May 29, 2020
The Knoxville Symphony Orchestra will broadcast a Merchant & Gould Concertmaster Series performance Friday, June 26, at 9 p.m. on East Tennessee PBS. The performance is available now digitally on the ETPBS streaming service.
The concert features KSO Concertmaster William Shaub and Concertmaster Series collaborator and pianist Kevin Class.
The program includes Stravinsky’s “Suite Italienne” for violin and piano, Mozart’s Sonata for violin and piano in E minor and selections from Gershwin’s “Porgy and Bess,” arranged by Jascha Heifetz, including “Summertime,” “Bess, You Is My Woman Now” and “It Ain’t Necessarily So.”
Knoxville Symphony Orchestra Concertmaster William Shaub
“I am honored to continue sharing KSO music with our wonderful audiences in Knoxville and throughout East Tennessee,” said KSO Concertmaster William Shaub. “This program featuring works of Stravinsky, Mozart and Gershwin is an ambitious recording project made possible by the remarkable joint efforts of East Tennessee PBS and the KSO. The Concertmaster Series broadcast is an incredible example of what collaborations among great art organizations can do, even in the most difficult of times.”
Recorded in the Tennessee Theatre, the performance features a “flipped” perspective to display a stunning backdrop of the Tennessee Theatre’s interior.
Call 865-291-3310 or visit knoxvillesymphony.com for more information.
About ETPBS
As a non-profit viewer-supported television station and PBS member station, East Tennessee PBS provides lifelong learning opportunities to more than 1 million viewers in East Tennessee, Southern Kentucky, Southwest Virginia and Western North Carolina. The station broadcasts non-violent, commercial-free children’s series; instructional programs; and primetime shows that educate, entertain, inform and inspire.
More information about East Tennessee PBS.
About William Shaub
Violinist William Shaub was appointed Concertmaster of the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra in May of 2017. Since his concerto debut with the Canton Symphony Orchestra at age 12 he has captivated audiences as a soloist, in recitals, and from the concertmaster chair. The winner of an inaugural Academy Fellowship with the New York Philharmonic and a graduate of the Juilliard School, he has been praised in the press as “a wonderful ambassador for music” (Cleveland Classical) and for performances “full of passion and energy, exquisitely rendered with refined details that escape one in recordings”. He made his recital debut in New York as one of ten “Exceptional Young Artists” at the 2013 Starling-DeLay Symposium at Juilliard.
William Shaub’s solo appearances include recent performances with the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra, the Canton Symphony Orchestra, the Suburban Symphony Orchestra, and in venues such as Carnegie Hall’s Weill Hall, Severance Hall in Cleveland, and Sanders Theatre at Harvard. He made his concerto debut with the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra in 2019 under the baton of conductor Mei-Ann Chen, performing Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto. In addition to performing as substitute with the New York Philharmonic, he has served as guest Leader of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (U.K.) and as concertmaster of festival orchestras, including Spoleto and the Music Academy of the West.
Full bio found here.
About Kevin Class
Born in Belgium, pianist and conductor Kevin Class studied at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels, as well as in the U.S and Canada. As a pianist, teachers have included Romeo Fracalanza, Ralph Votapek, Gyorgy Sebok and Daniel Blumenthal. In 1997, the Belgian government named Kevin a Fellow of the Flemish Community in recognition both of his performances of the complete Piano Sonatas of Mozart and Schubert, and for his contributions to the performance and promotion of contemporary music, with Jan-Marisse Huizing describing him as “an important ambassador for today’s composers.”
Kevin has recorded more than 15 CDs, including piano concerti by Brahms, Beethoven, Mozart and Schumann with the Stuttgart Symphony Orchestra, several albums as a collaborative pianist with saxophonists Timothy McAllister and James Romain, cellist Wesley Baldwin, violinists Francisco Caban and Juhi Kee, soprano Soo Yeon Kim and others. He has also recorded several albums of solo piano works by Chopin, Schumann, Liszt and Elliott Carter. Fanfare Magazine has described his playing as “exceptionally refined” and American Record Guide described his works as “provocative and impressive, simply impeccable.”
Full bio found here.
About the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra
Led by Music Director Aram Demirjian, the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra consists of 80 professional musicians and performs 300 programs throughout the region each season, reaching audiences of more than 200,000 people. The KSO performs in traditional venues such as the Tennessee Theatre, Bijou Theatre and Civic Auditorium, as well as non-traditional places like hospitals, schools, city parks and churches. For more information regarding the KSO, please visit knoxvillesymphony.com call 865-291-3310.
