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ASTORIA SYMPHONY: Winterscapes
 PYOTR
ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY's
(1840-1893) memorable melodies, unabashed
emotionalism, and consistently brilliant
output make him one of the world’s most
popular composers. These things also make
him an easy target for critics who claim
that he was unoriginal or historically
insignificant, but his music has been cited
repeatedly as a source of inspiration of
great composers like Franz Liszt and Igor
Stravinsky. Born to a middle class family in
Votkinsk, Russia in 1840, Tchaikovsky
dutifully studied law before following his
true calling by entering the St. Petersburg
Conservatory. Upon graduation, he quickly
took a post teaching harmony at the new
conservatory in Moscow, where he wrote his
first symphony and first opera. He visited
New York City in 1891 to take part in the
inaugural concerts at Carnegie Hall, and
upon his return to Russia in 1892,
Tchaikovsky wrote the Nutcracker Suite, and
began pouring his soul into his greatest
masterpiece, the Sixth Symphony. Less
than a week after the first performance of
his Symphony No. 6 (now nicknamed "Pathetique"),
Tchaikovsky was dead. The mysterious
circumstances surrounding his death have
inspired theories that he committed suicide
by purposely drinking cholera-infected
water, or was poisoned to prevent a sex
scandal involving Tchaikovsky and a male
member of the local aristocracy.
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 ELIZABETH
BACHER: Widely acclaimed for her
versatility, violinist and pianist Elizabeth
Bacher has appeared as soloist with the
Wellesley Symphony Orchestra, the
Renaissance Chamber Orchestra, and the
National Jeugd Orkest of the Netherlands.
She is the winner of the Special
Presentation Award from Artists'
International, the Harry Dubbs Memorial
Competition, the Manchester Young Artist
Competition, and the Longy Young Artists
Competition. She recently performed a solo
recital of violin and piano at Weill Recital
Hall in Carnegie Hall, including the
premiere of a piece written for her, Solo
Blues for Violin and Piano, to be played
by one person. As concertmaster and
orchestral principal she has worked with
such renowned conductors as Yuri Temirkanov,
Paavo Jarvi, Michael Tilson Thomas, and
Charles Dutoit, on the stages of Carnegie
Hall, Alice Tully Hall, the Amsterdam
Concertgebouw, Academia Nazional di Santa
Cecilia in Rome, and the Konzerthaus in
Berlin, among others. She appeared as
soloist at the Musis Sacrum in Arnhem and
the Concertgebouw de Vreeniging in Nijmegen,
The Netherlands, performing works of Bach in
concert juxtaposing the works of Bach and
Stravinsky. Ms. Bacher has also performed as
soloist and chamber musician in New York at
Merkin Hall, the Rainbow Room at Rockefeller
Center, Horace Mann Auditorium, the Russian
Tea Room, the New York Public Library,
Lincoln Center, the Performing Arts Center
at Purchase, and at Juilliard's Paul Hall
and Morse Hall. She is the founding first
violinist and pianist of the Nova Quartet,
which performs both as a string quartet and
piano quartet. In 2005 they were invited by
the German Consulate to perform at the
official celebration of the 15th anniversary
of the reunification of Germany, as well as
a following concert at the German Embassy.
Ms. Bacher is also a resident performing
artist for The Adorno Sound Project, a
nonprofit organization based in New York and
Seattle. She has been featured on the radio
in the Netherlands, New York, Denver, and
Los Angeles. Ms. Bacher completed her
Master's degree in violin at The Juilliard
School, and two Bachelor of Music degrees in
violin and piano at SUNY Purchase College
Conservatory. She studied violin with
Zinaida Gilels, Zakhar Bron, Roman Totenberg
and Joel Smirnoff, and piano with Eda
Mazo-Shlyam and Zitta Zohar.
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