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Portland, Ore. … Violinist Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, renowned for her passionate music-making, technical prowess and electrifying performing style, will join Music Director James DePreist for an Oregon Symphony Classical concert featuring Brahms’ Violin Concerto, Berlioz’ “Roman Carnival” Overture and Bartok’s Concerto for Orchestra Nov. 3 through 5 at the Arlene Schitzer Concert Hall. Media support is provided by The Oregonian.

Acclaimed for her powerful and passionate sound, musical depth, formidable technique and exciting stage presence, Salerno-Sonnenberg is renowned throughout the classical music world as “a breathtakingly daring and original artist” and “one of the few classical artists who must be experienced in person” (The Washington Post). Her albums range from Sibelius, Shostakovich, Brahms and Bruch to a recording of Gypsy music with the Assads guitar duo and a CD of the music from the 1947 film “Humoresque.” This season, Salerno-Sonnenberg continues her highly successful collaboration with the Assads, performing throughout the United States, including a performance at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The concert will begin with Berlioz’ “Roman Carnival” Overture, followed by Brahms’ Violin Concerto, “universally regarded as the greatest of all violin concertos after Beethoven’s” (Jim Svejda). The second half of the concert will feature Bartok’s Concerto for Orchestra, his “most universally admired and frequently performed work” (Jim Svejda).

In addition to pre-concert talks one hour before the concert, Oregon Symphony Classical concerts regularly include additional opportunities for listeners to learn more about the music and the orchestra.

These activities include:

Saturday: The conductor of each series will discuss the program from the podium in "Symphony Interactive." Media support for "Symphony Interactive" is provided by KINKfm102.
Sunday: Audience members will be invited to stay for a 15-20 minute panel discussion with musicians and/or the conductor. Media support for "Sunday Night Post-Concert Discussion" is provided by KBPS.

One of the world’s preeminent violinists, Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg has performed with many of today’s greatest conductors and orchestras, as well as in recital and at major international festivals. Following summer 2001 performances around the country, including performances with The Philadelphia Orchestra, at the Aspen Festival and her debut performance at the televised BBC Promenade Concerts in London, England, Salerno-Sonnenberg’s 2001-2002 season continues her tradition of classical performances interspersed with innovative projects. She debuts with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic in England in October 2001 and does a 5-city tour with The Florida Philharmonic in December. In addition, she appears in a special evening of chamber music at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on February 20, 2002, for which she has gathered together some of her closest musician friends.

Salerno-Sonnenberg’s versatility and vast range of interpretive skills are further demonstrated in the recording field, where she is considered a groundbreaker. With 20 recordings to her credit, her current recordings are on the Nonesuch and Angel/EMI Classics labels. In addition to standard classical repertoire, including Barber, Brahms, Bruch, Chausson, Debussy, Mendelssohn, Paganini, Shostakovich, Vivaldi, and Wolf (all recorded for EMI Classics), Salerno-Sonnenberg has received critical acclaim for several “crossover” discs that she has recorded: a self-titled recording of gypsy music from Eastern Europe with the duo guitarists the Assads (Nonesuch 2000); “Humoresque” (Nonesuch 1998), a CD of music from the 1947 film Humoresque that combines classical works and pop standards, which the New York Times has called “a valuable historical document”; and “It Ain’t Necessarily So” (Angel/EMI 1995) which includes works by Gershwin, Kreisler, and Scott Joplin, among others. Included among her recordings is “Speaking In Strings” (Angel/EMI 1999) comprised of music from the Counterpoint Film’s documentary on Salerno-Sonnenberg of the same title. An admirer of all musical genres, she has collaborated on recordings with such artists as Mandy Patinkin, Joe Jackson, Judy Blazer, Roger Kellaway and Bob James.

An engaging communicator, Salerno-Sonnenberg has been featured on a variety of television programs, including CBS’ 60 Minutes, 60 Minutes II, Nightwatch and Sunday Morning; CNN’s Newsstand; NBC's National News and The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson (several times); A & E's Artist of the Week with Elliot Forrest; Bravo's Arts & Minds and The Art of Influence; PBS' Live from Lincoln Center, Backstage/Lincoln Center, The Charlie Rose Show, and City Arts, as well as the PBS/BBC series The Mind and PBS' Children's Television Workshop's award winning program Sesame Street. In 1989, Crown Books published Nadja: On My Way, an autobiography written for children in which she shares her experiences as a young musician building a career. In 1999, Salerno-Sonnenberg was one of the celebrities featured in a book entitled The Virtuoso. That same year, a documentary on Salerno-Sonnenberg, entitled "Speaking In Strings," premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, where it was one of only 16 documentaries chosen for screening. Released in theaters nationwide during the summer of 1999 and premiered on HBO’s Signatures channel in December 1999, “Speaking In Strings” was nominated for an Academy Award (Oscar) in the Documentary Feature category for 2000. It was released on VHS and DVD by New Video in June 2001.

Salerno-Sonnenberg’s professional career began in 1981 when she won the Walter W. Naumburg International Violin Competition. In 1983 she was recognized with an Avery Fisher Career Grant, and in 1988 was Ovations Debut Recording Artist of the Year. In 1999 she was honored with the prestigious Avery Fisher

Prize. In May of that same year, Salerno-Sonnenberg was awarded an honorary Masters of Musical Arts from the New Mexico State University, the first honorary degree the University has ever awarded. Salerno-Sonnenberg was born in Rome and emigrated to the United States at the age of eight to study at The Curtis Institute of Music. She later studied with Dorothy DeLay at The Juilliard School.

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