Conductor Jader Bignamini and violinist Augustin Hadelich perform with DSO January 24-26

- Program includes Paganini’s Violin Concerto and Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique

- January 25 concert will be webcast for free at dso.org/live and via Facebook Live

Detroit, (January 9, 2020) – The Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO) welcomes back conductor Jader Bignamini and violinist Augustin Hadelich to Orchestra Hall for the first Classical Series program of 2020. Bignamini thrilled audiences after stepping in for DSO music director laureate Leonard Slatkin on short notice to conduct concert performances of Puccini’s Turandot in June 2018 and had a return engagement in October 2019. Hadelich, a renowned German violinist, last performed with the DSO in March 2018 and was praised in a subsequent New Yorker profile.

The concerts take place Friday, January 24 at 10:45 a.m., Saturday, January 25 at 8 p.m., and Sunday, January 26 at 3 p.m. at Orchestra Hall, within Midtown Detroit’s Max M. and Marjorie S. Fisher Music Center.

The program includes Paganini’s virtuosic Violin Concerto No. 1 (with Hadelich as featured soloist) and Berlioz’s entrancing and vibrant Symphonie fantastique.

Watch Live around the world: the Saturday, January 25 concert will be webcast for free at dso.org/live and via Facebook Live, as part of the DSO’s groundbreaking Live from Orchestra Hall series. The series is presented by Ford Motor Company Fund and made possible by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

One hour prior to each evening performance, guests are invited to enjoy an informative onstage Concert Talk about the program. These lectures and discussions will be made available for later viewing on the DSO’s YouTube channel.

Thanks to a generous grant from the FCA Foundation, the charitable arm of North American automaker FCA US, the DSO welcomes military veterans, active military, and their families to access discounted tickets for the 10:45 a.m. performance on Friday, January 24. See below for more information about the ticket discount. The FCA Foundation and the DSO thank our veterans and active military members for their service.

Throughout the 2019-2020 season, the DSO will celebrate Orchestra Hall’s 100th anniversary with special programming and events, a commemorative book written by former Detroit Free Press music critic Mark Stryker, a documentary series produced by Detroit Public Television, a two-site exhibition created in collaboration with the Detroit Historical Society and Museum, and more. Learn more about the centennial at dso.org/centennial.

The DSO would like to thank the Honorable Avern Cohn and Lois Cohn, Bernard and Eleanor Robertson, Aaron and Carolynn Frankel, DTE Energy Foundation, Ford Motor Company Fund, and Varnum LLP for their leadership support of Orchestra Hall’s centennial, and all Centennial Club members who generously contributed.

The DSO Classical Series is generously sponsored by PVS Chemicals, Inc. The January 25 concert is additionally sponsored by Jaffe Raitt Heuer & Weiss.

About Orchestra Hall

Built for the DSO at the request of then-music director Ossip Gabrilowitsch during the summer of 1919, Orchestra Hall was designed by noted theater architect C. Howard Crane (who also designed Detroit’s Fox Theatre and the current Detroit Opera House) and is renowned for its historic beauty and perfect acoustics. After the hall’s opening on October 23, 1919, the DSO entered a twenty-year golden age, which included its Carnegie Hall debut, its first records for RCA Victor, and making history as the first orchestra to perform a live radio broadcast concert, on February 10, 1922, from Orchestra Hall. 

When the DSO left for the larger Masonic Auditorium in 1939, Orchestra Hall took on a new life as the Paradise Theatre from 1941–1951, serving as Detroit’s premier venue for jazz, blues, and R&B. The hall was then long-dormant and nearly demolished in 1970 to make way for a fast-food burger chain, before a group of musicians and civic leaders rallied to save it from the wrecking ball and raise money to restore it over the course of 20 years. The DSO returned to a refurbished Orchestra Hall in 1989 and expanded its footprint in 2003 with the opening of the Max M. and Marjorie S. Fisher Music Center.

About Jader Bignamini

Jader Bignamini is Resident Conductor of Orchestra Sinfonica la Verdi in Milan, following his appointment as Assistant Conductor in 2010 by Riccardo Chailly.

Highlights of Bignamini’s 2019-20 season include debuts with the Toronto, Houston, and Dallas symphonies; Minnesota Orchestra; Canadian Opera Company conducting Aida; and Bayerische Staatsoper conducting La Traviata; and a return engagement with Stadttheater Klagenfurt conducting Eugene Onegin. He continues to tour with soprano Anna Netrebko and tenor Yusif Eyvasov.

Bignamini’s 2018-19 season included debuts at the Vienna State Opera and Dutch National Opera conducting Madama Butterfly and a debut with the Milwaukee Symphony; return engagements with Oper Frankfurt conducting La forza del destino and Santa Fe Opera conducting La Bohème; La Traviata in Tokyo directed by Sofia Coppola; and return engagements with the Slovenian and Freiburg Philharmonic orchestras.

