Violinist Alex Eisenberg Performs Sibelius With TOCCATA-Tahoe Symphony; Beethoven and William Tell Also on Program

Stellar violinist Alex Eisenberg joins TOCCATA-Tahoe Symphony Orchestra and Chorus for Sibelius’ phenomenal “Violin Concerto.” The concert opens with Rossini’s famous “William Tell Overture,” and closes with Beethoven’s spirited “Symphony #8.” Performances in South Lake August 2; in Reno and Gardnerville July 27 & August 4, or a special event at Genoa Lakes Golf Club July 31st.

TOCCATA-Tahoe welcomes back one of our favorite soloists, brilliant violinist Alex Eisenberg. Alex studied at both the Moscow Conservatory and the Hochschule for Music in Vienna. He has won numerous prestigious awards, including First Prize in the Michelangelo Abbado Violin Competition in Sondrio, Italy, the Paolo Brociani special prize for chamber music, and he is a winner of Concorso Internationale Rameu in France. As a soloist and chamber musician, Alex has performed with the Vienna Chamber Orchestra, Vienna Soloists, Moscow Symphony, Odessa Philharmonic, Belgrade Radio Symphony Orchestra, Dubrovnik Festival Orchestra, Kansas City Chamber Orchestra, and Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra.

American critic Olin Downes described Sibelius’ “Violin Concerto” as “bardic songs heard against a background of torches or pagan fires on some wild Northern night.” Sensitive, dreamy melodies are matched by intense and impassioned passages. With fire always lurking just beneath the icy Nordic surface, the piece calls for a super-virtuoso like Alex Eisenberg, who excels at both the technical fireworks and the richest sonorities of the instrument.

Everyone has heard something of the “William Tell Overture,” in cartoons or the Lone Ranger. But listen to all four of its mini-movements. The quiet dawn gives way to the storm, full of wind and thunder. Then comes the familiar calm, which might lull you into a nap. But the calm is broken off by the famous galloping finale, with blazing brass and busy strings and woodwinds: we’re only sorry we can’t provide hobby horses for the whole audience!

There’s also humor in Beethoven’s most delightful – and shortest – symphony, #8. For all its playfulness (such as a minuet for folks with two left feet, and a musical metronome), it’s one of the composer’s most inspired masterpieces. In what he called “my little symphony in F,” Beethoven has substituted inventiveness for intensity. It’s full of those surprises and unexpected effects, mixtures of pathos and comedy, even farce, that make Beethoven’s music so compelling and true a mirror of human life.

Tickets are $30 for adults ($40 preferred seating); $25 for seniors; free for youth under 23 ($15 preferred seating). Tickets for the special fundraising inaugural concert at Genoa Lakes are $55 each, and the program substitutes Tchaikovsky’s “Romeo and Juliet” for Beethoven and adds the first movement of Grieg’s “Piano Concerto in A Minor” by exciting young local pianist Derek Chien. More information at www.ToccataTahoe.org.

WHERE and WHEN:
Saturday, July 27, 7:00pm, Reno – Hawkins Amphitheater, Bartley Ranch, 6000 Bartley Ranch Road
Wednesday, July 31, 7:00pm, Genoa – Genoa Lakes Golf Club, 1 Genoa Lakes Drive (special program)
Friday, August 2, 7:00pm, South Lake Tahoe – St. Theresa Catholic Church, 1041 Lyons Avenue
Sunday, August 4, 4:00pm, Gardnerville – Carson Valley United Methodist Church,1375 Centerville Lane

Further information: Please call 775-298-6989; visit us at www.ToccataTahoe.org or https://www.facebook.com/toccatatahoe/, or e-mail us at ToccataTahoe@gmail.com.