Guest Artists: Colin Jacobsen-Violin, Eric Jacobsen-Cello

DOUBLE CONCERTO in A Minor, Op. 102 - Brahms (Eric & Colin)
DANCES OF GALANTA - Kodaly
PIANO QUARTET in G Minor, Op. 25 - Brahms, Arr. Schoenberg
TZIGANNE - Ravel (Colin Jacobsen)
HUNGARIAN RHAPSODY, Op. 68 - Popper (Eric Jacobsen)
HUNGARIAN DANCES– Brahms

After working early in his career with a wild-eyed gypsy violinist, Brahms never lost his fascination with the wandering Roma and the untamed side of his soul. Hear the fascinating and bewitching gypsy melodies from around the globe played by young rising stars from the Silk Road and Knight’s ensembles, brothers Colin and Eric Jacobsen.

Colin Jacobsen, violin

Violinist Colin Jacobsen, a 2003 Avery Fisher Career Grant recipient, first played to critical acclaim at the age of fourteen, collaborating with Kurt Masur and the New York Philharmonic in a performance that was hailed by The New York Times:
”Jacobsen was the impressively accomplished soloist in Bruch's Scottish Fantasy, sounding as if he were born to the instrument and its sweet, lyrical possibilities.”

In May of 2006, he returned to the New York Philharmonic in a performance of Brahms' Double Concerto with cellist Yo-Yo Ma, David Zinman conducting.

Colin Jacobsen began his violin studies at the age of four with Doris Rothenberg and continued with Louise Behrend at the School for Strings and, later, at The Juilliard School Pre-College Division, where he won the school-wide concerto competition. He was also the recipient of the Grand Prize from both the New York State and National American String
Teachers Association Competitions. Mr. Jacobsen studied with Josef Gingold for two summers, and graduated in 1999 from The Juilliard School, where he worked with Robert Mann. During the 2000-2001 season, he continued his studies with Vera Beths at the Royal Conservatory of the Hague.

Over the past few years, Colin Jacobsen has entered into a wide range of musical activities. In addition to his appearances with the New York Philharmonic, Mr. Jacobsen has been guest soloist with the symphony orchestras of Albany, Charlotte, Chicago, Eugene, Rhode Island, Nashville, Charleston, the Metamorphosen Chamber Orchestra, Santa Fe Pro Musica and the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra. At the School for Strings 25th anniversary celebration at Carnegie Hall, Mr. Jacobsen gave the world premiere of Ellen Taafe Zwillich's Partita for Violin and String Orchestra. In an unusual concerto collaboration, he recently premiered a concerto by Kevin Beavers based on Pulitzer- Prize -winning author William Kennedy's novel, Roscoe with the author narrating. Along with his brother, the cellist Eric Jacobsen, he founded the Knights, a flexible chamber orchestra that has played at such diverse events and venues as the Beethoven Festival at the Planting Fields Arboretum, the
MATA contemporary music festival, Tonic, and Bargemusic.

As a touring member of Yo-Yo Ma's Silk Road Ensemble, Mr. Jacobsen has collaborated with musicians from Asia and the Middle East including the kemanche virtuoso Kayhan Kalhor and the great Azerbaijani singer, Alim Qasimov. The group has recorded for the Sony Classical label and appeared on the Late Show with David Letterman. Mr. Jacobsen recently
arranged an ancient Persian song for the Ensemble, entitled Ascending Bird and is working on other compositions for the group.  He has toured China with Tan Dun performing with the composer his Water Passion based on St. Matthew. Mr. Jacobsen has also enjoyed cross-disciplinary explorations with several dance companies, including the New York City Ballet, Mark Morris Dance Group, and the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company. In May of 2005, he wrote and performed the music for Spiral Songs; a collaboration with C. Eule Dance.

Mr. Jacobsen is a member of Brooklyn Rider; a string quartet that is comprised of violinist Jonathan Gandelsman, violist Nicholas Cords and cellist Eric Jacobsen. In the summer of 2006, the members of Brooklyn Rider collectively helped to found the Stillwater Music Festival in Minnesota. Other summer performances have taken him to the Banff Centre for the Arts, Bravo! Colorado Music Festival, Caramoor International Music Festival, Charlottesville Chamber Music Festival,  Marlboro Music Festival, Mostly Mozart Festival, the Moritzburg Festival, Ravinia Festival, Salzburg Festival and in Taiwan's National Concert Hall.

Mr. Jacobsen performs regularly with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, at Bargemusic, and is a member of the Metropolitan Museum Artists in Concert. He has performed in chamber music settings with musicians such as Joshua Bell, Mark O'Connor, Phillip Glass, Steven Isserlis and Jan Vogler. As the Young Artist in Residence for NPR's
Performance Today, he curated a weeks' programming and performed live for listeners across the country. Mr. Jacobsen has also been a resident performer on WQXR Radio's weekly On A-I-R (Artists-in-Radio) Series.

Colin Jacobsen plays a Guarneri violin crafted in 1696

Eric Jacobsen, cello

In the fall of 2003, cellist, Eric Jacobsen appeared with Renee Fleming at the opening of Zankel Hall, at Carnegie Hall and on the Late Show with David Letterman.

Mr. Jacobsen is a regular presenter and performer at Bargemusic, often working with Mark Peskanov and Steven Beck. He has recently been appointed curator and musical director of the 92nd street Y’s Makor Center for Classical Café. Mr. Jacobsen has appeared as soloist with the Chamber Soloists of Austin in Texas , the Riverside Orchestra, the New Hampshire Music Festival Orchestra, the Greenwich Village Orchestra and the Lake George Chamber Orchestra. He has been heard on NPR programs such as ‘Sound Check’ and ‘Performance Today’, where he performed in four live chamber music concerts this November. Before his graduation, Mr. Jacobsen performed a tour of the northeast with Dutch violinist Vera Beths.

In a wonderful collision of cultures, Mr. Jacobsen has worked with Yo Yo Ma’s Silk Road Project. Last year he traveled to Japan where the ensemble had residencies in Japan’s National Museums in Nara and Fukuoka and in early 2007 he traveled to Baku, Azerbaijan. Mr. Jacobsen has also collaborated at The Tenri Cultural Institute and The Angel Orensanz Foundation in performances with musicians from Armenia and Iran; Gevorg Dabaghyan on the Duduk, and kemancheh player, Kayhan Kalhor.

Mr. Jacobsen organizes the chamber ensemble, The Knights, which performs as a chamber orchestra and smaller ensembles. The Knights recently presented a series of concerts at New York 's Bargemusic, in collaboration with flutist Paula Robison. Working with Ms. Robison, Mr. Jacobsen kicked off a Sol Lewitt exhibit at the Gardner Museum in Boston, performing the Mozart D major flute quartet in a room designed around that piece. As a conductor, Mr. Jacobsen most recently led an all Mozart program at the Tilles Center. This coming June he will lead an ensemble in Beethoven’s fourth symphony and third Piano Concerto at a Beethoven festival in New York and at a fundraiser for the Leukemia Society.

Mr. Jacobsen has studied at The School for Strings, and The Juilliard School, where he received his Bachelor of Music, under the guidance of David Soyer, and Shapiro.

He has spent summers, in Salzburg , Austria with Julius Berger, Villars , Switzerland with Ardyth Alton and with Harvey Shapiro in Engelberg , Switzerland and Florence , Italy.

Mr. Jacobsen plays a Bernardus Calcanius cello crafted in 1744.

This concert is sponsored in full by KATOLIGHT CORPORATION
with JONES PAGE JACOBSON FAMILY FOUNDATION