Joshua Bell, ASMF to perform Piazzolla’s ‘Four Seasons of Buenos Aires’

Published : May 28, 2018 - 16:55 Updated : May 28, 2018 - 17:05

Celebrated violinist Joshua Bell will conduct and perform with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields in Seoul on Thursday at the Seoul Arts Center, marking his first visit to Korea as the music director of the chamber orchestra and the second visit with the ASMF since 2010.

Together with the orchestra, which celebrates its 60th anniversary this year, Bell will perform a wide range of classical music, from Baroque to Romantic and contemporary.

Joshua Bell, violinist and the music director of the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields (Credia)

Bell and the ASMF will perform Bach’s Violin Concerto No. 1 in A minor, a piece that is included in the violinist’s second album with the Academy, the critically acclaimed “Bach.”

They will also perform Tchaikovsky’s Serenade for Strings in C major, Op. 48.

Barber‘s “Adagio for Strings” -- perhaps the most renowned modern work written in adagio style -- will be performed in the second half of the evening.

Following is Piazzolla’s “Four Seasons of Buenos Aires,” which Bell and the ASMF have been performing together since 2015. The piece was arranged by Leonid Desyatnikov for solo violin with string orchestra in 1999, on commission from violinist Gidon Kremer.

Appointed as the music director of the ASMF in 2011, the US-born violinist is only the second musician to hold the post, following the chamber music group’s founder, the late Sir Neville Marriner, who held the position from 1958 to 2011. Last year, Bell renewed his contract with the Academy, where he will now hold the post at least until 2020.

The Academy of St. Martin in the Fields embarked on its Asia tour on May 26 in Beijing. The Seoul performance will mark the last of the four scheduled concerts in Beijing, Shanghai, Taipei and Seoul.

By Shim Woo-hyun (ws@heraldcorp.com)