Ravinia 2019, Issue 7, Week 13

THE KNIGHTS Led by brothers and co–artistic directors Colin and Eric Jacobsen, The Knights evolved from late-night readings of chamber music with friends at their home into a full-fledged ensem- ble of diverse talents. Its 36 members are not only accomplished soloists, orchestral players, and chamber musicians that have graduated from The Juilliard School and the Curtis Insti- tute, among other music schools and conser- vatories, but also composers, arrangers, sing- er-songwriters and improvisers who bring a range of cultural influences to the group from jazz and klezmer genres to pop and indie rock music. Based in New York City, The Knights are dedicated to transforming the orchestral expe- rience and eliminating barriers between audi- ences and music with open-minded spirit of camaraderie and exploration. Since incorporating in 2007, the orchestra has toured and recorded with such renowned soloists as Yo-Yo Ma, Dawn Upshaw, Béla Fleck, and Gil Shaham, and has regularly performed at Carnegie Hall, Tanglewood, Ravinia, and Vienna’s Musikverein, as well as in nontraditional venues such as parks, plazas, and bars. The Knights recently partnered with the multidisciplinary Brooklyn venue BRIC on a multiyear residency to present family concerts, evening performances, and a characteristically wide-ranging roster of guest artists, such as collaborations with Puerto Rican composer Angelica Negrón on her drag opera and a night of German lieder with Katja Herbers, as well as an exploration of the influence of Eastern Euro- pean folk music. Recent seasons have included a US tour with genre-defying Israeli mandolinist Avi Avital and Syrian clarinetist and composer Kinan Azmeh featuring repertoire from around the world, including arrangements and transcriptions by The Knights and the world premiere of Azmeh’s Triple Concerto for Clarinet, Mandolin, Violin, and Orchestra. Highlights have also included premieres of works by Judd Greenstein, Andy Akiho, Vijay Iyer, and Sarah Kirkland Snider; a collaboration with choreographer John Heginbotham at the Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival; and debuts at Carnegie Hall (New York premiere of Steven Stucky and Jeremy Denk’s opera The Classical Style ) and the Kennedy Center (inaugural SHIFT Festival of American Orchestras). The Knights’ discography includes 2017’s celestial-themed album Azul with longtime collaborator Yo-Yo Ma and 2015’s the ground beneath our feet , combining works by Bach, Stravinsky, and Steve Reich with the group’s first group composition. The Knights made their Ravinia debut in 2010, and in 2012 performed three concerts later broadcast on NPR’s Performance Today . Tonight the ensemble returns for its eighth season at Ravinia. VIOLIN Colin Jacobsen * ° Sonya Chung * Emily Daggett Smith * ° Toni Glickman * Alex Gonzalez * Sumire Hirotsuru * Yaira Matyakubova * Guillaume Pirard * Tara Lynn Ramsey * Michelle Ross * Chelsea Starbuck Smith * Amie Weiss * VIOLA Kyle Armbrust * ° Mario Gotoh * Miranda Sielaff * Elzbieta Weyman * CELLO Jane Cords-O’Hara * Jia Kim * Caitlin Sullivan * ° Caleb van der Swaagh * BASS Joseph Bongiorno * Logan Coale * Shawn Conley * ° FLUTE Christopher Johnson * ° Sooyun Kim * ° OBOE Geoffrey Deemer * ° Gustav Highstein * CLARINET Alicia Lee * ° Christopher Pell * ° BASSOON Martin Garcia * Erik Höltje * ° HORN Michael P. Atkinson * ° David Byrd-Marrow * ° Rachel Drehmann * Zohar Schondorf * TRUMPET Stephen Madancy * ° Sycil Mathai * ° TROMBONE Thomas Hutchinson ° Nathan Mayland ° TUBA Morris Kainuma ° PERCUSSION Samuel Budish ° Michael Caterisano * ° Ian Sullivan * ° HARP Nuiko Wadden ° * Performing August 26 ° Performing August 28 ERIC JACOBSEN, artistic director and conductor Conductor and cellist Eric Jacobsen has built a reputation for en- gaging audiences with innovative and collab- orative projects. He is the founder and artistic director of The Knights and a former member of the genre-defying string quartet Brooklyn Rider. As conductor of The Knights, he has led the en- semble at New York venues ranging from Carn- egie Hall to Central Park, and at such renowned international halls as Vienna’s Musikverein, the Philharmonie in Cologne, and the Elbphilhar- monie in Hamburg. In 2018–19 he embarks on his fourth season as music director of the Orlan- do Philharmonic Orchestra. Also in demand as a guest conductor, Jacobsen has recently led the Camerata Bern, Detroit and Alabama Sympho- ny Orchestras, ProMusica Chamber Orchestra, Deutsche Philharmonie Merck, and Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Ensemble. COLIN JACOBSEN, artistic director and concertmaster A founding member of two game-changing, audience-expanding ensembles—the string quartet Brooklyn Rider and orchestra The Knights—Colin Jacobsen is also a member of Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Project and an Avery Fisher Career Grant–winning vi- olinist. His work as a composer developed as a natural outgrowth of his chamber and orches- tral collaborations. Jointly inspired by encoun- ters with leading exponents of non-Western traditions and by his own classical heritage, he collaborated with Iran’s Siamak Aghaei to write the Persian folk-inflected composition Ascend- ing Bird , which he performed as soloist with the YouTube Symphony Orchestra at the Sydney Opera House in a concert streamed live and seen by millions of viewers worldwide. Jacob- sen’s work for dance and theater includes Chalk and Soot , a collaboration with Dance Hegin- botham, and music for Compagnia de’ Colom- bari’s theatrical production of Walt Whitman’s Song of Myself . AUGUST 26 – SEPTEMBER 2, 2019 | RAVINIA MAGAZINE 93