Other recent engagements include Madama Butterfly at the Metropolitan Opera and La Fenice; Manon Lescaut at the Bolshoi; Turandot at Teatro Filharmonica; Il Trovatore and Aida at Rome’s Teatro dell’Opera; La Bohème at the Municipal de São Paulo and La Fenice; L’Elisir d’Amore in Ancona; Tosca at the Comunale di Bologna; La Forza del Destino at the Verdi Festival in Parma; La Bohème, Cavalleria Rusticana, and L’Amor Brujo at Teatro Filarmonico di Verona. Concert engagements have included Maggio Musicale in Florence, the Festival della Valle d’Itria in Martina Franca, the MITO Festival conducting Berlioz’s Messe Solennelle, and the opening concert of the Orchestra Filharmonica del Teatro Comunale di Bologna conducting Carmina Burana.

Bignamini was born in Crema, Italy, and studied at the Piacenza Music Conservatory.

About Augustin Hadelich

Augustin Hadelich is celebrated for his technique, poetic sensitivity, and gorgeous tone. He has performed with every major American orchestra as well as an ever-growing number of ensembles in the UK, Europe, and Asia. He has also appeared at most of the world’s prominent music festivals, including the BBC Proms, Tanglewood, Blossom, Aspen, Bravo! Vail, Chautauqua, and others.

An active recitalist and chamber musician, Hadelich has appeared at Carnegie Hall, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, the Kennedy Center, the Louvre, and elsewhere, and his collaborators include Jeremy Denk, Kim Kashkashian, Cho-Liang Lin, Joyce Yang, Midori, and members of the Guarneri and Juilliard quartets. He is a co-founder and member of the H3 Trio, alongside pianist Martin Helmchen and cellist Marie-Elisabeth Hecker. Hadelich won a Grammy Award for his recording of Dutilleux’s Violin Concerto with the Seattle Symphony. His discography also includes music by Paganini, Tchaikovsky, Lalo, Mendelssohn, and others, with orchestras and artistic partners from around the world.

Hadelich has received an Avery Fisher Career Grant, a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship, Lincoln Center’s Martin E. Segal Award, the inaugural Warner Music Prize, and an honorary doctorate from the University of Exeter. Born in Italy to German parents, Hadelich studied with Joel Smirnoff at The Juilliard School. He plays the 1723 “Ex-Kiesewetter” Stradivari violin, on loan from Clement and Karen Arrison through the Stradivari Society of Chicago.

Ticket Information

Tickets for Hadelich Plays Paganini begin at $15 and can be purchased at dso.org, by calling (313) 576-5111, or in-person at the Max M. & Marjorie S. Fisher Music Center Box Office (3711 Woodward Ave., Detroit).

Groups of 10 or more can save up to 30% on the price of a single ticket for most DSO concerts. For more information, contact Group Sales Manager Jim Sabatella at (313) 576-5130 or jsabatella@dso.org.

Veterans, active military, and their families may use the code HEROES1920 to unlock $10 tickets for the 10:45 a.m. performance on Friday, January 24. The code can be used at dso.org or by calling the Box Office at (313) 576-5111.

Performance Details

Friday, January 24 at 10:45 a.m. EST
Saturday, January 25 at 8 p.m. EST
Sunday, January 26 at 3 p.m. EST

Orchestra Hall at the Max M. and Marjorie S. Fisher Music Center

Jader Bignamini, conductor
Augustin Hadelich, violin

PAGANINI: Violin Concerto No. 1 in D Major, Op. 6 (Augustin Hadelich, violin)

BERLIOZ: Symphonie fantastique

About the DSO

The most accessible orchestra on the planet, the acclaimed Detroit Symphony Orchestra is known for trailblazing performances, collaborations with the world’s foremost musical artists, and a deep connection to its city. As a community-supported orchestra, generous giving by individuals and institutions at all levels drives the continued success and growth of the institution. Conductor Leonard Slatkin, who recently concluded an acclaimed decade-long tenure at the helm, now serves as the DSO’s Music Director Laureate, endowed by the Kresge Foundation. Celebrated conductor, arranger, and trumpeter Jeff Tyzik is the orchestra’s Principal Pops Conductor, while the outstanding trumpeter and composer Terence Blanchard holds the Fred A. and Barbara M. Erb Jazz Creative Director Chair. Making its home at historic Orchestra Hall within the Max M. and Marjorie S. Fisher Music Center, the DSO offers a performance schedule that features Classical, PNC Pops, Paradise Jazz, and Young People’s Family Concert series. One of America’s most acoustically perfect concert halls, Orchestra Hall will celebrate its centennial in 2019-2020. In addition, the DSO presents the William Davidson Neighborhood Concert Series in seven metro area venues, as well as a robust schedule of eclectic multi-genre performances in its mid-size venue The Cube, constructed and curated with support from Peter D. & Julie F. Cummings. A dedication to broadcast innovation began in 1922, when the DSO became the first orchestra in the world to present a radio broadcast and continues today with the free Live from Orchestra Hall webcast series, which also reaches tens of thousands of children with the Classroom Edition expansion. With growing attendance and unwavering philanthropic support from the people of Detroit, the DSO actively pursues a mission to embrace and inspire individuals, families, and communities through unsurpassed musical experiences.