UK’s The Independent following the breakout success of her chamber-sized performance of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons in 2005 which made the US Top 20 album downloads on iTunes. The album was that year’s top-selling digital classical album, and remains a digital best seller three years later. Her latest album Bach Inventions & Partia topped the iTunes classical charts around the world. Ms. Jansen recorded the first ever exclusive classical iTunes session. Der Spiegel declared, “Janine Jansen is the most exciting violinist of her generation – an artist for the iPod era.”
This concert program is one of Maestro Järvi’s eight “Paavo Picks” for the season.
Audience members are invited to attend Classical Conversations one hour before the performances on Friday, February 19 and Saturday, February 20 with CSO Assistant Conductor Ken Lam.
The CSO is grateful to the PNC for its generous sponsorship of “String Fever.” The Fine Arts Fund Partner for these performances is Frisch’s.
Janine Jansen, violin
Ever since her Concertgebouw debut in 1997, Janine Jansen has been a huge star in her native Holland. Today she is internationally recognized as one of the great violinists – a truly exciting and versatile artist.
Her London debut in November 2002, accompanied by the Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Vladimir Ashkenazy, was quickly followed by invitations from some of the world’s most prestigious orchestras, including the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Berlin Philharmonic, London Symphony, New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia and Cleveland Orchestras as well as NHK Symphony Orchestra Tokyo. She has worked with such eminent conductors as Lorin Maazel, Valery Gergiev, Riccardo Chailly, Neeme Järvi, Paavo Järvi, Sakari Oramo, Daniel Harding, Mark Elder, Edo de Waart and Sir Roger Norrington.
Ms. Jansen has an exclusive recording contract with Decca (Universal Music Group). Her recent disc, featuring Bach Inventions and Partita with Maxim Rysanov and Torleif Thedéen, has echoed previous successes and went straight to the top of the US iTunes classical chart when released last autumn. Each one of her recordings has been awarded a Golden CD for sales in The Netherlands while her debut album has won a platinum disc for sales in this territory.
Highlights of the 2008/09 season included performances with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris, Orchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Tonhalle Orchester Zurich and Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra. Outside Europe she performed with the Chicago and Boston Symphonies as well as the NHK Symphony Orchestra Tokyo to name a few. She has toured with the Philharmonia Orchestra and Charles Dutoit, Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie and the Academy of St Martin in the Fields.
In addition to her concerto performances Ms. Jansen is a devoted performer of chamber music. She established and curates the annual International Chamber Music Festival in Utrecht, and since 1998 she has been a member of Spectrum Concerts Berlin, an important chamber music series in the Berlin Philharmonie. Her chamber partners include Leif Ove Andsnes, Itamar Golan, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Mischa Maisky, Julian Rachlin, Martin Fröst and Hélène Grimaud. Since the 2006/07 season Janine has been part of the Junge Wilde Series at the Konzerthaus Dortmund.
Ms. Jansen studied with Coosje Wijzenbeek, Philipp Hirshhorn and Boris Belkin. She was a previous BBC New Generation Artist and in September 2003 she received the Dutch Music Prize from the Ministry of Culture – the highest distinction an artist can receive in The Netherlands.
She received numerous awards including the Edison Classic Public Award three times, an Echo award for her Vivaldi recording in 2006 and her Mendelssohn/Bruch album in 2007 as well as the NDR Musikpreis for outstanding artistic achievement in 2007.
The outstanding instrument being used by Ms. Jansen is the violin by Antonio Stradivari, Cremona, 1727, ‘Barrere’ – on extended loan from the Elise Mathilde Fund through intermediation of The Stradivari Society® of Chicago.
Visit Ms. Jansen’s official webpage to hear clips of her performing Britten and Brahms:
Jean-Robert’s Pre-Concert Moveable Feasts
Acclaimed chef Jean-Robert de Cavel and the CSO continue Jean-Robert’s Pre-Concert Moveable Feasts in the Critic’s Club on Friday, February 19. Patrons will savor multiple courses at three “action stations” as Jean-Robert and students from the Midwest Culinary Institute at Cincinnati State serve up a delectable moveable feast of varied selections, including dessert. This classic culinary experience will take place before every Friday evening CSO concert in the 2009-10 season. Cost is $50 per person, which includes coffee and gratuity. For more information, contact the CSO Box Office at (513) 381-3300. Net proceeds benefit the Midwest Culinary Institute Scholarship Fund.