With a concert schedule of up to 100 performances a season, violinist Elmar Oliveira feels — not surprisingly — that he's always on tour. But despite his hectic schedule, he does manage to squeeze in a stopover in Salt Lake City every couple of years. And accordingly, he'll be in town playing with the Utah Symphony and Pavel Kogan on Friday and Saturday, April 28 and 29, at 8 p.m. in Abravanel Hall.
"I like to come every two or three years to Utah and play with the orchestra," Oliveira said in a phone interview from his home in New York.
Last time he was here, Oliveira played Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto. This time around he'll be doing another Russian masterpiece, Shostakovich's Violin Concerto No. 1.
"Shostakovich is one of the greatest composers of the 20th century, and this is one of the greatest concertos of the 20th century, if not the greatest," Oliveira noted. "It's just fabulous."
But even though Oliveira is enthusiastic about the Shostakovich, he hasn't been playing this particular concerto for very long. He knows the piece quite well, having played it as a youngster, but it never became part of his repertoire until now.
"It's relatively new to me," he pointed out. "I played it as a kid but never publicly. The first time I played it (in public) was a couple of weeks ago in Detroit, so I'll be doing it for the second time when I come to Utah."
And the concerts will be the first time that Oliveira gets the opportunity to collaborate with Kogan, the Utah Symphony's permanent guest conductor.
"I haven't worked with Pavel before, but I've known him for 22 years," Oliveira said. "The first time I met him was at the Tchaikovsky competition. Pavel conducted for several of the competitors there but not for me, since they used several different conductors. And then we would run into each other from time to time over the years. So I'm looking forward to working with him finally."
Oliveira holds the unique distinction of being the only American violinist to win the gold medal at the prestigious Tchaikovsky International Competition in Moscow.
About two years ago, Oliveira decided to add on the responsibilities of record producer to his already busy work schedule, so he began his own record company, Artek. It was a big decision on his part but something he felt he needed to do. "Over the years, I've recorded for many of the major companies, and for some of the smaller ones, too, and I've always felt incomplete as an artist in the decisionmaking process. As an artist, you don't have a hand in choosing the repertoire you want to record, and you don't have a hand in editing.
"The decision to start a new company was a long time in coming. I talked about it with many of my colleagues, and they all felt the same way I did. So my brother-in-law, Judd Robbins, and I started the company. He takes care of the marketing side, and I take care of the artistic side.
"It's been tremendously exciting. The company is barely 2 years old, and it's been doing very well. We got a tremendous amount of coverage in Fanfare and Strad magazines, and that really helped us. Next year, for example, we're projected to do seven or eight CDs.
"We're being distributed by Bay Cities Distribution, which is a major distributor for Tower Records. We have a distributor for the U.K. and Ireland, and Bay Cities will also be taking care of other foreign countries."
Oliveira finds it difficult to accept how the large record companies deal with performers. And he finds it incomprehensible how these companies decide on which pieces will be recorded.
"Record companies come at artists and tell them what they're to record," Oliveira explained. "You say you want to do the Brahms Violin Concerto, but they say you can't do it because there are too many CDs of the Brahms out on the market.
"But the recording of the Brahms concerto I made for Artek with the Seattle Symphony and Gerard Schwarz is our biggest seller. It's interesting that another recording by Oliveira of the Brahms sells. What does that say about record companies' decisions on what gets recorded?"
In addition to the Shostakovich concerto at this weekend's concerts, Kogan will lead the Utah Symphony in Sibelius' "Finlandia" and Brahms' "Symphony No. 1 in C minor."
Tickets for the concerts range from $14 to $33 and 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. Tickets can also be obtained online at www.arttix.org.
Utah Symphony subscribers and anyone interested in group discounts should call 801-533-NOTE.
This program is part of the Finishing Touches series and will be performed dress-rehearsal-style on Friday, April 28, at 10 a.m. Doors will open at 9 a.m. for free refreshments in the lobby. Tickets for the Finishing Touches concert are $8 and are available through ArtTix.
You can reach Edward Reichel by e-mail at ereichel@desnews.com