Pontzious himself is a remarkable figure. He founded the AYO, in collaboration with Yehudi Menuhin, in 1987. He's since collaborated with such musical celebrities as Yo-Yo Ma, Gidon Kremer and Alicia de Larrocha. He's fluent in Japanese and conversant in Mandarin, and in 2000 received a Bronze Bauhina Star from the Hong Kong government for his contribution to music and the arts. In the same year he received his private pilot's license!
The programs to be played in Taipei, both in the National Concert Hall, are as follows. On Tuesday, Aug. 22, Finnish conductor Okko Kamu will conduct Mozart's Symphony No. 25, two Mozart arias, followed by Mahler's Symphony No. 4. On Wednesday, Aug 23, Pontzious will conduct Howard Hanson's Symphony No. 2, Samuel Barber's Violin COncerto and Dvorak's New World Symphony.
Two young soloists will perform in each program. On the Tuesday it'll be soprano Ida Falk Winland, born in Sweden in 1982 and currently a student at London's Royal College of Music. And on the Wednesday the solo violinist in Barber's concerto will be Harvard University student Stefan Jackiw. Both are already very well known internationally. Winland, for instance, was invited to sing at Barbara Hendrick's wedding in 2003, while Jackiw, still only 20, has already played the Barber concerto in Russia's St. Petersburg as part of its Winter Festival.
The Mozart, Mahler and Dvorak symphonies are well-known, but Hanson's is less so, and even Barber's concerto is not often played in Taiwan.
Howard Hanson (1896-1981) provides another link with Sweden, along with the soprano soloist, as he too was of Swedish descent. His Symphony No. 2 is his best-known work. Subtitled “Romantic,” it's simultaneously melodic and substantial, just what many people believe symphonic music has to remain if it's not to lose what popular appeal it still retains.
Samuel Barber (1910 – 1981) is best-known for his Adagio for Strings, a work that was premiered by Toscanini in 1938 and has been played at the funeral of just about every American president since. His Violin Concerto of 1941 is equally appealing, sumptuous in its lyrical first two movements, hair-raisingly difficult in its finale.
The two Mozart arias to be sung by Ida Falk Winland are in no way minor items. The first, Ruhe sanft, mein holdes Leben, is taken from an unfinished German opera called Zaide, written when the composer was 23. The second, Ah, lo previdi, is an extraordinarily wide-ranging and probing concert aria lasting a full 13 minutes. Nothing more ravishing could be imagined to bring an audience to its feet and conclude the first half of the concert.
All in all, these are events much to be recommended. Early booking is essential, however. Maybe it's the extended families of all those local musicians, but for whatever reason AYO concerts are well-known for being able to fill Taipei's National Concert Hall when more illustrious names fail. The orchestra's appearance in Taiwan, incidentally, is being presented by the Taipei Philharmonic Foundation.
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