Event details

• Sunday, Feb. 10, 2013, 7:30 p.m. to 9 p.m.
• Swarthout Recital Hall, Murphy Hall, 1530 Naismith Drive, Lawrence
• Cost: Free
• Age limit: All ages

The KU School of Music presents the next concert in its 2012-13 Faculty Virtuosi Series on Sunday, Febuary 10th at 7:30 pm in Swarthout Recital Hall, Murphy Hall. The faculty welcomes guest violinist Gerald Elias for this performance. The Faculty Virtuosi Series is a showcase of performances highlighting the talents of the School of Music faculty musicians. This event will feature works by Minoru Miki, Maurice Ravel, Joseph Bodin de Boismortier, Gioachino Rossini and Anton Reicha. The following faculty members and graduate students will perform: Joyce Castle, mezzo-soprano Shan-Ken Chien, violin Ed Laut, cello Mary-Elizabeth Thompson, flute Margaret Marco, oboe Robert Walzel, clarinet Eric Stomberg, bassoon Paul Stevens, horn Ji Hye Jung, percussion Luke Dull, percussion Von Hansen, percussion Nick Spradlin, percussion Mark Ferrell, piano Michael Bauer, harpsichord Guest violinist Gerald Elias joins faculty performers on Boismortier’s “Sonata II in G-dur” and Rossini’s “Sonata No. 2.” An accomplished musician, Elias has been a member of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and most recently, as associate concertmaster of the Utah Symphony. Additionally, he is the author of four mystery novels published by St. Martin’s Press. These will be available for purchase and signing by the author immediately following the performance. For more information about his career and books, visit: http://geraldelias.com. To learn more about the performing faculty members, visit: http://music.ku.edu/faculty/ The concert is free and open to the public. Please contact the KU School of Music at 785-864-3436 for more information. About Gerald Elias As a child growing up on Long Island, his dream was to play first base with the New York Yankees. Though he didn’t have the strongest arm in the world, he was a dependable fielder with an excellent on-base percentage. Being left-handed, first base was the perfect fit. Still waiting for that call from the Yankees, he decided in the meantime it was necessary to make a living. At the age of eight, he started playing violin. His teachers have included Ivan Galamian, David Cerone, Christopher Kimber and Joseph Silverstein. In 1969, Elias attended the Boston University Tanglewood Institute. That same year he was selected to participate in the very first New York String Seminar, led by Alexander Schneider. With soloists Isaac Stern and Jean Pierre Rampal, and with the quartet coaching of Mischa Schneider, this experience opened his eyes to a new world of ensemble playing. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree (cum laude) from Yale College simultaneously with a Master of Music from the Yale University School of Music in 1975. He was a member of the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s violin section for 13 years. Elias performed concertos as a soloist with the Boston Pops under Arthur Fiedler and John Williams. In 1977, Elias became associate concertmaster of the Utah Symphony. He joined the faculty of the University of Utah in 1989. He founded the Abramyan String Quartet in 1993. In 1997, he took a sabbatical from the Utah Symphony to spend time in Italy. He spent time composing and wrote his first book, Devil’s Trill. After many rewrites and finding an agent, the book (a murder mystery which takes place in the classical musical world) was published in August 2009. The next year, the next book in the series, Danse Macabre, was published. In 2011, he released his third novel, Death and the Maiden, and Death and Transfiguration followed in 2012. In the last decade, he has spent time teaching, conducting and performing in South America, especially in Peru and Ecuador. With the help of a Fulbright grant in 2008, he was guest professor of the National Conservatory in Lima, Peru. He retired from the Utah Symphony in May 2011. His relationship with the Tanglewood Institute and the Boston Symphony Orchestra continues to this day. He regularly plays with the Boston Symphony Orchestra at Tanglewood in the summers.