Romantic Revolution
January 25 & 26, 2020Beethoven “Overture” from Egmont, Op. 84
Bruch Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor, Op. 26
Nelson Steampunk Blizzard
Beethoven Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67
The four famous notes that comprise Beethoven’s “fate” motif pave the way into a robust new era of music with a “Romantic Revolution”. Leading to those famous sounds, this program takes us from the rhythmic groove of Daniel Nelson’s Steampunk Blizzard, to the seductive sounds of Bruch’s First Violin Concerto, to the dark and penetrative opening gestures of Beethoven’s Egmont Overture, all leading to Beethoven’s iconic Fifth Symphony, the most famous piece across the musical spectrum.
Scott Seaton
Music Director Finalist
American conductor Scott Seaton has been praised for possessing “finesse, clarity, and precision” by the Luxembourg Times and has left audiences “breathless” according to Entertainment News Northwest. He is in his fourth season as Music Director of the North State Symphony in Northern California where he has garnered acclaim for his dynamic performances, innovative programming, and community and youth outreach. From 2012-2015, he led the Minot Symphony Orchestra to new artistic heights and forged exciting collaborations on the local and state levels. Seaton is also the Principal Conductor of the Veridian Symphony Orchestra. As an artistic leader, he has collaborated with such artists as Project Trio, Alessio Bax, Gabriela Martinez, Charlie Albright, and Sara Davis Buechner.
Since his international debut in 2007 with the Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg, Seaton has conducted orchestras spanning North America, South America, and Europe. Upcoming and recent engagements include the Evansville Philharmonic, Kamloops Symphony, Spartanburg Philharmonic, Mercury Soul, Jackson Symphony Orchestra, Johnstown Symphony Orchestra, Pennsylvania Centre Orchestra, the South Jutland Symphony Orchestra (Denmark), Cabrillo Festival Orchestra, Toronto Philharmonia Orchestra, Mansfield Symphony Orchestra, Tonhalle-Orchester Zurich, Whatcom Symphony Orchestra, Portland Columbia Symphony, and the Western Plains Opera. He has also appeared with the Brandenburger Symphoniker, Fort Worth Symphony, Milwaukee Symphony, Charlotte Symphony, Memphis Symphony, Winnipeg Symphony, National Symphony Orchestra, Magdeburg Philharmonic, Bamberg Symphony, Frankfurt Radio Symphony, Orquesta Filarmónica de la Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Cincinnati Symphony, Detroit Symphony, and the Bohuslav Martinů Philharmonic Orchestra.
Originally from Nashville, Tennessee, Seaton has earned degrees from the Université de Montréal, the New England Conservatory, and Vanderbilt University. He has also studied at Tanglewood and the National Conducting Institute sponsored by the National Symphony Orchestra. His mentors include Michael Morgan, Jean-François Rivest, Robin Fountain, Charles Peltz, and Carol Nies. Seaton has undertaken additional studies with Kurt Masur, David Zinman, Stefan Asbury, Gustav Meier, Marin Alsop, Jorma Panula, Larry Rachleff, Kenneth Kiesler, Alexander Mickelthwate, Peter Eötvös, Leonard Slatkin, and Zsolt Nagy, among others.
An avid cyclist and runner, Seaton recently did a solo coast-to-coast cycling expedition from Oregon to Massachusetts. As a marathoner, he has run races in Los Angeles, Calgary, Vancouver, Salt Lake City, Minneapolis, and Fargo, to name a few. He qualified for and ran in the 2018 Boston Marathon.
Andrew Sords
Violin
American violinist ANDREW SORDS has a celebrated career as a soloist on 4 continents and in performances with his trio. Having collaborated with 300 orchestras, Sords has been cited for combining visceral virtuosity with a ravishing tone, while international critics endorse Sords as “a fully formed artist” (Kalisz-Poland News), “utterly radiant” (Canada’s Arts Forum), and “exceptionally heartfelt and soulful” (St. Maarten’s Daily Herald). Closer to home, ClevelandClassical.com gushed: “the stunner of the afternoon was a breathless but magnificently controlled performance of Beethoven’s “Kreutzer” sonata, which Sords charged through with giddy aplomb.” Sords has received numerous awards and distinctions reflecting his career trajectory, including the 2012 Pittsburgh Concert Society Career Grant and the 2005 National Shirley Valentin Award.
Born in Newark, Delaware, Sords was raised in Shaker Heights, Ohio, and asked for piano lessons at age five. A year later, he began studying violin with Liza Grossman, and continued studies with Linda Cerone, David Russell, and Chee-Yun Kim at the ENCORE School for Strings, the Cleveland Institute of Music, and Southern Methodist University. As a teenager, Sords garnered prizes from concerto competitions, signed with management, and cultivated a media and audience following from hundreds of interviews, profiles, and appearances. Following Sords’ debut in Australia, the Melbourne Age declared, “Sords made a voluble soloist in Mozart’s Turkish concerto, forging his statements with an admirably firm clarity and bringing out the work’s virtuosity as often as possible. His bowing arm showed an attractive suppleness and an attention to variety of phrasing that made even the episodic finale a pleasure.”
A man of diverse interests, Sords has competed in the charity fundraiser “Pittsburgh’s Dancing With The Stars” as the first classical artist to do so. Passionate about social causes, Sords has performed numerous times for LGBT outreach, including Bruch’s “Scottish Fantasy”, the Tchaikovsky, and the Beethoven concerti in collaborations with the Minnesota Philharmonic, the Bay Area Rainbow Symphony, and the Atlanta Philharmonic. Along with Liana Izakadze’s World Virtuosi, Sords appeared in Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall, and will perform the Sibelius and Dvorak concerti in 2019 appearances with the Jackson Symphony and Brevard Symphony. Sords is a popular guest for various media platforms: featured four times on Sirius XM’s Derek and Romaine Show and profiled by “OUT Magazine”, NPR’S Morning Edition, and hundreds of media outlets, Sords also performed the National Anthem for ESPN2’s WNBA Pride Game (2014) and a sold-out Cleveland Indians game at Progressive Field. Sords’s recent collaboration with Sean Christopher on the New-Age album “Transcendence” has been a commercial and critical success, with reviews stating: “much of this is owed to the gorgeous and precise playing by Andrew Sords, whose violin adds a thrumming undercurrent of pure life throughout the album’s stainless steel structure.” This album is available on iTunes, Amazon.com, and CDBaby.
Sords makes his home in Shaker Heights, Ohio, and can be found on the web at www.andrewsords.com.
