Hilhary Hahn, violin – Philharmonic of Radio France, Mikko Franck, cond. Live from Salle Pleyel, Paris – September 16, 2011 – Radio France Musique –
Three time Grammy winner Hilary Hahn this week, with the Philharmonic of Radio France, conducted by Mikko Franck in music by Edgar Meyer and Sergei Prokofiev.
Only two works in this concert – starting with the Violin Concerto of Edgar Meyer (dedicated to Hilary Hahn) and concluding with the Symphony Number 5 by Prokofiev.
Edgar Meyer grew up in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. He learned to play the double bass from his father, Edgar Meyer, Sr., who directed the string orchestra program for the local public school system. Meyer later went on to Indiana University to study with Stuart Sankey.
As a composer, his music has been premiered and recorded by Emanuel Ax, Joshua Bell, Yo-Yo Ma, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Bela Fleck, Zakir Hussain, Hilary Hahn, and the Emerson String Quartet, among others. The Nashville Symphony and the Aspen Music Festival and School commissioned his first purely orchestral work which was premiered by the Nashville Symphony in March 2017. Additionally, Bravo! Vail and The Academy of St. Martin in the Fields commissioned an Overture for Violin and Orchestra that was premiered by Joshua Bell and ASMF in June 2017.
Meyer’s most recent recording is a collection of Bach trios with Chris Thile and Yo-Yo Ma[4], and he was honored with his fifth Grammy Award in 2015 for his Bass & Mandolin recording with Chris Thile.
Meyer is Artist in Residence at Vanderbilt University’s Blair School of Music and is on faculty at the Curtis Institute of Music.
Some career highlights of Hilary Hahn (as of 2011):
1991: She makes her major orchestra debut with the Baltimore Symphony.
1995-96: She begins a three-year run at the Marlboro Music Festival. In 1996 she graduates from the Curtis Institute of Music and becomes a full-time touring soloist. She signs her first recording contract.
2004: Plays on the soundtrack for M. Night Shyamalan’s The Village, which garners its composer, James Newton Howard both an Academy Award nomination and an AFI nomination to its “100 Years of Great Film Scores” list.
2007: Plays on two tracks from singer-songwriter Tom Brousseau’s album Grand Forks. She also begins collaborating with singer-songwriter Josh Ritter. She plays in the Vatican City as part of the ceremonies honoring the election of Pope Benedict XVI.
2010: She premieres a violin concerto by her teacher/ friend Jennifer Higdon. The concerto wins the Pulitzer Prize.
There you go – hit the play button and enjoy.
