Event

Penn Contemporary Music presents an evening of solo violin works.

Greg Fulkerson, violin

The Music department cordially invites you to come out and celebrate spring at a very special concert.  On Wednesday, March 26, 2014, world-renowned virtuoso violinist Gregory Fulkerson will present a recital of Cadenzas, Rhapsodies and Chaconnes featuring the music of Bach (including the famous Ciaccona).  Also on the program will be a series of pieces variously influenced by the Bach solo violin works: Mnemosyne by Elliott Carter, Bartok’s monumental Sonata for Solo Violin, and Pulitzer Prize-winning composer and Emeritus Professor Richard Wernick’s Cadenzas and Variations II. Professor Fulkerson, who teaches at the Oberlin School of Music, will be offering commentary.

The recital will be held in the recently completed Widener Hall at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.  The performance will begin at 8:00 and a reception will follow the performance.  Admission is free and open to the public: please enter the main entrance of the Museum and turn right as you enter.

Gregory Fulkerson’s playing has been described in Musical America as, “Superlative with immense expressive rewards, insightful, heartfelt, meticulous, virtuosic, beauteous, and above all, convincing”.  He is renowned for his interpretations of a wide range of violin repertoire, from the highly acclaimed recording of Bach’s Sonatas and Partitas for Violin Solo, to his world premiere performances of major works by Richard Wernick, Stephen Jaffe and Jay Reise.

Professor of Violin Gregory Fulkerson's Bridge recording, J. S. Bach: The Sonatas and Partitas for Unaccompanied Violin, made The New Yorker's short list, "Disks of Distinction." Russell Platt, writing in the January 15, 2001, issue of the magazine, says that Fulkerson "combines a thorough knowledge of early-music techniques with the generous warmth of the mainstream tradition, filtered through the attentive ears of a first-class new-music player." The recording has garnered enthusiastic reviews on the other side of the Atlantic, as well. England's Classic FM magazine lauds his "uncontainable energy and gloriously full-bodied sound . . . Fulkerson plays like a man possessed, taking the various technical hurdles in his stride, vividly communicating the genius of this extraordinary music."

Fulkerson has distinguished himself in a broad spectrum of musical activities. Since winning first prize in the 1980 International American Music Competition, he has performed more than 35 different concerti with orchestra, including New York appearances with the Philadelphia and American Symphony Orchestras.

In 1992 he performed the role of Einstein in a world tour revival of Philip Glass's landmark "Einstein on the Beach"--he also recorded the work for the Nonesuch label. His recording of Charles Ives's violin sonatas on the Bridge label has become the standard version of those works.

Fulkerson holds two undergraduate degrees from Oberlin in 1971--a bachelor of music degree in violin performance and a bachelor of arts degree, with honors, in mathematics. He also holds the M.M. (1979) and the D.M.A. (1987) from Juilliard. Among those with whom he has studied violin are Ivan Galamian, Paul Kling, Daniel Majeske and Dorothy DeLay.