The University of Virginia Department of Music presents a piano recital by acclaimed pianist and conductor Jonathan Shames on Tuesday, September 15, at 8:00 p.m. in Old Cabell Hall. The performance is free and open to the public.
The program will be released closer to the performance date.
Jonathan Shames is Director of Orchestral Studies, Music Director and Conductor of the OU Symphony, and Artistic Director and Conductor of OU Opera Theater. A distinguished conductor and pianist, he has previously served as music director of the Wyoming Symphony, the Olympia Symphony, and the Seattle Youth Symphony Orchestras and Marrowstone Music Festival. Before joining the University of Oklahoma, he was Associate Director of Orchestras at the University of Michigan, where he conducted the University Philharmonia and Contemporary Directions Ensemble.
As a conductor, Shames has led orchestras and opera companies throughout the United States and abroad, including performances with the Opera Company of Boston, the Louisiana Philharmonic, the Richmond Symphony, the Reno Chamber Orchestra, the Clermont-Ferrand Conservatoire Orchestra (France), and numerous festival orchestras. His recording of Anthony Brandt's opera The Birth of Something with the Houston-based ensemble Musiqa was released on Albany Records.
An internationally recognized pianist, Shames first gained international attention as a finalist in the 1982 International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow. He has performed throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia, appearing as soloist with ensembles including the Boston Pops, the Seattle Symphony, the Milwaukee Symphony, the Indianapolis Symphony, the Seoul Sinfonietta, and orchestras in Russia and Serbia. His recording of Daniel Asia's Scherzo-Sonata, a work composed for him, appears on Summit Records.
Shames studied piano performance at the University of Michigan with Theodore Lettvin and Leon Fleisher. He was a conducting fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center and has worked with such renowned conductors as Seiji Ozawa, Bernard Haitink, Gustav Meier, Gerard Schwarz, and Samuel Jones. He has also held teaching appointments at Cornell University, Rutgers University, SUNY Binghamton, Oberlin Conservatory, Interlochen, and the Chautauqua Institution.
Old Cabell Hall is located at the south end of the University of Virginia's Historic Lawn, directly opposite the Rotunda. For directions and parking information, please visit the Department of Music's Directions and Parking page.