100th birthday
Anton Nel tickles the ivories for the Centennial of Austin Symphony Orchestra
Nov 18, 2011 | 11:51 am
Audience anticipating the start of the performance.Photo by Robin Rowell
Anton Nel
First notes played during the Centennial Gala Concert.Photo by Robin Rowell
Anton Nel is a world-acclaimed pianist who has been called "uncommonly elegant" by The New York Times, and both "ravishing" and "brilliant" by the Dallas Morning News. After an auspicious debut at the age of 12, after only two years of study, Nel was the winner of the first prize in the Naumburg International Piano Competition at Carnegie Hall in 1987 and has enjoyed a remarkable and multifaceted career that has taken him all over the world.
And he's a hometown boy.
Austin is lucky and honored to be able to call itself the home of Anton Nel; he is perpetually an audience favorite here, as well as a professor of music at the University of Texas and the first holder of the Joe R. and Teresa Lozano Long Endowed Chair in Piano at UT. The Johannesburg, South Africa native will be performing this weekend with the Austin Symphony Orchestra, performing two keyboard works. Nel will take center stage for Cesar Franck’s Symphonic Variations, concerto-like symphoniques, which hold a prominent place in Franck’s repertoire of the late Romantic period.
After a brief intermission, the ASO and Mr. Nel return to present the Second Piano Concerto of Franz Liszt. Composed during Liszt’s virtuoso period, ASO audiences will soon realize that is takes the talent of an artist the caliber of Anton Nel to perform this piece so masterfully.
These magnificent performances are all part of the 101st season at the Austin Symphony Orchestra, during which the organization celebrates its 100th birthday.
"The exciting part about Anton Nel is that he is a world famous pianist who lives here in Austin even though he performs around the world," says Pat Harris, Chair of the ASO Centennial Celebration Year. "We are proud to present one of Austin's own in our Centennial Celebration along with the other celebrity artists who are not from Texas. He and Bion Tsang, a professor of cello at the University of Texas who is also performing this Spring during the Centennial Season, represent a long tradition and association between the Austin Symphony and the University of Texas."
Founded in 1911, the Austin Symphony Orchestra is Austin’s oldest performing arts group. The celebration of this milestone achievement began in style, at the Gala Celebration in April of this year starring the finest violinist in the world, Itzhak Perlman.
"The Centennial Celebration gives the Symphony family an opportunity to honor and celebrate our outstanding Maestro, Peter Bay, our conductor for fourteen years who has brought new and exciting repertoires to the concerts, along with outstanding international guest artists," Harris says. "He has inspired a phenomenal growth in the musical creativity of all our dedicated orchestra members."
Elaine Barber, harpist with the orchestra since 1992, is inspired by the community support of the symphony. "When I think about how incredibly much Austin has changed since 1911, it's inspiring that this idea of playing music together on a large scale, the desire to have that be part of the life of this town, has survived and thrived all this time."
Barber, who has played harp since 10-years-old, considers it a point of pride that ASO has had such longevity, in spite of the fact that the orchestras in Houston, Dallas and San Antonio have bigger budgets and busier seasons.
Harris also gives credit to the countless volunteers who have supported ASO in its quest to present beautiful music for the entire community. Thousands of hours from dedicated and hard working volunteers have kept the Symphony playing for a century, she says.
Barber encourages people who haven't been to a symphonic performance to give it a try. "Sometimes people are intimidated by the symphony, they think they don't know enough to enjoy a concert. I'd say, it's just music. Come, have a drink before if you like, close your eyes and listen. This music always takes me on a journey if I'm open to it; you can just hear the sounds and see where that takes you. It's a really luxurious thing having 80 or a hundred people playing their hearts out for you."
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Anton Nel performances will be held on Friday and Saturday, November 18th & 19th in Dell Hall at the Long Center for the Performing Arts, 701 W. Riverside Drive. Tickets start at $19; call 476-6064 or visit www.austinsymphony.org.
