Guest soloist Daniel Mason, violinist
Each concert Symphony of the Mountains performs during the 2006-2007 Concert Season has a theme of celebration in honor of their 60th Year Celebration. The fourth concert in the Eastman Chemical Company Concert Series, Gems of Classical Music will celebrate the music of Mozart, Mendelssohn, and Schubert.
The concert on Jan. 20 is at 8 p.m. and will be at the Eastman Employee Center in Kingsport. Join Symphony of the Mountains Music Director-Conductor Cornelia Kodkani-Laemmli and guest soloist Daniel Mason before the concert at 7 p.m. in the auditorium for Preludes, a free informative discussion that provides insights into the musical program to be performed.
Mason, a violinist, will replace Minghuan Xu who was scheduled to be the guest soloist with the symphony. "Unfortunately Minghuan Xu is very ill and had to cancel the January performance. I decided to ask Daniel Mason because he is a wonderful musician as well as a wonderful person. He believes in what he does. When I called him and told him about our situation with the guest artist's cancellation, he made some schedule readjustments and said he would be here. I am so very happy that on such short notice we were able to get an artist of that high quality to play with us," Kodkani explained.
Mason has performed throughout the United States and Europe, gaining wide recognition both as a soloist and as a chamber musician. He is currently in his twentieth year as Professor of Violin and Head of the String Department at the University of Kentucky. Mason directs the University of Kentucky String Project, for which he received a $100,000 grant from the American String Teachers Association. The Project trains string teachers while providing affordable instruction to more than 100 area children. He is also concertmaster of and frequent soloist with the Lexington Philharmonic Orchestra.
When time permits, Mason heads for the mountains for excursions such as a recent traverse of the entire Sierra Nevada range in California, including the summit of Mt. Whitney. An enthusiastic advocate of recent music, Mason has recorded a CD of chamber music by noted American composer Joel Hoffman released by Gasparo Records.
