Jorja (Fleezanis) and John (Adams) make a concerto

Synopsis

In his book, "The Concerto: A Listener's Guide," Michael Steinberg, who is married to violinist Jorja Fleezanis, describes how on a Tuesday night in 1985, his wife decided that John Adams should write a violin concerto for her.

At that time, San Francisco Symphony concerts were recorded for delayed broadcast in the Bay Area, which meant that Fleezanis, who was then the associate concertmaster in San Francisco, could perform a piece one week, and hear it on the radio the next. Edo de Waart had just conducted the Symphony in the premiere of a big, new orchestral suite by Adams titled "Harmonielehre." At the actual concerts, Fleezanis said she was just too busy concentrating on her part to get a coherent impression of the whole work. When she had a chance to experience Harmonielehre from the vantage point of a radio listener, she was bowled over. "The moment the broadcast was over," writes Steinberg, "she picked up the telephone, called Adams, and asked him to write her a violin concerto."

About nine years later, on today's date in 1994, Fleezanis picked up her violin as the concertmaster of the MINNESOTA Orchestra to play the solo part in the premiere performance of John Adams' new Concerto—a triple commission from the Minnesota Orchestra, the New York City Ballet, and the London Symphony.

See what sort of thing can happen when you listen to music on the radio?

Music Played in Today's Program

John Adams (b.1947) Violin Concerto Robert McDuffie, violin; Houston Symphony; Christoph Eschenbach, cond. Telarc 80494

On This Day

Births

• 1903 - German composer Boris Blacher, in Niu-chang, China;

• 1936 - American composer Elliott Schwartz, in Brooklyn;

Deaths

• 1576 - German "mastersinger" Hans Sachs, age 81, in Nuremberg;

Premieres

• 1674 - Lully: opera "Alceste," in Paris at the Palais Royal Opéra;

• 1735 - Handel: opera "Ariodante" (Julian date: Jan. 8);

• 1787 - Mozart: Symphony No. 38 ("Prague"), conducted by the composer, in Prague;

• 1853 - Verdi: opera, "Il trovatore," (The Troubador), in Rome the Teatro Apollo;

• 1873 - Saint-Saëns: Cello Concerto No. 1, in Paris;

• 1884 - Massenet: opera, "Manon," at the Opéra-Comique, Paris;

• 1895 - Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No. 3 (1st movement only), posthumously, in St. Petersburg (Julian date: Jan.7);

• 1898 - Glazunov: ballet "Raymonda," in St. Petersburg (Julian date: Jan. 7);

• 1924 - Auric: ballet "Les Fâcheux," by the Diaghilev company in Monte Carlo;

• 1948 - Douglas Moore: "Farm Journal" for chamber orchestra, in New York City;

• 1953 - Bernstein: musical "Wonderful Town," as a trial run in New Haven at the Schubert Theater, choreographed by Donald Saddler, directed by George Abbott, conducted by Lehman Engel; The show opened in New York City at the Winter Garden on February 26, 1953;

• 1961 - Bernstein: "Fanfare," at the Inaugural Gala for President John F. Kennedy, in Washington, D.C.;

• 1969 - Ligeti: "Ten Pieces" for woodwind quintet, in Malmö, Sweden;

• 1970 - Shulamit Ran: "O, the Chimneys," in New York City;

• 1986 - Babbitt: Piano Concerto, in New York;

• 1990 - Peter Maxwell Davies: "Strathclyde Concerto" No. 3 for horn, trumpet and orchestra, at Glasgow's City Hall, by the Scottish Chamber Orchestra conducted by the composer, with soloists Robert Cook and Peter Franks;

• 1994 - John Adams: Violin Concerto, with Minnesota Orchestra, Edo de Waart conducting and Jorja Fleezanis the soloist;

• 1996 - David Ward-Steinman: "Prisms and Reflections," for piano (and piano interior), by David Burge, at the Music Teachers National Association meeting in San Diego;

Others

• 1962 - White House dinner party in honor of Igor Stravinsky hosted by President and Mrs. Kennedy.

• 1973 - Leonard Bernstein leads a performance of Haydn's "Mass in Time of War" at a "Concert for Peace" at Washington DC's National Cathedral, with members of National Symphony, in protest against President Nixon, on the eve of Nixon's second term in office; The concert was timed to coincide with Nixon's official inaugural concert, which concluded with Tchaikovsky's "1812 Overture";

• 1977 - Leonard Bernstein conducts his song "Take Care of This House" at Inaugural Concert for President Jimmy Carter at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. with Frederica von Stade as vocal soloist with the National Symphony.