- Concert tickets start at $29 and are on sale now at dso.org
- Gala honors community philanthropists Linda Dresner and Ed Levy, with proceeds to support DSO’s commitment to transforming the lives of young people through music education
Detroit, (April 28, 2022) – The Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO) will be joined by Grammy Award-winning violinist Hilary Hahn at the tenth Heroes Gala and Benefit Concert on Saturday, June 18. The program conducted by Music Director Jader Bignamini will include Pablo de Sarasate’s Carmen Fantasy with Hahn, Gioachino Rossini’s Overture to Semiramide, Amilcare Ponchielli’s "Dance of the Hours" from La Gioconda, Camille Saint-Saëns’s "Bacchanale" from Samson and Delilah, and Jeronimo Gimenez’s Intermezzo from La Boda de Luis Alonso.
The Heroes Gala celebrates the remarkable people who impact the vision, values, and success of the organization, and this year will honor longtime DSO supporters and community philanthropists Linda Dresner and Ed Levy. Proceeds from the event support the DSO’s commitment to transforming the lives of young people through music education. Linda and Ed approach philanthropy from the heart, often in quiet ways, with a focus on impact. They have attended concerts for decades and have a passion for music. Their support has guaranteed artistic excellence, both on Orchestra Hall’s stage and in the community, while ensuring sustainability for the DSO for generations to come.
The event takes place at the Max M. and Marjorie S. Fisher Music Center (3711 Woodward Avenue, Detroit). The concert in Orchestra Hall will take place at 7 p.m., followed by a black-tie dinner for Gala guests.
To protect the health and well-being of our patrons, musicians, and staff, our safety policies include vaccine or test requirements for all guests and contactless e-ticketing. Visit dso.org/safetyplan for more information.
Concert only tickets are on sale now starting at $29 and can be purchased at dso.org, by calling 313.576.5111, or in-person at the DSO Box Office, open Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Please note: this event will not be webcast.
Gala patrons can learn about sponsorship opportunities and purchase tickets by contacting Signature Events Manager Ali Huber at 313.576.5449 or visiting dso.org/heroes.
-----
HILARY HAHN PERFORMS CARMEN FANTASY
Heroes Gala Concert
Saturday, June 18, 2022 at 7 p.m.
Orchestra Hall
Jader Bignamini, conductor
Hilary Hahn, violin
The remarkable Hilary Hahn takes the spotlight performing Pablo de Sarasate’s Carmen Fantasy based on notable themes from Georges Bizet's opera Carmen. Experience the cheerful passion of this violin fantasy along with other works by Rossini, Saint-Saëns, and more conducted by Music Director Jader Bignamini at the Heroes Gala concert. The 2022 DSO Heroes Gala honors philanthropists Linda Dresner and Ed Levy whose support has guaranteed artistic excellence, both on Orchestra Hall’s stage and in the community, for years to come.
GIOACHINO ROSSINI Overture to Semiramide
AMILCARE PONCHIELLI "Dance of the Hours" from La Gioconda
CAMILLE SAINT-SAËNS "Bacchanale" from Samson and Delilah
PABLO DE SARASATE Fantasy on Bizet's Carmen for Violin and Orchestra, Op. 25
JERONIMO GIMENEZ Intermezzo from La Boda de Luis Alonso
-----
About Hilary Hahn
Three-time Grammy Award-winning violinist Hilary Hahn melds expressive musicality and technical expertise with a diverse repertoire guided by artistic curiosity. Her barrier-breaking attitude towards classical music and her commitment to sharing her experiences with a global community have made her a fan favorite. Hahn is a prolific recording artist and commissioner of new works, and her 21 feature recordings have received every critical prize in the international press.
As Virtual Artist-in-Residence with the Philharmonic Society of Orange County, Hahn performed three programs this season, including the world premiere of her newly composed cadenza to Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 5. Hahn went on to perform the concerto with the Houston and Dallas Symphony Orchestras; in Dallas, she also delivered the keynote speech of the Second Annual Women in Classical Music Symposium. Hahn has also taken time this season to perform the Dvořák Violin Concerto, appearing with both the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France and Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra.
