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Gil Shaham Plays Brahms
May 23, 2013 Verizon HallThe famous Violin Concerto of Brahms is performed by the incomparable Gil Shaham.
Gil Shaham Plays Brahms
May 25, 2013 Verizon HallThe Philadelphia Orchestra will honor its former music director and conductor laureate, Wolfgang Sawallisch–who passed away February 22, 2013 during these performances, which feature repertoire that reflects his indelible artistic imprint on the Orchestra.
Daniel Matsukawa
Daniel Matsukawa
Principal
Richard M. Klein Chair
Daniel Matsukawa has been principal bassoon of The Philadelphia Orchestra since 2000. Born in Argentina to Japanese parents, he moved with his family to New York City at age three and began studying the bassoon at age 13. The following year, he won his first competition and was featured as a soloist performing the Mozart Bassoon Concerto with a professional orchestra in New York. He was a scholarship student of the pre-college division of both the Juilliard School and the Manhattan School of Music, where he studied with Harold Goltzer and Alan Futterman. Mr. Matsukawa went on to study at Juilliard for two years before attending the Curtis Institute of Music, where he was a pupil of retired Philadelphia Orchestra Principal Bassoon Bernard Garfield.
Mr. Matsukawa has been a recipient of numerous awards and prizes, including a solo concerto debut in Carnegie Hall at the age of 18. He was also featured in a Young Artist’s Showcase on New York’s WQXR classical radio station. Since then, he has appeared as soloist with several other orchestras, including The Philadelphia Orchestra, the National Symphony, the New York String Orchestra under Alexander Schneider, the Curtis Symphony, the Virginia Symphony, the Auckland (New Zealand) Philharmonic, and the Sapporo Symphony in Japan.
Mr. Matsukawa is an active chamber musician and has performed and toured with the Marlboro Festival. The Philadelphia Inquirer praised Mr. Matsukawa for “his lyrical gifts, expressive range, and refined sense of ensemble” in a performance at Marlboro. He also performs and teaches regularly at the Pacific Music Festival and the National Orchestral Institute, and has been invited by Seiji Ozawa to participate regularly with the Saito Kinen Orchestra.
Prior to his post with The Philadelphia Orchestra, Mr. Matsukawa served as principal bassoon with the National Symphony in Washington (D.C.), the Saint Louis Symphony, the Virginia Symphony, and the Memphis Symphony. In 1998 he performed and recorded Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 7 as acting principal bassoon with the New York Philharmonic under Kurt Masur. Mr. Matsukawa is on the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music and Temple University in Philadelphia.
Photo: Chris Lee
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