Press Release – A Call For Peace
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: CALEB BAILEY860-443-2876
[email protected]
ECSO continues its 78th Season with “A Call for Peace”
Saturday, February 22, 2025 7:30pm at the Garde Arts Center, New London
This concert is generously sponsored by Upton Bass String Instrument Co.
The ECSO’s February concert, a call for peace in Eastern Europe, will begin with a world premiere of Elegy XXII by Polina Nazaykinskaya, a graduate of Moscow’s Tchaikovsky Conservatory College and the Yale School of Music. Next, Polish violinist Kinga Augustyn, who made her Carnegie Hall debut in 2008, will be the soloist for her compatriot Henryk Wieniawski’s virtuosic Violin Concerto No. 2 in D Minor, which premiered in St. Petersburg in 1862 with Wieniawski as soloist. After intermission, Music Director & Conductor Toshiyuki Shimada will conduct Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s powerful Symphony No. 4 in F Minor. In composing his “Fate Symphony,” Tchaikovsky had Ludwig van Beethoven’s “Fate Symphony” in mind (its first-movement fanfare recalls the famous “duh-duh-duh-DUM” from Beethoven’s Fifth). The Tchaikovsky piece was premiered in the U.S. in 1890. A New York Post reviewer wrote: “If Tchaikovsky had called his symphony ‘A Sleigh Ride Through Siberia’ no one would have found this title inappropriate.”
There will be a pre-concert chat at 6:30pm prior to the concert on February 22. This event is free and open to the public. It will be in the Oasis room located in the Garde Arts Center through the side “G” door entrance. No need to RSVP, just arrive and enjoy. There will be limited seating on a first-come, first-served basis. While you don’t need a ticket to enjoy the lecture, you will need a ticket to get into the concert hall afterwards and ticket scanners will be standing by. These chats are generously sponsored through a Connecticut Humanities Quick Grant and through partnership with the Garde Arts Center’s P:ACE initiative.
Kinga Augustyn is a versatile New York City-based virtuoso concert violinist and recording artist. “Stylish and vibrant” (The Strad Magazine), and “beyond amazing, one hell of a violinist!” (The Fanfare Magazine), Ms. Augustyn has performed as a soloist with orchestras in North and South America, Europe and Asia, and they include the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra, Queens Symphony Orchestra, Catskill Symphony Orchestra, Riverside Symphonia, Western Piedmont Symphony, Deutsches Kammerorchester Berlin, Magdeburg Philharmonic Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra Leopoldinum, Wrocław Philharmonic Orchestra, the MAV Symphony Orchestra of Budapest, and the Orquesta Sinfónica Universidad Mayor. She has toured China and performed at China’s most prestigious venues such as Beijing Poly Theater and Shanghai Oriental Art Center. As a recitalist and chamber musician Kinga has appeared at the Stern Auditorium and the Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Aspen Music Festival, the Chicago Cultural Center, Teatro Ristori (Verona, Italy), Teatro La Fenice (Venice, Italy), Teatro dal Verme (Milano, Italy), and Teatro Municipal de Las Condes (Santiago, Chile). In addition to concerti with orchestras and recitals with piano, Ms. Augustyn frequently performs unaccompanied solo violin recitals. She also plays baroque violin.
Kinga Augustyn is often praised for her musical interpretations, profundity, deft phrasing, beautiful tone, mastery of the bow, perfect intonation, and for her unique programming ideas. “With completely secure technical control, she couples a tapestry of tone color to her innate musicality” (The Fanfare Magazine). Music Web International describes her playing in the Bruch Violin Concerto with Janacek Philharmonic as “extremely moving and expressive,” characterized by “beauty, richness and smoothness of her tone,” and as “music she responds to on a deeply personal and emotional level.”
Dr. Augustyn currently serves as Violin Faculty at Queens College Aaron Copland School of Music. She also often gives masterclasses, especially when she is on tour. Most recently her masterclasses have taken places at the Amherst College, the Florida Gulf Coast University Bower School of Music, the Academy of Music in Wroclaw (Poland), and the Music Conservatory of Mayor University in Santiago (Chile). Dr. Augustyn’s students are winners of national and international competition prizes and scholarships. For her full bio, see the press release attachments.
To purchase tickets:
Single tickets to events can be purchased by visiting the Garde Arts Center website at gardearts.org, calling the Garde Arts Center Box Office at 860-444-7373 x 1 or the ECSO office at 860-443-2876. Subscription packages provide a significant discount (up to 40%) versus purchasing individual tickets and are available by calling the ECSO office. In addition to a range of affordable single-ticket options from $70 to as low as $12. The ECSO offers those under 40 years of age and active or retired military members $12 tickets in selected sections. Reduced price tickets are sponsored by Chelsea Groton Bank.
ECSO general copy:
We are thrilled to announce our 2024-25 Season lineup, curated by Music Director and Conductor Toshiyuki Shimada. Season Highlights include Saint-Saëns’ Symphony No. 3 (Organ), Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No.4, Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 3 featuring our Instrumental Competition winner, Puccini & Verdi selections with the Eastern Connecticut Symphony Chorus and international guest artists. From early fall to late spring, the 75-plus member professional Symphony Orchestra presents six subscription concerts annually, most of which feature guest soloists. Subscription concerts are primarily performed at the historic award-winning Garde Arts Center on State Street in New London.
Visit www.ectsymphony.com for more information and follow us on social media (Facebook, Instagram, YouTube) @ectsymphony.
Founded in 1946 by Norwegian immigrant, Victor Norman, the ECSO is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization serving the eastern Connecticut region, including New London, Norwich, Waterford, Groton, Mystic, Old Lyme, and East Lyme. Recent concerts in Norwich, Willimantic, and Stonington reflect our renewed dedication to serving a broader area.
Our mission is to inspire, educate, and connect our communities through live orchestral music.