Press Release – for immediate release
Annapolis, Maryland
January 15, 2025
Hailed as “an extremely gifted violinist with a strong stage personality and charisma,” violinist Netanel Draiblate has performed concerts across four continents. A true polymath, Draiblate is concertmaster of the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra (ASO) and the Washington, DC-based Post Classical Music Ensemble, the violinist who leads musicians in rehearsals and works closely with the conductor.
Draiblate is also the founder of the Annapolis Symphony Academy (ASA), where he serves as Director, a post he has held since the ASA launched in 2008. Draiblate recently received his commission as a commercial airline pilot, serving as captain for Endeavor Air, a domestic subsidiary of Delta Airlines. He studied and trained for several years to earn his wings, and he’s perhaps the only concertmaster in a symphony or pilot on a flight deck to hold the concertmaster and captain leadership roles at once. He travels with his violin, often practicing between flights and delighting travelers who stop to enjoy his repertoire in airport terminals. At first glance, the concertmaster and pilot roles may seem wildly dissimilar, but they are remarkably similar. Both occur on a grand stage, with intricate instruments and the heavy weight of responsibility to both musician peers and the audience. Both jobs require intense focus, connection with instrumentation, and practice.
“There is an art to landing a plane,” Draiblate said. “You have to feel the airplane innately, to have a touch for it and a connection to it. If you don’t have the right touch, you’ll hit the runway hard, and passengers won’t be happy.” That touch is integral to performing at Draiblate’s level on the violin: “If you don’t focus and connect with the instrument, it simply won’t sound good.”
Draiblate has collaborated with such luminaries as Pinchas Zukerman, Yo-Yo Ma, Itzhak Perlman, Jaime Laredo, and Cho Liang Lin. Highlights include performances of Jim Stephenson’s violin concerto Tributes with the Lake Forest Symphony, Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto with the Baltimore Chamber Orchestra featuring his own cadenza, Lou Harrison’s Suite for Violin, Piano and Chamber Orchestra with the Post-Classical Ensemble in Washington, D.C., and Coriglianos’ The Red Violin Chaconne with the Annapolis Symphony. Recent engagements include appearances with the American Symphony at Carnegie Hall, the Israel Chamber Orchestra, the Brasilia Concert Society Orchestra, and Turkey’s Bursa Symphony Orchestra.
Draiblate is a violinist whose artistry “combines confidence and eloquence,” both qualities he will bring to the stage at Music Center at Strathmore on Sunday, February 2, when he performs as guest soloist with Annapolis Symphony Orchestra for their Masterworks III – Pictures at an Exhibition concert. Draiblate will perform Saint-Saëns Violin Concerto No. 3.
“I am so excited to be back on stage performing a rarely performed romantic era gem: the third Saint Saëns violin concerto,” Draiblate said. “I couldn’t be happier to do it with my favorite orchestra and music director, Maestro José-Luis Novo. Like other well-known romantic era concerti, Violin Concerto No. 3 showcases a wide range of emotions, is accessible, and balances warm melodies with virtuosic flair while incorporating Saint Saëns’ incredible harmonies and colors.”
Maestro José-Luis Novo will conduct Masterworks III – Pictures at an Exhibition. He conceived the concert, which also includes Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s “Overture to the Song of Hiawatha” and Modest Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, as a triumphant example of dynamic contrasts between orchestral works written in the same period by very different composers.
Coleridge-Taylor’s greatest success came in 1898 with the cantata Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast, the first of several works inspired by the poetry of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. The trilogy of cantatas, known together as “The Song of Hiawatha,” became so famous in Britain that its popularity rivaled Handel’s “Messiah” and Mendelssohn’s “Elijah.” Coleridge-Taylor, a groundbreaking Black composer who brought fresh, dynamic sounds to the 19th-century orchestra, was inspired by the moving spiritual “Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen,” elements of which he included in The Song of Hiawatha, a powerful testament to the ever-evolving and inclusive nature of music.
