Jaap van Zweden was named the Dallas Symphony Orchestra's music director in February of last year; he'll finally assume the position next month. Preceding the handing over of the baton, the Julliard-trained violinist and prolific recording artist will be the featured artist for the 2008 Dallas Symphony Orchestra's Opening Gala next month, which, notes today's media release, will be "his last public concert on violin." Actually, it says, "this event will be the first and last time Dallas’ audience will have the opportunity to hear Jaap perform violin before he embarks as leader of the acclaimed Dallas Symphony Orchestra."
So, yeah, it's a very big deal for those of the classical persuasion. And, appropriately, it'll be a full-throttle affair on September 10, with a cocktail reception, the concert, a dinner and an after-party at the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center. Only, it won't be cheap: Individual tickets are going for $1,000; tables start at $10,000. Apparently, as the Meyerson holds up to 2,062 concertgoers, the DSO will raise his entire salary in one night. The complete media release is after the jump. --Robert Wilonsky
RARE VIOLIN PERFORMANCE BY MUSIC DIRECTOR JAAP VAN ZWEDEN
2008 DALLAS SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA AT&T OPENING GALA
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Dallas, Texas – August 19, 2008 – The Dallas Symphony Orchestra proudly announces this year’s featured artist for the 2008 Dallas Symphony Orchestra AT&T Opening Gala: Music Director Jaap van Zweden, playing the violin and conducting the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. The premier event, themed Vienna 1900, will be hosted by several of Dallas’ most passionate supporters of the arts including host committee members Gina and Scott Ginsburg, Krickett and Randall Goss, Cece Smith and Ford Lacy, and Becky and Brad Todd. The Opening Gala will be held on Wednesday, September 10 starting at 6:00 p.m. at the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center located at 2301 Flora Street. Those interested in attending are encouraged to purchase tickets early. Individual tickets start at $1,000, tables start at $10,000 and sponsorship opportunities are still available. Gala tickets include the pre-concert reception, concert, dinner and after-dinner cocktails. For ticket information, call 214.871.4065 or email [email protected].
The Opening Gala precedes Jaap’s launch as the DSO’s new music director, and in light of Maestro Jaap’s commitment to conducting, he has proclaimed this to be his last public concert on violin. Jaap’s expertise playing the violin is legendary. He attended the Juilliard School to study violin and subsequently was named the youngest concertmaster (at age 19) of the world-renowned Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam. This event will be the first and last time Dallas’ audience will have the opportunity to hear Jaap perform violin before he embarks as leader of the acclaimed Dallas Symphony Orchestra. Maestro Jaap’s violin performances include Beethoven’s Romance #1 for Violin and Orchestra and Bach’s Concerto for Two Violins and Orchestra in D Minor, performed with DSO Concertmaster Emanuel Borok. Jaap also leads the DSO in the emotionally powerful Symphony No. 5 by Gustav Mahler. The evening will continue with a luxurious dinner; Dallas’ own party planner extraordinaire Todd Fiscus will work his magic to transport the lobby into a fantastic Art Nouveau era where guests will make their way after the concert to enjoy a sumptuous seated dinner catered by Culinaire International. As special dinner entertainment, the world renowned Roby Lakatos gypsy band will serenade guests, then will perform a repertoire tailored just for the Gala ... one that just might coax Jaap for an encore violin performance! Finish the evening with Viennese coffee, pastries and cocktails at an exclusive after-dinner coffee lounge and bar as only Todd Fiscus can design it!
The theme, Vienna 1900, deserves a brief description for its moving inspiration. In 1901, while Mahler was music director of the Vienna Court Opera – one of the most coveted positions in the world of music – he met the lovely young music student Alma Schindler who, shortly after their meeting, became his wife. At this time, he was also writing his Fifth Symphony. This period of adoration and romance in one of the most beautiful cities in the world will be rediscovered at the Gala through the talent of event designer Todd Fiscus.
The Dallas Symphony Orchestra AT&T Gala is the DSO’s largest fundraising event of the year. An amazing array of performers has graced the renowned Meyerson stage including Renee Fleming, Izthak Perlman, Yo-Yo Ma and Joshua Bell; and last year’s event highlighted Grammy Award-winning jazz songstress Diana Krall. 2008 marks AT&T’s eighth consecutive year of support for the Dallas Symphony Orchestra AT&T Gala, which benefits the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and its many programs including the classical and pops concerts, adult and youth education, and community outreach initiatives.
