Takács Quartet
Recognized as one of the world's premiere string quartets, the
Takács Quartet was formed in 1975 by four students at the Franz
Liszt Academy in Budapest. Based in Boulder at the University of
Colorado, the Takács performs eighty engagements per year
worldwide, including several at the South Bank Centre in London,
where they are currently associate artists. Highlights of their
2007-2008 concert season include performances in Amsterdam,
Brussels, Frankfurt, Lisbon, and Vienna, as well as four concerts
at Carnegie Hall. The Quartet's distinguished recordings have
earned the ensemble BBC Music Magazine, Chamber Music of America,
Gramophone, Grammy, and Japanese Record Academy Awards.
Members of the Takács Quartet:
Edward Dusinberre, violin
Geraldine Walther, viola
András Fejér, cello
Károly Schranz, violin
Maestro James Conlon
One of classical music's preeminent conductors, James Conlon has
distinguished himself internationally with a highly diverse
repertoire of symphonic, operatic, and choral works. Beginning with
the 2006-2007 concert season, Mr. Conlon became music director of
the Los Angeles Opera. He has been music director of the Ravinia
Festival, the summer home of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, since
2005 and continues to serve as music director of the Cincinnati May
Festival, America's oldest choral festival, where he celebrated his
twenty-fifth anniversary in 2004. Mr. Conlon has spent the major
part of the last two decades in Europe, where he served as
principal conductor of the Paris National Opera (1995-2004);
general music director of the City of Cologne, Germany (1989-2002),
where he was simultaneously music director of the Gürzenich
Orchestra and the Cologne Opera; and music director of the
Rotterdam Philharmonic (1983-1991). In 2002, James Conlon received
the Légion d'Honneur from the president of the French Republic,
Jacques Chirac.
Committed to working with young musicians, Mr. Conlon devotes
his time to teaching at the Aspen Music Festival and School and
Tanglewood Music Center, and is actively involved in the Ravinia
Festival's Steans Institute for Young Artists. In fall 2007, he
began a two-year artist residency at Juilliard, his alma mater,
working with students in the dance, music, and theater departments.
He has been active with the Van Cliburn International Piano
Competition since 1997, where he not only conducts the Final Round,
but also initiated a program through which he leads masterclasses
and coaches finalists. Three film series devoted to his work with
Cliburn finalists have been aired by PBS and distributed
worldwide.
For more information, please visit www.jamesconlon.com.
Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra
The Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra is considered one of the most
successful orchestras of its size in the United States. Under the
artistic leadership of music director Miguel Harth-Bedoya, and as
the principal resident company of the Nancy Lee and Perry R. Bass
Performance Hall, the Orchestra presents a series of symphonic,
pops, and special concerts, and serves as the orchestra for Texas
Ballet Theater, Fort Worth Opera, Southwestern Seminary Oratorio
Chorus, and the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. The
Orchestra's extensive and diverse educational outreach programs
serve more than 60,000 children, youth, and adults each season
through free and low-cost performances. The FWSO is the only
orchestra in Texas to participate in Carnegie Hall's award-winning
Weill Music Institute Communities LinkUP! program, enhancing the
music education of more than 6,000 fourth-grade students annually.
For more information, please visit www.fwso.org.
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