“Gregory Walker calls it ‘a Cinderella story,’ ” writes Wes Blomster in Sunday’s (11/29) Daily Camera (Boulder, Colorado). “On December 10, Walker, concertmaster of the Boulder Philharmonic since 1987, will be soloist in the world premiere of George Walker’s Concerto for Violin with the Philadelphia Orchestra. George Walker, 87 and retired from Rutgers University, is Gregory’s father. He wrote the concerto for Gregory and dedicated the score to him. … When we talked about the Philadelphia premiere Gregory had just returned from Warsaw, where he recorded the new work with the Sinfonia Varsovia conducted by England’s Ian Hobson. ‘The concerto is a labor of love,’ Gregory says. ‘Dad wrote it without a commission. It was something he had to get off his chest, and of course he hoped a major orchestra would be interested in it.’ Although Gregory did not see the concerto until it was finished, it’s clear to him that his father wrote it with him in mind. … Complexity of meter changes, complex rhythms and orchestration make it a challenge for the accompanying ensemble as well.” Neeme Järvi will conduct the program.
Posted November 30, 2009