MARK YOUR CALENDARS
2008 Dallas Symphony Orchestra AT&T Opening Gala Featuring DSO Music Director Jaap van Zweden
Presented by the Dallas Symphony Association
Host Committee
Gina and Scott Ginsburg Krickett and Randall Goss Cece and Ford Lacy Becky and Brad Todd
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
6:00 p.m. – cocktail reception 7:00 p.m. – concert 9:00 p.m. – dinner 10:30 p.m. – after-party
TICKET INFORMATION
Purchase tickets early as tables are selling quickly. Tickets include the pre-concert reception, concert, dinner and dancing. Individual tickets start at $1,000 and tables start at $10,000. Call 214-871-4065 or e-mail [email protected].
MORE INFORMATION All programs and artists subject to change. All concerts are presented by the Dallas Symphony Association. The concerts are supported in part by the City of Dallas.
ABOUT JAAP VAN ZWEDEN
Following his appointment as music director of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra in February of 2007, Jaap van Zweden steps into the role as the DSO’s music director with the 2008-2009 season. His other titled positions include music director of the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra and Kamer Filharmonie (2005-2013), and principal conductor of the Royal Flemish Philharmonic Orchestra of Belgium (2008-2011).
Having joined the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra as concertmaster at age 19, van Zweden spent the next sixteen years being inspired and mentored by Solti, Haitink, Giulini, Harnoncourt and Bernstein. As a matter of fact, it was Bernstein who pronounced that he was a born conductor and should pursue it. With this encouragement, van Zweden began studying conducting in the Netherlands and performed as violinist and conductor with several orchestras between 1994-1997.
In 1997, Jaap van Zweden made his decision to conduct full time and was named the chief conductor of the Netherlands Symphony Orchestra where he remained until 2003. In 2000, he added the music directorship of the Residentie Orchestra of The Hague to his credits, a post he held until 2005.
Since 2001, he has guest conducted with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, London Philharmonic and City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestras, St. Petersburg Philharmonic, Orchestre National de France, Munich Philharmonic, Sydney and Melbourne Symphony Orchestras, Hong Kong Philharmonic and Tokyo Philharmonic, among others.
Apart from an extensive symphonic repertoire, opera also plays an important part in van Zweden’s career. In May, 2009, van Zweden will conduct the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and Chorus in Madama Butterfly, the complete opera in concert. Also a prolific recording artist, Jaap van Zweden has recorded all of the Beethoven symphonies and is in the process of recording all of the Bruckner symphonies.
Born in 1960 in the Netherlands, Jaap van Zweden began his violin studies at the Amsterdam Conservatory before entering The Juilliard School in New York at age 16, as a student of Dorothy DeLay, and supported his way through school by winning various violin competitions. He was married in 1983, and he and his wife Aaltje have four children ages 22 to 12.
The van Zwedens are very committed to bringing awareness and acceptance to the cause of autism, and in the Netherlands have established the Papageno Foundation devoted to bringing music therapy into the homes of autistic children.
ABOUT THE 2008 HOST COMMITTEE
Gina Ginsburg is an active mom and community fundraiser. An avid lover of the arts, she is active in many charitable and civic organizations including the Junior League of Dallas, Élan Circle of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra League, the Women’s Board of the Dallas Opera and Women’s Board of the Arboretum. Mrs. Ginsburg also serves on several boards around town, including the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Heroes for Children, and is on the President’s Advisory Council for the Dallas Center for Performing Arts and the Board of Directors of the Dallas Center for Performing Arts’ Brinker International Forum. Mrs. Ginsburg is a magna cum laude alumna of Southern Methodist University, and in her spare time enjoys traveling the world, relaxing in Colorado, working out, playing golf and flying small jets.
Scott Ginsburg is a former radio mogul who founded Boardwalk Auto Group. Since 1999, Boardwalk Auto Group has expanded to include seven car dealerships including Ferrari, Maserati, Lamborghini, Porsche, Audi and two Volkswagen dealerships. Mr. Ginsburg is an alumni of George Washington University, as well as the Georgetown University School of Law where he is the founder of the Georgetown University Law School fitness center/clock tower and board of visitors. An active community leader, Mr. Ginsburg serves on the advisory board for AFI Dallas; board of governors for the Dallas Symphony Orchestra; and is a supporter of the Dallas Arboretum – Ginsburg Plaza – and Dallas Center for the Performing Arts. Currently Mr. Ginsburg also serves as chairman and CEO of DG Fastchannel, a media services company specializing in the electronic delivery of advertisements. Mr. Ginsburg has three children and another on the way, and enjoys politics, golf, travel and chasing his one-year-old around the house.
