Ludovic Morlot and David Alexander Rahbee share conducting duties in this program of performances by the UW Symphony and members of the Seattle Symphony, performing both separately and side-by-side. With special guests Kevin Ahfat, piano; and Gabriel Palmer, trumpet.
*Note: DUE TO POPULAR DEMAND, TICKETS ARE NO LONGER AVAILABLE FOR THIS EVENT. A waiting list will be started at the box office one hour before showtime and all unclaimed tickets will be released to the waiting list ten minutes before showtime. Patrons must be present to add names to waiting list.
PROGRAM DETAILS
UW Symphony
David Alexander Rahbee, conductor
Beethoven: Leonore Overture No. 3, Op. 72b
Seattle Symphony
Ludovic Morlot, conductor
Shostakovich: Piano Concerto No. 1 in C Minor
(Kevin Ahfat, piano; Gabriel Palmer, trumpet)
UW Symphony and Seattle Symphony
Berlioz: Judges of the Secret Court, Overture, Op. 3
Copland: Fanfare for the Common Man
Artist Bios
Kevin Ahfat, piano
As a pianist that “leaves no question about his riveting presentation and technical finesse” (Seattle Times), Ahfat is an artist recognized for his deeply passionate and highly compelling performances, possessing “a balanced mix of expressiveness and virtuosity” (Musical America). He has appeared as a multi-faceted solo and chamber artist at venues nationally and internationally, most notably at Boettcher Hall in Denver, Benaroya Hall in Seattle, Ikeda Theater in Arizona, Carnegie Hall and Alice Tully Hall in New York, and Japan’s Fumin Hall in Kyoto.
Mr. Ahfat has appeared with numerous orchestras across the United States, including the Colorado Symphony Orchestra, Seattle Symphony Orchestra, Juilliard Orchestra, Breckenridge Music Festival Orchestra, and Arapahoe Philharmonic. He has appeared as guest artist at the Breckenridge Music Festival, Colorado International Piano Festival, Southeastern Piano Festival, and Kyoto International Music Festival. Throughout the years, Mr. Ahfat has had the privilege of performing and collaborating with artists such as Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Joshua Roman, Paul Katz, Ani Kavafian, Ludovic Morlot, Jeffrey Milarsky, and the Juilliard String Quartet.
Mr. Ahfat has garnered numerous awards in many national and international competitions, among those being top prizes at the Juilliard Concerto Competition, 5th Schimmel International Piano Competition, Steinway & Sons Concerto Competition, the Bradshaw & Buono International Piano Competition, and the Arthur Fraser and Eastman International Piano Competitions. Recently, Mr. Ahfat captured the First Prize at the inaugural Seattle Symphony International Piano Competition in partnership with Young Concert Artists & Washington Performing Arts in 2015.
Currently, Mr. Ahfat is continuing his studies at the Juilliard School in New York under the tutelage of Mr. Joseph Kalichstein and Mr. Stephen Hough after having previously studied with Mr. Choong-Mo Kang, as well as with Dr. Lei Weng and Larry Graham. As chamber artist, he has coached with Itzhak Perlman, Joseph Lin, Vivian Weilerstein, Catherine Cho, David Finckel, and Seymour Lipkin.
Mr. Ahfat has spent summers working with artists such as Arie Vardi, Stephen Hough, Jonathan Biss, and Jeremy Denk at the Bowdoin, PianoTexas, Perlman Music Program Chamber Workshop, Pianofest Hamptons, and Music Academy of the West festivals where he received the Hyon Chough Full Scholarship in Solo Piano. He has also performed for numerous world-renowned artists including Leon Fleisher, Alan Gilbert, Olga Kern, and Richard Goode.
At Juilliard, Mr. Ahfat holds the Rhea Cloe and Carl Cloe Memorial Scholarship, the Herbert Stessin Piano Scholarship, and the Susan W. Rose Piano Fellowship. In addition, he is actively involved in community outreach initiatives, and has worked with the Music Advancement Program at Juilliard and was a mentor and coach for the MERIT Outreach Program at the Music Academy of the West. He is a 2015-16 Artist of the Young Musicians Foundation of Colorado and is especially grateful for their support.
Director Bios
David Alexander Rahbee, UW Symphony
David Alexander Rahbee is currently Senior Artist in Residence at the University of Washington School of Music in Seattle, where he is director of orchestral activities and teaches conducting. He is recipient of the American-Austrian Foundation's 2003 Herbert von Karajan Fellowship for Young Conductors, the 2005 International Richard-Wagner-Verband Stipend, and the Acanthes Centre in Paris in 2007.