In March 2021, Deutsche Grammophon released Hahn’s 21st album, Paris, recorded with Mikko Franck and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France. Paris features the world premiere recording of Einojuhani Rautavaara’s Two Serenades, a piece written for Hahn and completed posthumously by Kalevi Aho, which Hahn premiered in 2019. The album also includes performances of Ernest Chausson’s Poème and Sergei Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 1, a long-time signature piece of Hahn’s.
A strong advocate for new music, Hahn has championed and commissioned works by a diverse array of contemporary composers. In the 2018-19 season, before her season-long sabbatical in 2019-20, she premiered two new works written for her: Two Serenades, and Lera Auerbach’s Sonata No. 4: Fractured Dreams. The season was bookended by another major release: her most recent solo commission, 6 Partitas by the late Antón García Abril. García Abril, Auerbach, and Rautavaara had been contributing composers for In 27 Pieces: the Hilary Hahn Encores, Hahn's Grammy Award-winning multi-year commissioning project to revitalize the duo encore genre.
Hahn has related to her fans naturally from the very beginning of her career. She has committed to signings after nearly every concert and maintains and shares a collection of the fan art she has received over the course of 20 years. An avid and early blogger, Hahn hosts on her website a variety of original writing dating back to 2002. Her “Postcards from the Road” feature, a series of personal updates from her travels around the world, evolved from an initial year-long postcard project that she began with a classroom of third graders. Her Bring Your Own Baby concerts, developed over recent residencies in Vienna, Seattle, Lyon, and Philadelphia, create opportunities for parents of infants to share their enjoyment of live classical music with their children in a nurturing, welcoming environment. Always free and offered on an infant-friendly schedule, they build on Hahn’s history of performances in unconventional venues such as community dance workshops, yoga studios, and knitting circles.
Hahn’s commitment to her fans extends to a long history of educational initiatives. In 2021, Hahn taught three masterclasses during a virtual residency with the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, two of which were open to the public. A former Suzuki student, she released new recordings of the first three books of the Suzuki Violin School in 2020, in partnership with the International Suzuki Association and Alfred Music. The recordings also appear on the teaching platform SmartMusic. In 2019, she released a book of sheet music for her encores project, In 27 Pieces: the Hilary Hahn Encores. The book includes her own fingerings and bowings, as well as performance notes for each of the commissioned works. That same year, she created a mini-video-masterclass series around 6 Partitas, and donated her $25,000 Glashütte Originals Festspielpreis to Project 440, a Philadelphia music-education nonprofit program that helps young people build essential life skills. Her Instagram-based practice initiative, #100daysofpractice, has helped to demystify the typically grueling and isolating practice process, transforming it into a community-oriented, social celebration of artistic development. Since creating the hashtag in 2017, Hahn has completed the project four times under her handle, @violincase; fellow performers and students have contributed more than 600,000 posts under the hashtag.
Hahn is a prolific and celebrated recording artist whose 21 feature albums on Decca, Deutsche Grammophon, and Sony have all opened in the top ten of the Billboard charts. In addition, she can be found on three DVDs, an award-winning recording for children, and various compilations. Three of Hahn’s albums—her 2003 Brahms and Stravinsky concerto disc, a 2008 pairing of the Schoenberg and Sibelius concerti, and her 2013 recording of In 27 Pieces: the Hilary Hahn Encores—have been awarded Grammys. Jennifer Higdon’s Violin Concerto, which was written for Hahn and which she recorded along with the Tchaikovsky concerto, went on to win the Pulitzer Prize. In 2017, she released a fan-oriented retrospective collection that featured new live material recorded with classic direct-to-disc technology and showcased art from her fans. Hahn is the subject of two documentaries by filmmaker Benedict Mirow: Hilary Hahn – A Portrait, released in 2006, and Hilary Hahn – Evolution of an Artist, which chronicles the past sixteen years of her career.
