October 17, 2016

Photo: Steph MacKinnon / Contributed Photo

Guest soloist Matt Haimovitz will perform Oct. 29 as one of the featured guests in the opening show of the 77th season of the Norwalk Symphony Orchestra.

NORWALK — The Norwalk Symphony Orchestra will open its 77th season on Oct. 29 with renowned cellist Matt Haimovitz, known for bringing a fresh ear to familiar music and participating in groundbreaking collaborations.

Haimovitz, a well-known cellist since the age of 13, made his solo debut with Zubin Mehta and the Israel Philharmonic. He is an associate professor of music at McGill University in Montreal, and Leonard Rose at the Julliard School described him as “probably the greatest talent I have ever taught.”

“We are so thrilled to have someone of Matt’s caliber to open our season,” NSO Director Jonathan Yates said. “I’ve been honored to know him since we were undergraduates at Harvard, and through his evolution from an exciting prodigy to a innovative world artist, he’s always been a probing musician of great intellect and deep passion.”

The Norwalk Symphony Orchestra, comprised of professional musicians, has served Norwalk for more than 75 years with the mission to provide the community with the opportunity to explore orchestral music in an informal fashion.

NSO was founded in January 1939. Through 1985, the symphony was primarily a community orchestra composed of volunteer musicians from the greater Norwalk region. In 1956, the Norwalk Youth Symphony was formed, and younger musicians from surrounding communities were frequently invited to be part of the orchestra.

From 1980 to 2000, a new music director expanded the musical aspirations of the NSO and demanded an increasingly rigorous standard of performance from its musicians. During this time the profile of the musicians shifted to a fully paid professional orchestra.

Yates is the seventh director of the NSO and is starting his sixth year in the role.

The opening concert will begin with Rossini’s Overture to II Signor Bruschino. The featured highlight is Dimitri Shostakovich’s First Cello Concerto with Haimovitz as soloist. The evening will conclude with the Fourth Symphony by Brahms.

The concert will take place at the Norwalk Concert Hall at 125 East Ave. Tickets range from $10 for students to $50 for the best seats and can be purchased online at the symphony’s website, norwalksymphony.org, or by calling the office at 203-956-6771.

KKrasselt@scni.com; 203-354-1021; @kaitlynkrasselt

By: Kaitlyn Krasselt

Read at: The Hour