Krickett Goss is vice president of community affairs with U.S. Risk Insurance Group, Inc. She is also a former model and has formed and run several successful publishing businesses. Mrs. Goss is involved in numerous civic organizations including the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Genesis Women’s Shelter, Promise House, Texas Horse Park and DIFFA, among others. In 2007, Mrs. Goss drilled water wells in Banda, Rwanda for a village of 5,000 people and assisted with micro-financing in Rusinga, Kenya. In 2006, she co-chaired the Dallas Symphony Orchestra AT&T Gala alongside her husband, Randall Goss. She enjoys traveling, reading and charitable work.
Texas native Randall Goss is chairman and CEO of U.S. Risk Insurance Group, Inc., which is the largest independently-owned MGA in the United States with over 40 offices throughout the U.S. and one in the U.K. With over 300 employees, the company accepts business from several thousand independent agents. Mr. Goss also serves as a director of several companies in which he or U.S. Risk has a financial interest. In addition, Mr. Goss serves in leadership positions for several associations including the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, SMU Athletic Forum & Doak Walker Annual Award, Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, Dallas Summer Musicals and the Dallas Police Association, among others. He graduated cum laude in 1976 from Southern Methodist University with a Bachelor of Business Administration. He has three children and enjoys golf, skiing and scuba diving.
Cece Smith Lacy is the retired co-founder and managing general partner of Phillips-Smith-Machens Venture Partners of Dallas, a group of venture capital funds which invested in retail and consumer businesses. Ms. Lacy has been a director of many retailers, including Brinker International, Pier 1 Imports and Michaels Stores. She also served as a director and as chairman of the board of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. Ms. Lacy is on the Dallas Symphony Board of Governors and recently co-chaired (with her husband Ford) the Andrew Litton Farewell Celebration and the Jaap van Zweden Welcome Celebration for the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. Ms. Lacy is a magna cum laude graduate of the University of Michigan.
Ford Lacy was a corporate lawyer in the Dallas office of Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, L.L.P., a large international law firm, for 31 years prior to his retirement at the end of 1999. Mr. Lacy’s legal career was principally focused on mergers and acquisitions and private equity investing. Mr. Lacy now devotes most of his time to pursuing his interests, which include art, music, history, literature, digital photography, travel and the stock market. Mr. Lacy is a graduate of Baylor University and Harvard Law School and has been involved in numerous community activities including serving as a co-founder of a medical research support affiliate for the UT Southwestern Medical Center. He most recently served as a board member of the Visiting Nurse Association of Texas for seven years and as its Vice-Chairman for one year and co-chaired (with his wife Cece) the Andrew Litton Farewell Celebration and the Jaap van Zweden Welcome Celebration for the Dallas Symphony Orchestra.
Becky Todd, since retiring from the Private Bank of Chase, Dallas, in 2000, has focused on tutoring children, helping friends and volunteering. She delivers Meals on Wheels, coordinates her church's food ministry to the Austin Street Shelter, and serves on the boards of the Greater Dallas Youth Orchestra as VP at Large, Friends of WRR and Dallas Symphony Orchestra League. She has served her church in numerous capacities including vestryman and stewardship chairman. She also chairs the DSO Stradivarius Patron Donor Relations Committee. She is a loyal Southern Methodist University alumni and enjoys live performances of the DSO, the arts and good conversation.
Brad Todd has served as Principal of Brand Management at The Richards Group since 1983. Previously, he worked in marketing at Frito-Lay for nine years and rose through the brand chairs to director of new product marketing. He also served as market development director for the international division, working in Japan, Taiwan, Australia and Canada. Since his arrival at The Richards Group, Mr. Todd has played a major role in developing account services, strategic planning and media functions while also helping land many major accounts, such as American Greetings, Chick-fil-A, The Dallas Morning News, H-E-B Grocery, Motel 6, Quik Trip and Wawa convenience stores and Reliant Energy, among others. Mr. Todd received a B.S. with the highest honors from the University of Florida and graduated at the top of his class in Northwestern University’s Advertising Management Program. Locally, he served as Chairman of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra Board of Governors in 96-98 and is a 25-year board member of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Todd is also an advisory board member with Booker T. Washington School for Performing and Visual Arts, the Greater Dallas Youth Orchestra, and the SMU Meadows School of the Arts, where he has also taught marketing and served as chairman of its Advisory Board.