Saint Saëns wrote ten concertos – five for piano, three for violin, and two for cello; each embodies the elegance and brilliance that reflect his remarkable talent. Saint Saëns’ first two violin concertos were relatively early works, but the third was written in 1880, when he was forty-four, at the pinnacle of his powers, and during the period of his most successful works. Violin Concerto No. 3 is the most often played of his violin concertos. It is a piece that is challenging technically and honors the Classical style’s traditions of form while also embracing Romantic fireworks and drama, an excellent example of Saint-Saens’ respect for the past but desire to look toward the future.
Modest Mussorgsky wrote Pictures at an Exhibition in 1874. The music begins with a steadily moving promenade in which Mussorgsky depicts himself roving through an exhibition in a museum showcasing the visual art of his dear departed friend, the architect and artist Viktor Hartmann. The music is programmatic, depicting the topics of the varied paintings, and ranges from baby chicks running amok to a menacing fairytale witch and the solemness of catacombs. Mussorgsky included visual elements into musical themes thoughtfully, not jokingly, a technique considered radical by traditionalists at the time, who often derided Mussorgsky for his family’s lost fortune. Born to wealthy landowners who lost half their estate when the Russian serfs were freed in 1860, Mussorgsky spent much of his life working on and off as a civil servant, often penniless and living in communal spaces with other artists. An alcoholic, he died at age 42. The importance of the piece lies in Mussorgsky’s musical depiction of people from diverse cultural groups, at different states of life, in both dramatic and comical circumstances, and displaying a range of emotions. The final movement, “The Great Gate of Kiev”, is widely considered one of Mussorgsky’s greatest works. The great conductor Serge Koussevitsky commissioned French composer Maurice Ravel to orchestrate the piano suite, and the resultant masterwork is what the ASO will perform at Strathmore.
“I want our audience to delight in the dynamic contrasts of this program: the evocative energy of a Native American-inspired work by Afro-British composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, the lush beauty and dazzling virtuosity of one of the most distinctive Romantic violin concertos by Camille Saint-Saëns, and the vibrant tapestry of colors in Ravel’s masterful orchestration of Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition. Experiencing these pieces live with an orchestra of the ASO’s exceptional caliber is truly a journey not to be missed,” Novo said.
The Annapolis Symphony Orchestra has performed several times at Strathmore, part of their effort to bring more music to more people outside of their home base in Annapolis and Anne Arundel County. The ASO is Anne Arundel County’s oldest and largest performing arts organization and has performed for 63 seasons in the state’s capital. Novo has conducted the ASO for 20 years, a position he has embraced as integral to bringing elevated culture, art, and the language of music to the community.
“I am thrilled to welcome our beloved concertmaster, Nati Draiblate, back to the stage—this time in the spotlight as a soloist performing Saint-Saëns’ Third Violin Concerto, a personal favorite of mine,” he said. “Nati is a consummate artist whose depth, excitement, and passion shine through in everything he does. These qualities, and so much more, will be on full display as he steps to the forefront for this stunning work.”
DETAILS
Annapolis Symphony Orchestra presents Masterworks III – Pictures at an Exhibition
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor Overture from The Song of Hiawatha, Op. 30, No. 3
Camille Saint-Saëns Violin Concerto No. 3 in B minor, Op. 61, Netanel Draiblate, violin
Modest Mussorgsky Pictures at an Exhibition
February 2, 2025 at 3:00 PM at Strathmore
5301 Tuckerman Lane
North Bethesda, MD 20852
About the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra
The Annapolis Symphony Orchestra, led by Music Director José-Luis Novo, comprises 70 professional musicians performing symphonic music for audiences of all ages. The mission of the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra is to inspire, educate, and enrich lives near and far by creating extraordinary musical experiences with uncompromising artistic excellence. The non-profit organization provides educational programs through partnerships with local schools and other community outreach efforts. For more information or to purchase tickets or subscriptions, visit annapolissymphony.org or contact the Box Office at 410-263-0907.
Media Contact: Diana Love, ASO Director of Marketing and Communications, DLove@annapolissymphony.org, 410-267-3631