Dr. Rahbee has appeared in concert with orchestras such as the RTE National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg, Kammerphilharmonie Berlin-Brandenburg, Orchestre de la Francophonie, Orchesterakademie der Bochumer Symphoniker, the Dresden Hochschule orchestra, Grand Harmonie, the Boston New Music Initiative, Orquesta Sinfónica de Loja (Ecuador), Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra, Savaria Symphony Orchestra (Hungary), Seattle Modern Orchestra, Cool Opera of Norway (members of the Stavanger Symphony), Schönbrunner Schloss Orchester (Vienna), the Whatcom Symphony Orchestra, the Kennett Symphony, and the Divertimento Ensemble of Milan. He collaborated twice with the Seattle Symphony in 2015, as off-stage conductor for Ives’ Fourth Symphony (recorded live), and as guest conductor for their Native Lands project. He has collaborated with several prominent soloists such as violinists Sarah Chang, David Chan (concertmaster of MET opera orchestra), and Joseph Lin (Juilliard String Quartet). He has been been a guest rehearsal conductor for numerous young orchestras, such as the New England Conservatory Symphony Orchestra, The Symphony Orchestras of the Hall-Musco Conservatory of Music at Chapman University, and the Vienna University of Technology orchestra, the Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras (BYSO), and Rhode Island Philharmonic Youth Orchestras (RIPYO). He has also served of faculty of the Pierre Monteux School as Conducting Associate, and has been resident conductor of the Atlantic Music Festival in Maine.
Dr. Rahbee was an assistant at the Vienna State opera from 2002-2010. As part of his fellowship and residency at the 2003 Salzburg Festival, Dr. Rahbee was assistant conductor of the International Attergau Institute Orchestra, where he worked with members of the Vienna Philharmonic. He has been selected to actively participate in masterclasses with prominent conductors such as Kurt Masur, Sir Colin Davis, Jorma Panula, Zdeněk Mácal, Peter Eötvös, Zoltán Peskó, and Helmut Rilling, and counts Nikolaus Harnoncourt to be among his most influential mentors. From 1997-2001, David Rahbee was conductor of the Fidelio Chamber Orchestra in Cambridge, Massachusetts, selecting its talented young members from Harvard University, the New England Conservatory, and Boston University. From 1997 to 2000, he served as assistant conductor of the Atlantic Symphony Orchestra (formerly known as the Hingham Symphony) in Massachusetts.
Dr. Rahbeeʼs principal conducting teachers were Charles Bruck and Michael Jinbo at the Pierre Monteux School. He holds a Bachelor of Music degree in violin and composition from Indiana University, a Master of Music degree from the New England Conservatory in orchestral conducting, and a Doctorate of Musical Arts from the University of Montreal in orchestral conducting. He has also participated in post-graduate conducting classes at the Universität für Musik und Darstellende Kunst, Vienna. His arrangements for brass are published by Warwick Music, England, and his articles on the music of Gustav Mahler have appeared in journals of the International Gustav Mahler Gesellschaft, among others. Dr. Rahbee’s was a semi-finalist in the American Prize for Conducting, in the category of Orchestral Programming at the university level for the 2013-14 school year.
Ludovic Morlot, Seattle Symphony
French conductor Ludovic Morlot is Music Director of the Seattle Symphony. There have been many highlights during his first three seasons in this position, including an exhilarating performance at Carnegie Hall in May 2014, as reported in The New York Times: ‘The performance Mr. Morlot coaxed from his players was rich with shimmering colours and tremulous energy.” During the 2014-2015 season Morlot and the Seattle Symphony will continue to invite their audiences to “listen boldly,” presenting a wide variety of works ranging from Mozart’s Requiem, Dvořák’s last three symphonies, Berlioz’s Roméo et Juliette and Mahler’s Symphony No. 3, to Ives, Dutilleux and Salonen, as well as premieres by Sebastian Currier, Julian Anderson and Trimpin. Complemented by the Seattle Symphony’s highly innovative series, Symphony Untuxed and [untitled], this season will also see the release of several more recordings on the orchestra’s new label, Seattle Symphony Media.
Morlot was also Chief Conductor of La Monnaie, one of Europe’s most prestigious opera houses, for three years (2012-2014). During this time he conducted several new productions including La Clemenza di Tito, Jenůfa and Pelléas et Mélisande. Concert performances, both in Brussels and Aix-en-Provence, included repertoire by Beethoven, Stravinsky, Britten, Webern and Bruneau.
During the 2014-2015 season Morlot will return to both the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. He has a particularly close relationship with the latter, with whom he will conduct two subscription weeks, including the world premiere performance of Anne Clyne’s Violin Concerto. He also has a strong connection with the Boston Symphony Orchestra whom he conducts regularly in Boston and Tanglewood and recently on a tour to the west coast of North America. This relationship started in 2001 when he was the Seiji Ozawa Fellowship Conductor at the Tanglewood Music Center and subsequently appointed Assistant Conductor for the orchestra and their Music Director James Levine (2004-2007). Morlot has also conducted the New York Philharmonic and the symphony orchestras of Cleveland, Pittsburgh and Philadelphia.
Morlot has conducted the London Philharmonic Orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall in London and on tour in Germany. Other recent notable performances have included the Budapest Festival, Czech Philharmonic, Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Dresden Staatskapelle, Orchestre National de France, Royal Concertgebouw, Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra and Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich. Morlot served as conductor in residence with the Orchestre National de Lyon under David Robertson (2002-2004).
Trained as a violinist, Morlot studied conducting at the Royal Academy of Music in London and then at the Royal College of Music as recipient of the Norman del Mar Conducting Fellowship. Morlot was elected a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music in 2014 in recognition of his significant contribution to music. He is Chair of Orchestral Conducting Studies at the University of Washington School of Music in Seattle.