Anne Akiko Meyers Performs European Debut Of American Work At George Enescu Festival

Violinist Anne Akiko Meyers, one of the most internationally renowned and respected classical musicians today, will perform the European debut of American composer Adam Schoenberg's Orchard in Fog at the world-renowned George Enescu Music Festival in September. She premieres the concerto with the Romanian orchestra, "Mihail Jora" Philharmonic Orchestra Bacau and American conductor Jayce Ogren in two special performances.

Orchard in Fog was written for Meyers and premiered with the San Diego Symphony in 2018 and performed with the Pasadena and Phoenix Symphony Orchestras. The live stream broadcast of the world premiere was the most viewed in Violin Channel's history. During the 2019/20 season, Meyers will perform Orchard in Fog with the symphony orchestras of Annapolis, Boise, Iris, and Louisville.

Based on a photograph of the same name by Adam Laipson, the work tells the story of an aging man visiting the orchard where he was once married many years ago. The orchard in the photograph was where Schoenberg himself was married.

Meyers admiringly says of the work, "It really resonates with audiences as it tells a beautiful story and is incredibly expressive. You don't need a science degree to understand the music, and I'm all for that. A lot of the music today seems to be very scientific, and this is the complete opposite of that. This is poetically soulful."

A champion of living composers, Meyers has dramatically expanded the violin repertoire by commissioning and premiering works by composers including Julia Adolphe, Mason Bates, Jakub Ciupinski, John Corigliano, Michael Daugherty, Jennifer Higdon, Samuel Jones, Arturo Marquez, Wynton Marsalis, Akira Miyoshi, Arvo Pärt, Gene Pritsker, Einojuhani Rautavaara, Somei Satoh, Adam Schoenberg, and Joseph Schwantner. She is scheduled to premiere Arturo Márquez's violin concerto and a new concerto by Michael Daugherty about American icon Amelia Earhart with the National Symphony at the Kennedy Center in the 2020/21 season.

Performance Details:

Thursday, September 5, 2019 at 6:30 PM
Ateneu Concert Hall | Str. Razboieni 22 | Bacau, Romania

Saturday, September 7, 2019 at 1:00 PM
Radio Hall | Strada General H. M. Berthelot 60-64 | Bucharest, Romania

Tickets and more information for both concerts is at available at https://www.festivalenescu.ro/en.

Anne Akiko Meyers
Anne Akiko Meyers is one of today's most important violinists, performing as guest soloist with the world's top orchestras, presenting ground-breaking recitals, commissioning and performing new music, and releasing best-selling recordings. Many of Anne's 37 albums have debuted at #1 on Billboard classical charts and she was the top-selling instrumentalist of 2014.

This season, Meyers performs the Barber Concerto with James Gaffigan and the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra at the Ravinia Festival. In October, she performs the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto in Leipzig at the Gewandhaus and will perform in Sapporo and Tokyo, Japan with the MDR Leipzig Orchestra, conducted by Kristjan Järvi.

During the 2018/19 season, Anne was the featured soloist in several performances celebrating the opening of the Arvo Pärt Centre in Estonia, by special invitation of the legendary composer himself. She also performed Schindler's List for a Great Performances television special honoring John Williams, also at the composer's personal invitation. Anne premiered Rautavaara's Fantasia and Mason Bates' Violin Concerto with the Helsinki Philharmonic and Jan Söderblom, live-streamed worldwide and also premiered Fantasia in Japan.

Anne Akiko Meyers performs on the Vieuxtemps Guarneri del Gesù, dated 1741, considered by many to be the finest sounding violin in existence. Please visit www.anneakikomeyers.com for more information.

Adam Schoenberg
Recent Emmy Award winner, Adam Schoenberg, has twice been named among the top 10 most performed living classical composers by orchestras in the United States. Grammy nominated Adam Schoenberg's (b. November 15, 1980) music is "invigorating" (Los Angeles Times), and full of "mystery and sensuality" (The New York Times). His works have received performances and premieres at the Library of Congress, Kennedy Center, New York Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, Dallas Symphony Orchestra, and Hollywood Bowl. A graduate of Oberlin Conservatory of Music, Schoenberg earned his Master's and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees from The Juilliard School, where he studied with Robert Beaser and John Corigliano.

The official opening day of the George Enescu Festival took place on September 4th, 1958, merely three years after George Enescu's passing, thus marking the official debut of the most important international musical event organized by Romania. The George Enescu Festival takes place every two years in Bucharest and other Romanian cities and brings to the public over 250 of the most acclaimed international and Romanian orchestras and artists in over 70 events.

Photo credit: David Zentz