Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto has earned its place at the top. A reviewer once reported that "the violin was not played, but beaten black and blue." With its hair raising difficulties for the soloist, tender melodies and a boisterous flurry of notes and tempo, this is the king of concertos.
Augustin Hadelich is the 2006 Gold Medialist at the Indianapolis Violin Competition.
About the Conductor:
Fabio Mechetti
Music Director and Principal Conductor, Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra
Haskell Endowed Chair
Appointed music director and principal conductor of the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra in 1999, Brazilian-born conductor Fabio Mechetti is one of the most respected conductors in the United States. During his tenure, Maestro Mechetti has consistently taken the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra to new artistic heights and has led six grand opera productions, continuing in 2007-08 with a fully staged performance of Verdi’s La Traviata.
Active on the international scene as well, Mr. Mechetti garners consistent praise from critics and colleagues for his artistry and knowledge of the repertoire. He held the post of music director of the Spokane Symphony Orchestra for 11 seasons, having become now its Music Director Laureate. He also led the Syracuse Symphony for ten seasons, beginning as associate conductor in 1989 and becoming music director in 1993.
In addition to his Carnegie Hall debut with the New Jersey Symphony in 1993, Mr. Mechetti has appeared as guest conductor with the Seattle Symphony, Pacific Symphony Orchestra, Utah Symphony, Rochester Philharmonic, San Antonio Symphony, San Jose Symphony, Austin Symphony, Phoenix Symphony, Charlotte Symphony, Omaha Symphony, Long Island Philharmonic, and various orchestras in Mexico, Brazil and Venezuela. Recent engagements also include the Buffalo Philharmonic, the Stamford, Phoenix, Alabama and Kalamazoo Symphonies and the Quebec Symphony Orchestra.
Having made his European debut with the Danish Radio Orchestra in 1990, Mr. Mechetti is a frequent guest of the Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra in Sweden. He led the Auckland Philharmonia in New Zealand and has made several very successful tours of Japan that included concerts with the orchestras of Tokyo, Sapporo and Hiroshima.
Also a highly acclaimed operatic conductor, Mr. Mechetti made his American debut with the Washington Opera in 1990 and has served as music director of the Teatro Municipal opera house in Rio de Janeiro. In addition to Jacksonville, he has also conducted and directed productions in Syracuse, Spokane and Brazil.
Winner of the 1989 Malko International Conducting Competition in Denmark, Mr. Mechetti served as resident conductor of the San Diego Symphony in 1986 and associate conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra from 1985 through 1989. During his years with the National Symphony, he led more than 75 concerts at the Kennedy Center Concert Hall, also conducting performances on the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol and at Wolf Trap Park for the Performing Arts. His children’s programs in Washington, D.C., won the National Endowment for the Arts Award for Best Educational Programming in the United States in 1985.
Fabio Mechetti holds Master’s degrees in conducting and composition from the Juilliard School of Music. The conductor is an avid reader and golfer, and enjoys cooking and wine collecting. Married to the concert pianist Aida Ribeiro, the two are proud parents of young twin daughters Carolina and Marina.
About Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra:
The Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra continues to affirm its place as one of the leading performing arts organizations in the Southeast and a vital part of cultural life on the First Coast. Widely recognized for its high artistic quality, the JSO ranks among the nation’s top 40 orchestras in terms of budget size and population served.
As one of a handful of American orchestras with its own dedicated concert hall, the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra performs the majority of its programs in the acoustically superb Robert E. Jacoby Symphony Hall at the Times-Union Center for the Performing Arts, the only true orchestra concert hall in Florida.
Founded in 1949, Jacksonville’s symphony is one of Florida’s most long-standing orchestras. Its success has been defined by the Palm Beach Post as “the standard to which all other Florida orchestras should strive.” Led by Music Director and Principal Conductor Fabio Mechetti since 1999, past music directors of the JSO include Roger Nierenberg, Willis Page, John Canarina, James Christian Pfohl and founding director Van Lier Lanning. The JSO has played host to some of the most renowned artists of the past century, including Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington, Arthur Fiedler, Victor Borge, Luciano Pavarotti, Kathleen Battle, Marilyn Horne and Mstislav Rostropovich. The Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra has performed twice at Carnegie Hall, most recently in 1998.
The Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra also reaches audiences in venues that vary from schools and senior citizen centers to stages throughout Florida and the Southeast. In recent seasons, the JSO has reached a national audience with appearances on National Public Radio’s “Performance Today.”
With a budget of approximately $7.9 million, the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra reaches nearly ¼ million residents on the First Coast and throughout Florida. Nearly half of these residents are children, who benefit from the Symphony’s extensive education programs, including concerts, ensemble performances and master classes, a school partnership program – Symphony Schools – and the Jacksonville Symphony Youth Orchestra. In addition to a season schedule of approximately 130 concerts, Symphony musicians give nearly 200 educational ensemble performances in schools and senior centers.
Beyond the stage, the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra is an outstanding community partner, serving four county school districts, offering student internships and collaborating with a wide range of organizations, from arts, community and cultural groups to media and corporate partners. And over 1,700 music-lovers in the community are Symphony volunteers, from members of BRASS, ARIAS and The Guild, to Youth Orchestra parents to concert ushers.
