SOLD OUT: Gessner-Schocken Concert Series: Homecoming | Nathan Meltzer, violin; Jessica Xylina Osborne, piano

Tonight’s performance is sold out.

Longy welcomes home the long-lost Ames-Totenberg Stradivarius forty years after its shocking theft from Roman Totenberg’s office in Zabriskie House. Director of Longy from 1978–85, Totenberg’s beloved Stradivarius made international headlines when it was recovered by the FBI in 2015. The virtuoso violinist died in 2012, but the story continues to touch the hearts of music lovers and mystery buffs worldwide.

Rising young artist Nathan Meltzer brings this magnificent instrument back to Longy for a program that includes a work of Karol Szymanowski, a composer whom Roman Totenberg championed throughout his career.

“Concert in the round”
Program

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750), Sonata for Violin and Piano in E major, BWV 1016 (1720)

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827), Violin Sonata No. 3 in E flat major, Op. 12, No. 3 (1798)

Béla Bartók (1881–1945), Rhapsody No. 1 for Violin and Piano, Sz. 86 (1928)

INTERMISSION

César Franck (1822–1890), Sonata in A major for Violin and Piano (1886)

Karol Szymanowski (1882–1937), Fountain of Arethusa, Op. 30 (1915)

Henryk Wieniawski (1835–1880), Polonaise Brillante in D major, Op. 4 (1853)

Nathan performs on the “Ames, Totenberg” Antonio Stradivari violin, Cremona 1734, which is on loan from Rare Violins In Consortium, Artists and Benefactors Collaborative.

Violinist Roman Totenberg was Longy’s Director 1978-1985, an appointment marking the school’s renewed commitment to advanced musical study. Totenberg enlarged the faculty with an impressive roster of artist-performers, and founded the Young Performers Program, providing younger musicians with a full music curriculum. These efforts, along with reinvigorated programs in chamber music, Dalcroze Eurhythmics, early music, and jazz, brought the school renewed international attention.

Funded by the estate of Ruth Gessner-Schocken

Nathan Meltzer, violin

Photo: Jiyang Chen

American violinist Nathan Meltzer is increasingly hailed as a rising star, offering a compelling combination of exceptional technique and mature musicianship. This season sees his Danish debut with the Aalborg Symphony Orchestra performing Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto under the baton of Conrad van Alphen. He begins the new season performing at Septembre musical de L’Orne alongside Ziyu Shen, Jan Vogler and Lise de La Salle and makes a very special ‘Homecoming’ concert at the Longy School of Music.

Performing regularly across America from a young age, Nathan first attracted international attention after winning the International Concert Competition Debut-Berlin in 2016, which led to a performance of Paganini’s Violin Concerto No.1 at the Berliner Philharmonie. A year later he received first prize at the Windsor Festival International String Competition, the youngest ever to do so at the age of sixteen. He made his UK concerto debut with the Philharmonia Orchestra in autumn 2017, performing Sibelius’ Violin Concerto under the baton of Michael Francis. Other recent highlights have included concerts with the Orquesta Filarmónica de Medellin in Colombia and first prize in the New York-based competition, ‘Getting to Carnegie’. He continues to appear widely across North and South America where previous engagements have included the Pittsburgh Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony, Adelphi, Bloomington, Muncie and Charlotte Civic orchestras, as well as the Orquesta Sinfónica Concepción in Chile.

A keen recitalist and chamber musician, Nathan has recently performed at New York’s Alice Tully Hall, Giardini La Mortella (the former Italian residence of composer William Walton) and at the Water Island Festival in St. Thomas in the Caribbean. As a member of the Omega Ensemble in New York since 2016, Nathan frequently joins other outstanding artists at the beginning of their professional careers for chamber performances in and around New York. Last season saw Nathan make his debuts at Chamberfest Cleveland and Moritzburg Festival performing alongside distinguished musicians. He was also selected to attend the Verbier Festival Academy during July 2019.

Nathan is a protégé of Itzhak Perlman and currently studies at the Juilliard School with Perlman and Li Lin, his teachers since 2013 at the Perlman Music Program and Juilliard Pre-College. Prior to that, he was with the ‘Violin Virtuosi’ at Indiana University Jacobs School of Music (2010-2013). He is a regular guest on NPR’s radio show, ‘From the Top’, and has participated in masterclasses and lessons with Joshua Bell, Pamela Frank, Vadim Gluzman, Jaime Laredo and Donald Weilerstein as well as collaborations with Gilles Apap, Atar Arad, David Chan, Augustin Hadelich, Joseph Lin, Mark O’Connor, The Piano Guys and the Ariel String Quartet.

Nathan performs on the “Ames, Totenberg” Antonio Stradivari violin, Cremona 1734, which is on loan from Rare Violins In Consortium, Artists and Benefactors Collaborative.

Jessica Xylina Osborne, piano

Hailed by the Washington Post as a pianist “with a refreshing mellowness and poetic touch” after her debut with the National Symphony Orchestra, Jessica Xylina Osborne is one of the most intensely expressive and passionate artists of her generation. She is widely considered to be one of the most sought-after collaborative partners, and has performed with some of the world’s finest musicians, including Timothy Eddy, Hilary Hahn, and Ani Kavafian. She has performed throughout the continental U.S., Europe, and Asia, and has appeared in recitals at many of the world’s most celebrated venues, including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, the Musée du Louvre in Paris, and the Seoul Arts Center. Television and radio appearances include performances on PBS’s Live from Lincoln Center, Minnesota Public Radio’s A Prairie Home Companion, Performance Today, WQXR’s McGraw Hill Young Artists’ Showcase in New York, and WGMS in Washington, D.C., among others. Ms. Osborne is a laureate of numerous international piano competitions, winning first place in the International Bartok- Kabalevsky- Prokofiev competition and first place at the National Division of the Music Teachers’ National Association Yamaha Competition. She was also awarded the Audience Prize at the Houston Symphony’s Ima Hogg Competition.

In her solo career, Ms. Osborne undertakes ambitious projects that reflect creativity in programming with the goal of bringing infrequently performed works to a mainstream audience. For example, her 2019 solo recital project “Stories Without Words”, featuring music that tells a story, juxtaposes audience favorites  with little-known gems by both current and past composers. She is also dedicated to including music written by women in her recital programs.

Ms. Osborne holds degrees in solo piano performance from Indiana University and Rice University, and a Doctorate of Musical Arts in piano performance from Yale University. She currently holds the position of Visiting Assistant Professor of Piano at Sam Houston State University.