Top violinist, pianist to play at Cuyamaca College

Posted on: Apr 8, 2019 10:00:00 AM

Contact: David Ogul

Grammy Award-winning violinist Augustin Hadelich and pianist Orion Weiss, who is among the most sought-after soloists in his generation of young American musicians, team up for an evening of masterworks by Beethoven, Brahms, Debussy and Ysaye on Friday, April 19, at Cuyamaca College’s Samuel M. Ciccati Theatre.

The 35-year-old Hadelich, who was named Instrumentalist of the Year in 2018 by

Musical America, returns to the region after headlining a trio of concerts at the San Diego Symphony Orchestra in February, and he is widely considered to be one of today’s top violinists. Weiss, too, has performed with the San Diego Symphony, in addition to the Chicago Symphony, Boston Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, and New York Philharmonic, among other major orchestras.

Augustin Hadelich and Orion Weiss: Beethoven, Brahms, Debussy, Ysaye, is the latest performance in the ongoing ECHO Chamber Music Series at Cuyamaca College. ECHO is an acronym for the East County Harmonics Organization, and the series is underwritten by Sam Ersan, a vice chairman of the San Diego Symphony Board of Directors who has helped transform the chamber music landscape in San Diego County. Ersan is a major funder of the Mainly Mozart Festival, the force behind the Sam B. Ersan Chamber Music Fund at UC San Diego and the founder of the Camera Lucida piano quartet and the Myriad Trio.

The ECHO Chamber Music Series, launched in spring 2018, has established Cuyamaca College as the premier destination for chamber music in San Diego’s East County.

Hadelich is the winner of a 2016 Grammy Award – “Best Classical Instrumental Solo” – for his recording of Dutilleux’s

Violin Concerto, L’Arbre des songes

with the Seattle Symphony under Ludovic Morlot (Seattle Symphony MEDIA). He has performed with every major orchestra in the U.S. as well as with a growing number of orchestras in Europe and Asia. Highlights of the 2018-2019 season include his debut with the Bavarian Radio Orchestra Munich and engagements with Belgian National Orchestra, Danish National Symphony, Finnish Radio Symphony, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Orchestre National de Lyon, Orquesta Nacional de España, and the symphony orchestras of Bournemouth, City of Birmingham, New Zealand, São Paulo, and Singapore. Showcasing a wide-ranging and adventurous repertoire, Hadelich is consistently cited for his phenomenal technique, soulful approach, and beauty of tone.

Weiss was named the Classical Recording Foundation’s Young Artist of the Year in 2010. His impressive list of awards includes the Gilmore Young Artist Award, an Avery Fisher Career Grant, the Gina Bachauer Scholarship at the Juilliard School and the Mieczyslaw Munz Scholarship. Weiss is a 2004 graduate of the Julliard School, where he studied with Emanuel Ax, and he captured the 2005 William Petschek Recital Award at Juilliard and made his New York recital debut at Alice Tully Hall that April. He also made his European debut in a recital at the Musée du Louvre in Paris in 2005 and toured Israel with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Itzhak Perlman.

The April 19 concert is the penultimate performance in the 2018-19 ECHO Chamber Music Series season. The season concludes May 22 when Weiss accompanies Tien-Hsin Cindy Wu for an evening of Mozart piano and violin sonatas.

General admission tickets are $15 each but can be purchased in advance online for just $10 by visiting

EchoChamberMusic.org. Student tickets are $5 each.