“Gabriel Lefkowitz’s recently ended tenure as the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra’s concertmaster coincided with an exciting era for local classical music audiences,” writes Matthew Everett in last Friday’s (5/26) Knoxville Mercury (Tennessee). “Now that Lefkowitz has officially headed off to fill the concertmaster position with the Louisville Orchestra, KSO has selected William Shaub as his replacement. ‘William Shaub distinguished himself as a superb, sensitive musician and a thoughtful, nuanced violinist whose leadership will continue to strengthen the KSO’s already excellent string section,’ KSO music director Aram Demirjian says in a press release.… Shaub, 25, received bachelor’s and master’s degrees at the Juilliard School. He’s performed with the Canton Symphony, the Spoleto Festival USA Orchestra, the Music Academy of the West Festival Orchestra, and the Juilliard Orchestra. Most recently, he’s been concertmaster at Rice University’s Shepherd School Symphony Orchestra. Shaub’s youth and his forward-looking approach to music appear to fit with Demirjian’s plans for the near future of the KSO. … Shaub’s audition included a guest performance—[Mercury classical music critic Alan] Sherrod described his solo on Peter Maxwell Davies’ 1984 piece An Orkney Wedding With Sunrise, as an impressive one—at the same concert where Lefkowitz said goodbye.”
Posted June 2, 2017
