The final concert of the season on April 18 also includes the Swan Lake Suite
The Washington Post declared cellist Inbal Segev "a near-miracle." The Anchorage Daily News wrote, “Soloist Inbal Segev's ferocious energy had the listeners on the edge of their seats as if they were watching a NASCAR race in sound.”
The University of South Carolina Symphony Orchestra plays their last concert of the season with Israeli guest artist Inbal Segev on Monday, April 18 at 7:30 p.m. at the Koger Center for the Arts. She will be featured on Edward Elgar’s Cello Concerto in E minor, a cornerstone of the solo cello repertoire.
The program also includes Tchaikovsky’s captivating Swan Lake Suite, written at his sister’s home where he loved to dream up family activities for his nieces and nephews. He composed the little ballet for their entertainment and participation, and Tchaikovsky himself demonstrated the steps and pirouettes required of the dancers. Several years later it would become the basis for his first full-length ballet, Swan Lake.
Two concertos for the cello are performed more often than any others. One is by Antonin Dvorak; the other is Edward Elgar’s intimate and contemplative Cello Concerto in E minor. Unlike any other ever written for the instrument, the concerto may be Elgar’s work with the most universal appeal. Pablo Casals, Paul Tortelier, Jacqueline du Pré and Yo-Yo Ma are among the cellists who have made landmark recordings of the concerto.
Elgar composed the work in the aftermath of the First World War. Distressed and disillusioned by the suffering caused by the war, he withdrew and wrote very little music during the war's first four years. Then, over a period of 12 months, from August 1918 to the following August, he poured his feelings into four works that rank among the finest he ever composed. The first three were chamber works in which he developed a new musical voice; the fourth work was the Cello Concerto, Elgar's lament for a lost world.
About Inbal Segev
Equally committed to new repertoire and masterworks, Inbal Segev brings interpretations that are both unreservedly natural and insightful to the vast range of music she performs. She has performed as soloist with orchestras in the U.S. and abroad including the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Bogotá Philharmonic, Helsinki Philharmonic, Orchestre National de Lyon, the Polish National Radio Symphony and Bangkok Symphony among others. She made debuts with the Berlin Philharmonic and Israel Philharmonic, led by Zubin Mehta, at age 17.
Segev’s many honors include the America-Israel Cultural Foundation Scholarship and top prizes at the Pablo Casals, Paulo, and Washington International Competitions. She began playing the cello in Israel at age five and at 16 was invited by Isaac Stern to come to the U.S. to continue her studies. She earned degrees from The Juilliard School and Yale University.
Tickets now on sale
Tickets are $30 general public; DISCOUNTS: $25 seniors, USC faculty and staff; $8 students. Call 803-251-2222 or Koger Box Office, corner of Greene and Park Streets (M-F 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.) or online at kogercenterforthearts.com.