James Ehnes and the Pasadena Symphony Orchestra Present Korngold’s Violin Concerto

On October 29, the Pasadena Symphony performs Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s beloved masterpiece Violin Concerto. The concert, featuring Canadian violinist James Ehnes and renowned guest conductor Mei-Ann Chen, takes place at the Ambassador Auditorium in Pasadena, California.

The concerto marked Korngold’s return to concert music following several years of creating numerous landmark film scores. Composed in 1946 and premiered by Jascha Heifetz in 1947, the piece demonstrates Korngold’s exceptional skill as a composer and arranger with an illustrative style that helped to define the film music of that era. The concerto reworks several motifs drawn from some of his most successful films, notably Another Dawn (1937), Juarez (1939), Anthony Adverse (a theme which rewarded Korngold with his first Oscar in 1936), and The Prince and the Pauper (1937).   

Acclaimed as “the Jascha Heifetz of our day” (Globe and Mail), James Ehnes’ CBC recording of Korngold’s Violin Concerto received a 2008 Grammy, in addition to a Juno and Western Canadian Music Award. Ehnes’ performance of this work recalls the finesse and agility of its venerable premiere violinist, all the while resurrecting Korngold’s heroic romanticism.

More on the life and work of Erich Wolfgang Korngold can be found at his Composer Profile and www.korngold-society.org.

More details on the performance can be found at www.pasadenasymphony-pops.org.

Erich Wolfgang Korngold
Violin Concerto, Op. 35 (1937/1939, rev. 1945)
for violin and orchestra
2(2.pic.).2(2.ca).2.bcl.2(2.cbsn)-4.2.1.0-timp. 2perc-hp.cel-str
23'