The Auburn Symphony Orchestra welcomes Efe Baltacigil, principal cellist of the Seattle Symphony, to the stage at 2:30 p.m., Sunday, April 30, at the Federal Way Performing Arts and Event Center at 31510 Pete von Reichbauer Way, S.
In this uplifting, glorious season finale, Baltacigil will perform what many consider to be the finest of all cello concertos, Antonín Dvořák’s Concerto for Cello. This will be the first time in ASO’s 26-year history it performs this masterpiece.
The concert will begin with the warmth and tranquility of Johannes Brahms’ Third Symphony, which opens with vigor and passion but closes in tranquility and quietude. Three Spirituals American composer Adolphus Hailstork wrote in 2005 will round out the program.
Enhance your concert experience and join ASO for Meet the Music, its pre-concert lecture, with Dave Beck, beginning at 1:30 p.m. in the lobby. Beck, today at KING FM, has been with public radio in Seattle since 1985, and until 2019 he was a cellist with the ASO. This event is free for all ticket holders.
Baltacıgil, a native of Turkey, received his Bachelor’s degree from Mimar SinanUniversity in Istanbul in 1998 and an Artist Diploma from the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia in 2002. After playing in the Philadelphia Orchestra as Associate Principal cello, he won the Principal position in the Seattle Symphony in 2011.
As a sought-after soloist and chamber musician, Baltacıgil has collaborated with such musicians as Wolfgang Sawallich, Sir Simon Rattle, Christoph Eschenbach, Yo-yo Ma, Itzhak Perlman, Emanuel Ax, Mitsuko Uchida, Anner Bylsma, and Pinchas Zuckerman. He has appeared as a soloist with the Berlin Philharmonic, the İstanbul State Symphony, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Seattle Symphony and the Curtis Institute Symphony Orchestra.
Baltacıgil made his Carnegie Hall debut with the New York Youth Orchestra in 2006. A founding member of the East Coast Chamber Orchestra (ECCO), he enjoys participating in chamber festivals such as Marlboro Chamber Music Festival in Vermont, the Seattle Chamber Music Festival, the Kingston Music Festival in Rhode Island, the Kon Tiki Festival in Oslo, Norway and the Beethoven Festival in Bonn. He has given recitals at venues throughout the US and Europe. Efe enjoys sailing, windsurfing and volley pong.
Tickets and information can be found at auburnsymphony.org or by calling the box office at 253-835-7010. Ticket prices are $40 general, $32 seniors, and $12 students.
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