Joe Illick. Courtesy/Babak Dowlatshahi
Augustin Hadelich. Courtesy/Suxiao YangLPAC News:
SANTA FE — The Lensic proudly presents conductor Joe Illick and the New Year’s Eve Orchestra in a Dec. 31 concert featuring world-renowned violinist Augustin Hadelich, soprano Adelaide Boedecker, and violinist Phoenix Avalon.
New Year’s Eve at The Lensic has become a Santa Fe holiday tradition. Come bid farewell to 2019 with longtime Santa Fean Joe Illick, music director and principal conductor of the Fort Worth Opera, leading an orchestra created for this event that includes top musicians from New Mexico and beyond.
Augustin Hadelich will perform as the soloist on Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto in D. Major, Op. 35. The program also includes:
- Mozart’s Exsultate, jubilate, K. 165, featuring soprano Adelaide Boedecker;
- Sarasate’s Zigeunerweisen (“Gypsy Airs”), Op. 20, featuring violin soloist Phoenix Avalon;
- Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6 in F Major, Opus 68 (“Pastoral”); and
- Beethoven’s Egmont Overture (abridged), Op. 84.
Tickets: 1 p.m. (family show): $20, general seating; 5 p.m. concert: $30-$80, reserved seating. Available online at Lensic.org, by phone at 505.988.1234, and in person at The Lensic box office.
Augustin Hadelich is one of the great violinists of our time. A 2016 Grammy winner and Musical America’s 2018 Instrumentalist of the Year, he is consistently cited around the world for his phenomenal technique, soulful approach, and insightful interpretations. Hadelich will appear with over 25 North American orchestras in the 2019/2020 season, including the symphony orchestras of Boston, Cleveland, New York, Montréal, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Minnesota, Houston, Oregon, Seattle, Toronto, and numerous others. Born in Italy, the son of German parents, Hadelich is now an American citizen. He holds a diploma from the Juilliard School, where he was a student of Joel Smirnoff. After winning the Gold Medal at the 2006 International Violin Competition of Indianapolis, concerto and recital appearances on many of the world’s top stages quickly followed, including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Chicago’s Symphony Hall, the Kennedy Center, Wigmore Hall/London, and the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. Other distinctions include an Avery Fisher Career Grant (2009); a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship in the UK (2011); the inaugural Warner Music Prize (2015); as well as an honorary doctorate from the University of Exeter in the UK (2017).
Adelaide Boedecker, soprano, is a former resident artist with the Pittsburgh Opera and completed two summers as an apprentice artist with the Santa Fe Opera and the Merola Opera Program. She has performed with Sarasota Opera, Opera Columbus, Opera Birmingham, Opera Las Vegas, El Paso Opera, and more. Boedecker is the winner of the Santa Fe Opera Anna Case MacKay Award, winner of the National Opera Association competition, scholarship division, and the second-place winner of the American Prize competition for professional singers. She received her collegiate training at the University of Florida and the Eastman School of Music.
Phoenix Avalon, violinist, grew up in Santa Fe and is now a student of Itzhak Perlman and Li Lin at the Juilliard School. He recently received worldwide attention as first-prize winner (senior category) at the 2019 Spohr International Violin Competition in Weimar, Germany. He has also won top prizes at the Johansen and Fischoff International String Competitions. Avalon has performed with the New Mexico Philharmonic, the Boulder Symphony, and the Arapahoe Symphony and on Performance Today and From the Top. He has also given a TED talk on being a classical violinist. Avalon is a former member of the EPIK Artist Program of Performance Santa Fe.
Joe Illick is the artistic director of the Fort Worth Opera, were he has served seventeen seasons as music director and principal conductor. An accomplished pianist, conductor, and composer, Illick regularly works with operas and orchestras across the United States and Europe. He has served as artistic director of the Lake George Opera Festival, interim artistic director of the Greater Miami Opera, music director of the Pittsburgh Opera Theater, and executive artistic director of Performance Santa Fe.