Noah Bendix-Balgley, violinist and concertmaster with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, will present a guest artist master class at the West Virginia University Creative Arts Center, Monday, Sept. 24. The event is free and open to the public.
The class will begin at 3 p.m. in the Museum Education Center (the former Erickson Alumni Center beside the Creative Arts Center) and will be followed by the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra Concert that evening at 7:30 p.m. in the Creative Arts Center’s Lyell B. Clay Concert Theatre.
The orchestra concert, conducted by Music Director Manfred Honeck, will feature Principal Horn William Caballero as soloist, and a performance of Dvoř�k’s “New World” Symphony. Other works on the program include Giuseppe Verdi’s Overture to “La forza del destino” and “Concerto No. 1 in E-flat major for Horn and Orchestra, Opus 11,” by Richard Strauss.
Bendix-Balgley’s visit is part of the partnership between the Pittsburgh Sy’mphony Orchestra and the College of Creative Arts that also brings the orchestra to the WVU Creative Arts Center three times each school year as part of the Canady Symphony Series.
Bendix-Balgley, who plays on a Lorenzo Ventapane violin, made in Naples in the early 19th century, has thrilled and moved audiences around the world with his performances. In May 2011, he won First prize at the Vibrarte International Music Competition in Paris, France. A laureate of the 2009 Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels, he also won third prize and a special prize for creativity at the 2008 Long-Thibaud International Competition in Paris. He was awarded first prize and a special prize for best Bach interpretation at the 14th International Violin Competition “Andrea Postacchini” in Fermo, Italy.
A passionate and experienced chamber musician, he performed on North American tour with the Miro String Quartet in 2011. From 2008 to 2011, Bendix-Balgley was the first violinist of the Athlos String Quartet, which won a special prize at the Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy Competition in Berlin, and performed throughout Europe.
He earned his postgraduate Meisterklasse diploma for violin from Hochschule f�r Musik und Theater Munich, and his Bachelor of Music degree with highest distinction from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music.
In his spare time, he enjoys playing klezmer music. He has played with world-renowned klezmer groups such as Brave Old World, and has taught klezmer violin at workshops in Europe and in the United States.
For more information, see his website at: http://noahbendixbalgley.com/
Tickets for the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra Concert are available by calling the Heinz Hall box office at 800-743-8560, or by visiting the orchestra online at www.pittsburghsymphony.org/wvu. They will also be available at the door on the evening of the concert.
For more information about the master class, contact the College of Creative Arts at 304-293-4359.
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CONTACT: Charlene Lattea, College of Creative Arts
304-293-4841 ext. 3108, Charlene.Lattea@mail.wvu.edu
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