For their first concert of the new year, conductor Joseph Silverstein and the Utah Symphony will be spotlighting a promising young violin virtuoso making his Abravanel Hall debut.
Twenty-five-year-old Axel Strauss will be the featured soloist at this weekend's concerts. He'll be doing the rarely heard Wieniawski Violin Concerto No. 1 in F sharp minor.In a phone interview from his parents' home in Lubeck, Germany, Strauss notes that this particular concerto is filled with dazzling pyrotechnics for the violin. "The First isn't done very often. It's more difficult than the Second, but it is very romantic. Wieniawski was only 17 when he wrote it, which I think is amazing."
Strauss seems to be excited that Silverstein will be conducting the concert. "I know Joseph Silverstein, of course, mainly as the concertmaster of the Boston Symphony Orchestra but also from his many recordings. I'm sure that he knows the Wieniawski First very well. It helps when the conductor knows the music. The better a conductor knows a concerto, the better it is for the soloist. It makes for more relaxed rehearsals, and for shorter rehearsals, too."
The young violinist is also happy about coming to Salt Lake City. "This will be my first time in Utah, and I'm looking forward to it. But I do know something about the city, because I've heard a lot about the (Gina) Bachauer (International Piano) Competition."
For the past two years, Strauss has been living in New York City while attending Juilliard. At Juilliard he's a student of famed violin teacher Dorothy DeLay. And currently, he's also one of her teaching assistants. But in 1998, Strauss was all set to leave New York and return to Germany. Before leaving the United States, though, he entered the prestigious Naumburg Competition and ended up winning first prize in violin. And that forced a change in his plans.
"When I won the Naumburg, I was ready to go back to Germany," Strauss says. "I had my suitcases packed and everything. But as a winner, you're guaranteed a certain number of concerts. I'm doing 40 concerts per season, and I'm in my second season now. My Utah engagement, in fact, is part of the Naumburg competition.
"As a teaching assistant, I have to go back to Juilliard often to see my students, so I can't do any long (concert) tours. I usually just fly out and then fly back to New York. It's hard doing it like this, but, then, I also enjoy teaching.
"I also enjoy living in New York, especially since I can leave the city once in a while. And I spend my summers in Europe. What I would really like to do eventually is to live on both continents -- have an apartment in New York and another home in Europe."
Strauss, who began playing the violin when he was 4 years old, is no stranger to competitions. He won his first when he was 8. "It was a well-known national youth competition in Germany," Strauss points out. And he gave his first public performance six years later. "I made my recital debut in the 'Musikhalle' in Hamburg when I was 14," he says. "And that was also the result of winning a competition, this time in Italy.
"Hamburg is the musical center in northern Germany, so I was very excited about making my debut there."
Two years later, in 1990, Strauss made his first appearance with an orchestra, playing the Bruch Violin Concerto No. 1 with the Neubrandenburg Philharmonic in Germany.
Things are definitely looking bright for Strauss. He gets numerous invitations to perform at some of the best-known summer music festivals, including the Marlboro Festival in Vermont. "I've been to Marlboro twice now," he says. "The last time I was there I did Schubert's Piano Trio in E flat and Beethoven's 'Archduke' (Trio) with Mitsuko Uchida and Andras Schiff. The only problem with Marlboro, though, is that you have to be there for the entire duration of the festival, and that's about seven weeks."
Strauss has also just finished recording his third CD. The album, which will be released soon, is made up of violin arrangements of Mendelssohn's "Songs Without Words." "The arrangements were made between 1901 and 1903. I really enjoyed making this album. All we need to do now is find a label so we can release it."
Strauss currently plays on a Guarneri del Gesu violin from 1730. "It's exciting to play this instrument. I've been playing on it since April. The violin is worth a couple of million dollars, and it's on consignment to buy, so I'm looking for a buyer for it. There are people who buy an instrument like this and then they let a performer use it. I'm hoping I can find someone. If not, I have to give the instrument back at the end of January."
In addition to the Wieniawski concerto, Silverstein and the orchestra will also play Smetana's "Vysehrad" from "Ma Vlast," Sibelius' Symphony No. 7 in C major and the suite from Stravinsky's ballet "The Firebird."
The concerts take place Friday and Saturday, Jan. 7 and 8, at 8 p.m. in Abravanel Hall.
The program is also going to be presented as part of the Finishing Touches series on Friday, Jan. 7, at 10 a.m. Doors will open at 9 a.m. for free refreshments in the lobby.
Tickets for the Finishing Touches concert cost $8. Tickets for the evening performances range from $14 to $33. They can be purchased through ArtTix at (801) 355-ARTS or 1-888-451-ARTS, or in person at the ArtTix outlets in Abravanel Hall or the Capitol Theatre.
Utah Symphony subscribers and anyone interested in group discounts should call (801) 533-NOTE.