Joshua Brown, violin [] Pro Musica: San Miguel de Allende

For the first time ever Pro Musica presents a summer season of live classical music  so you can once again listen to world class performers in person after the long  interruption caused by the worst of the pandemic.  These concerts will be inside our home venue of St. Paul’s church with no more than 50% capacity, socially distanced seating and Covid hygiene protocols.  After a sold out opening concert on 24 July, our second concert will be on Sunday, August 8 at 5 pm and will feature the explosive talent of  21 year old violinist Joshua Brown.  Praised for his unique musical voice, Joshua has already found success in performances and competitions worldwide.

Clevelandclassical wrote this about his debut with the Cleveland Orchestra:  “Had he played from behind a curtain, you wouldn’t have believed that Joshua Brown was only 15…brilliantly played and expertly paced, Brown was spellbinding throughout his entire time on stage.”  Two years later the Chicago Classical Review said:  “…his lithe playing betrays a musical maturity beyond his 17 years…the young man played with great poise and a silken tone…and is clearly someone to watch in years to come.”

At the age of 19, Joshua swept the board at the International Mozart Violin Competition in Augsburg, Germany, securing the First Prize, the “Mozart” Prize, the Audience Award, the Chairman of the Jury Special Prize, the Kronberg Academy Special Prize, and the CD Production Special Prize!.  What a haul!!   Since then Joshua has performed at concert halls world wide, including the Kennedy Center in Washington DC, Carnegie Hall in New York City, Arnold Katz State Concert Hall in Novosibirsk, Russia and the Stiftung Mozarteum in Salzburg

Now 21, Joshua is already on the A list of violinists.  As a mark of his prodigious talent the Stradivari Society of Chicago has loaned him a 1679 Pietro Guarneri violin from Cremona.  It will be a real thrill to hear this magnificent instrument in the perfect acoustic of St. Paul’s.  The centerpiece of the concert will be Beethoven’s magisterial Violin Sonata No. 9, the Kreutzer, composed in 1803, one of the most famous works ever written for violin and piano.  It’s also notable for its technical difficulty, its unusual length of around 40 minutes, and emotional scope.

The other large scale work in the program will be Janáček’s Violin Sonata of 1914.  The composer’s chamber music is as pungently characterized as his operas, and always requires a dramatic approach. The Violin Sonata is no exception and was inspired by Janáček looking forward to the arrival of Russian forces at the start of the First World War.  He said of it:  ” I could just about hear sound of the steel clashing in my troubled head…!”

The program will conclude with Franz Waxman’s Carmen Fantasy, a virtuoso showpiece from his score to the 1946 movie “Humoresque”, nominated for an Academy Award for Best Music. The music, based on themes from opera, was played by a young Isaac Stern, and his hands can be seen in the close-up shots from the movie. The program also includes Tartini’s “Devil’s Trill Sonata” and Kreisler’s Liebeslied and Liebesfreud

The first concert of the summer season was sold out days before it took place so I advise you to book as soon as possible, though our web site. Tickets for the concert are $400 and $600 pesos donation each. Here’s a link to the web site: www.promusicasma.org/tickets

Sincerely,
Michael Pearl, President, Pro Musica

Our Patrons’ and Members’ are the lifeblood of Pro Musica.  Subscribe from as little as US$100 a year and make our world class season of concerts and opera possible, as well as funding our extensive education outreach programs.  In return we provide benefits for you which are second to none. These include an Artists Supper/Cocktail after nearly every concert and, starting at US$500 per season, you have reserved and named seats for every concert.   With the ever increasing costs of artists fees, and to provide an efficient customer service process, we need new members, and existing members  to upgrade, to maintain the quality of our concerts and the concert going experience.