Music Director Jaap van Zweden to be featured artist for 2008 Dallas Symphony Orchestra opening gala

by PegNews wire

The Dallas Symphony Orchestra announces this year's featured artist for the 2008 Dallas Symphony Orchestra AT&T Opening Gala: Music Director Jaap van Zweden, playing the violin and conducting the Dallas Symphony Orchestra.

The premier event, themed Vienna 1900, will be hosted by several of Dallas' most passionate supporters of the arts including host committee members Gina and Scott Ginsburg, Krickett and Randall Goss, Cece Smith and Ford Lacy, and Becky and Brad Todd. The Opening Gala will be held on Wednesday, September 10 starting at 6:00 p.m. at the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center.

Those interested in attending are encouraged to purchase tickets early. Individual tickets start at $1,000, tables start at $10,000 and sponsorship opportunities are still available. Gala tickets include the pre-concert reception, concert, dinner and after-dinner cocktails. For ticket information, call 214.871.4065 or email dso-gala@dalsym.com.

The Opening Gala precedes Jaap's launch as the DSO's new music director, and in light of Maestro Jaap's commitment to conducting, he has proclaimed this to be his last public concert on violin. Jaap's expertise playing the violin is legendary. He attended the Juilliard School to study violin and subsequently was named the youngest concertmaster (at age 19) of the world-renowned Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam. This event will be the first and last time Dallas' audience will have the opportunity to hear Jaap perform violin before he embarks as leader of the acclaimed Dallas Symphony Orchestra.

Maestro Jaap's violin performances include Beethoven's Romance #1 for Violin and Orchestra and Bach's Concerto for Two Violins and Orchestra in D Minor, performed with DSO Concertmaster Emanuel Borok. Jaap also leads the DSO in the emotionally powerful Symphony No. 5 by Gustav Mahler. The evening will continue with a seated dinner catered by Culinaire International. As special dinner entertainment, the world-renowned Roby Lakatos gypsy band will serenade guests, then will perform a repertoire tailored just for the Gala ... one that just might coax Jaap for an encore violin performance! Finish the evening with Viennese coffee, pastries and cocktails at an exclusive after-dinner coffee lounge and bar as only Todd Fiscus can design it!

The theme, Vienna 1900, deserves a brief description for its moving inspiration. In 1901, while Mahler was music director of the Vienna Court Opera - one of the most coveted positions in the world of music - he met the lovely young music student Alma Schindler who, shortly after their meeting, became his wife. At this time, he was also writing his Fifth Symphony. This period of adoration and romance in one of the most beautiful cities in the world will be rediscovered at the Gala through the talent of event designer Todd Fiscus.

The Dallas Symphony Orchestra AT&T Gala is the DSO's largest fundraising event of the year. An amazing array of performers has graced the renowned Meyerson stage including Renee Fleming, Izthak Perlman, Yo-Yo Ma and Joshua Bell; and last year's event highlighted Grammy Award-winning jazz songstress Diana Krall. 2008 marks AT&T's eighth consecutive year of support for the Dallas Symphony Orchestra AT&T Gala, which benefits the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and its many programs including the classical and pops concerts, adult and youth education, and community outreach initiatives.

Source: DSO