NEW HAMPSHIRE MUSIC FESTIVAL
52 Symphony Lane, Center Harbor, NH 03226
Ph: (603) 279-3300 Fax: (603) 279-3484
Email: Website: www.nhmf.org
Media Contact: David Graham, President
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE after 9/04/09
JONATHAN GANDELSMAN NAMED ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
President David Graham of the New Hampshire Music Festival is delighted to announce the appointment of Jonathan Gandelsman as Artistic Director. Mr. Gandelsman brings exceptional experience in working with a wide range of artistic collaborations. He is a member of Yo-Yo Ma’s world renowned Silk Road Ensemble; Brooklyn Rider – a critically acclaimed string quartet; and The Knights – an up and coming, internationally respected orchestra.
A prize winner at the Kreisler and Menuhin violin competitions, Gandelsman has performed as a soloist with the New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Vienna Symphony, Israel Philharmonic and Polish Radio Orchestra. He has participated in the festivals of Verbier, Cuernavaca, Caramoor, Montpellier and Istanbul. Jonathan has worked with such esteemed conductors as David Zinman, Zubin Mehta, Yehudi Menuhin, Schlomo Mintz, Daniel Oren and Miguel Harth-Bedoya.
For the last four years, Jonathan has been co-concertmaster of The Knights an exciting young orchestra from NYC. The Knights opened the prestigious Dresden Music Festival, the only American orchestra to participate in 2009. Other orchestras at Dresden included the Vienna Philharmonic with Valery Gergiev, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra with Gustavo Dudamel and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra with Nikolaus Harnoncourt. They have recorded two CDs for Sony Classical this year.
In 2001, Gandelsman was the concertmaster of the UBS Verbier Festival Orchestra, performing in N. America and Europe under the baton of James Levine. At Verbier, Jonathan worked under Yuri Temirkanov, Kurt Masur, Paavo Jarvi, Kent Nagano and Ivan Fischer.
From 1997 to 2001 Gandelsman was the concertmaster of Wild Ginger Philharmonic, a ground-breaking orchestra which received rave reviews from the leading critics. The Philadelphia Inquirer states, “A concert experience so intimate and enlivened that it seems like a new concert paradigm for classical music…The audience connected to musicians in a way that is rare, stomping their feet and howling with approval after each piece…the classical music industry needs Wild Ginger”.
Mr. Gandelsman will be involved in program planning, artist selection, and performance at the Festival. He will work closely with the Festival Director Henry Fogel and President David Graham.
Founded in 1952, the New Hampshire Music Festival brings music performances to the Lakes Region and is well regarded for its artistic standards. As part of its educational work, the Festival sponsors programs that help teachers in area schools use music to build the foundations for learning. It also advocates for general music education.