Hahn has also participated in several non-classical productions. She was featured in the Oscar-nominated soundtrack to The Village and has collaborated on two records by the alt-rock band ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead, on the album Grand Forks by Tom Brosseau, and on tour with folk-rock singer-songwriter Josh Ritter. In 2012, Hahn launched Silfra, a free-improv project with experimental prepared-pianist Hauschka, following an intensive period of development.
Hahn is the recipient of numerous awards and recognitions. In 2001, she was named “America’s Best Young Classical Musician” by Time magazine, and in 2010, she appeared on The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien. She also holds honorary doctorates from Middlebury College—where she spent four summers in the total-immersion German, French, and Japanese language programs—and Ball State University, where there are three scholarships in her name.
About Jader Biganmini
Jader Bignamini was introduced as the 18th music director of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra in January 2020, commencing with the 2020-2021 season. He kicked off his tenure as DSO Music Director with the launch of DSO Digital Concerts in September 2020, conducting works by Copland, Puccini, Tchaikovsky, and Saint-Georges. His infectious passion and artistic excellence set the tone for the season ahead, creating extraordinary music and establishing a close relationship with the orchestra. A jazz aficionado, he has immersed himself in Detroit’s rich jazz culture and the influences of American music.
A native of Crema, Italy, Jader studied at the Piacenza Music Conservatory and began his career as a musician (clarinet) with Orchestra Sinfonica La Verdi in Milan, later serving as the group’s resident conductor. Captivated by the symphonies of greats like Mahler and Tchaikovsky, Jader explored their complexity and power, puzzling out the role that each instrument played in creating a larger-than-life sound. When he conducted his first professional concert at the age of 28, it didn’t feel like a departure, but an arrival.
In the years since, Jader has conducted some of the world’s most acclaimed orchestras and opera companies in venues across the globe including working with Riccardo Chailly on concerts of Mahler’s Eighth Symphony in 2013 and his concert debut at La Scala in 2015 for the opening season of La Verdi Orchestra. Recent highlights include debuts with the Houston, Dallas, and Minnesota symphonies; Osaka Philharmonic and Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra in Tokyo; with the Metropolitan Opera, Vienna State Opera, and Dutch National Opera (Madama Butterfly); Bayerische Staatsoper (La Traviata); I Puritani in Montpellier for the Festival of Radio France; Traviata in Tokyo directed by Sofia Coppola; Andrea Chénier at New National Theatre in Tokyo; Rossini’s Stabat Mater at Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro, Italy; Rossini’s Petite messe solennelle at Teatro dell’Opera in Rome; return engagements with Oper Frankfurt (La forza del destino) and Santa Fe Opera (La Bohème); Manon Lescaut at the Bolshoi; Traviata, Madama Butterfly, and Turandot at Arena of Verona; Il Trovatore and Aida at Rome’s Teatro dell’Opera; Madama Butterfly, I Puritani, and Manon Lescaut at Teatro Massimo in Palermo; Simon Boccanegra and La Forza del Destino at the Verdi Festival in Parma; Ciro in Babilonia at Rossini Opera Festival; and La Bohème, Madama Butterfly, and Elisir d’amore at La Fenice in Venice.
When Jader leads an orchestra in symphonic repertoire, he conducts without a score, preferring to make direct eye contact with the musicians. He conducts from the heart, forging a profound connection with his musicians that shines through both onstage and off. He both embodies and exudes the excellence and enthusiasm that has long distinguished the DSO’s artistry.
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 organization. In January 2020, Italian conductor Jader Bignamini was named the DSO’s next music director to commence with the 2020-2021 season. Celebrated conductor, arranger, and trumpeter Jeff Tyzik is the orchestra’s Principal Pops Conductor, while Oscar-nominated trumpeter and composer Terence Blanchard holds the Fred A. 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 PVS Classical, PNC Pops, Paradise Jazz, and Young People’s Family Concert series. One of the world’s most acoustically perfect concert halls, Orchestra Hall celebrated 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 live radio broadcast of a concert and continues today with the groundbreaking Live from Orchestra Hall series of free webcasts, 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.