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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE / February 20, 2015
(High resolution images of Academy of St Martin in the Fields and Jeremy Denk are available for download from the San Francisco Symphony’s Online
Photo Library)
PIANIST JEREMY DENK LEADS THE ACADEMY OF ST MARTIN IN THE FIELDS
MARCH 15-16 AT DAVIES SYMPHONY HALL
Denk performs four of J.S. Bach’s Keyboard Concertos as soloist
SAN FRANCISCO, February 20 – Pianist Jeremy Denk returns to Davies Symphony Hall to lead the Academy of St
Martin in the Fields in two concerts March 15-16, presented by the San Francisco Symphony (SFS) as part of its Great
Performers Series. This is the ensemble’s first appearance at Davies Symphony Hall since 2012, and its first with Denk as
director and featured soloist. Displaying his command of the prominent works of J.S. Bach, Denk performs four keyboard
concertos – two each concert – over the two evenings.
The March 15 concert features Suk’s Serenade for Strings in E-flat major, J.S. Bach’s Keyboard Concertos No. 2 in E
major and No. 4 in A major, and concludes with Dvořák’s Serenade for Strings in E major. On March 16, Denk performs
Bach’s Keyboard Concertos No. 1 in D minor and No. 5 in F minor. Stravinsky’s Concerto in D major for String Orchestra,
and Apollon musagète round out the program.
The Academy of St Martin in the Fields was founded in 1959 by Sir Neville Marriner. Violinist Joshua Bell is the
ensemble’s current Music Director, directing the ensemble from the leader’s chair, which is the orchestra’s tradition.
Marriner led the Academy at Davies Symphony Hall five times between 1989 and 2008; the Academy first appeared at
Davies Symphony Hall in 1983.
In addition to their London concerts and international tours with pianist Denk, clarinettist Martin Fröst and violinist Julia
Fischer, highlights of the Academy’s 2014-15 season include Asian and European tours with Principal Guest Conductor
Murray Perahia. Joshua Bell also leads four tours with the orchestra in 2014-15, to South America and the Middle East, as
well as two tours of Europe. Academy players also continue to engage young musicians and adult learners through
Outward Sound, the Academy’s education program, which include workshops for school children, and professional
development partnerships.
With over 500 recordings to date, the Academy of St Martin in the Fields is one of the most recorded chamber orchestras
in the world. The orchestra received their first gold disc for their recording of Vivaldi's The Four Seasons in 1969, and their
2007 recording with Joshua Bell reached No.1 on the Billboard Classical chart. Their soundtrack for the film Amadeus
won 13 gold discs, and in 1996 The English Patient – the score performed by the orchestra – won the Academy Award for
Best Musical Score. In 2013, the orchestra and Bell released their first recording on Sony Classical under his baton,
Beethoven's Symphonies 4 and 7. Their new recording of Bach violin concertos was released September 2014.
Pianist Jeremy Denk has been a frequent guest of the SFS since his debut in 2004, and performed Henry Cowell’s Piano
Concerto with the Orchestra in 2012 on its American Mavericks festival and tour. He recently appeared alongside an allstar lineup of pianists – Yuja Wang, Marc-André Hamelin, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, and Emanuel Ax – at the 70th birthday
celebration for SFS Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas, in a rare performance of Liszt’s Hexameron for Six Pianos and
Orchestra. Denk is the winner of a 2013 MacArthur Fellowship, the 2014 Avery Fisher Prize, and Musical America’s 2014
Instrumentalist of the Year award. In addition to his tour with Academy of St Martin in the Fields performing Bach
Keyboard Concertos, highlights of his 2014-15 season include beginning a four-season tenure as an Artistic Partner of the
Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, and debut concerts with the Cleveland Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic. In
2014, Denk served as Music Director of the Ojai Music Festival, for which, besides performing and curating, he wrote the
libretto for a comic opera, The Classical Style, performed in 2014 at Carnegie Hall and locally at Cal Performances in
Berkeley. Denk’s debut recording for Nonesuch Records juxtaposed Ligeti’s Études with Beethoven’s final sonata, and
was included on many “Best of 2012” lists, including those of the New Yorker, Washington Post, and NPR Music. His
second recording for the label, Bach: Goldberg Variations, was released in September 2013, reaching number one on
Billboard’s “Classical Albums” chart. He is known for his original and insightful writing on music, having contributed to the
New Yorker, the New York Times, and the New York Review of Books.
Calendar editors, please note:
ACADEMY OF ST MARTIN IN THE FIELDS

Great Performers Series
Sunday, March 15, 2015 at 7 pm
Jeremy Denk pianist and director
Academy of St Martin in the Fields
Suk
J. S. Bach
J. S. Bach
Dvořák
Serenade for Strings in E-flat major
Keyboard Concerto No. 2 in E major, BWV 1053
Keyboard Concerto No. 4 in A major, BWV 1055
Serenade for Strings in E major, Opus 22
Tickets: $15-$99
Tickets are available at sfsymphony.org, by phone at 415-864-6000, and at the Davies Symphony Hall Box Office, on
Grove Street between Van Ness Avenue and Franklin Street in San Francisco.
ACADEMY OF ST MARTIN IN THE FIELDS

Great Performers Series
Monday, March 16, 2015 at 8 pm
Jeremy Denk pianist and director
Academy of St Martin in the Fields
Stravinsky
J. S. Bach
J. S. Bach
Stravinsky
Concerto in D major for String Orchestra
Keyboard Concerto No. 1 in D minor, BWV 1052
Keyboard Concerto No. 5 in F minor, BWV 1056
Apollon musagète [Apollo]
Tickets: $15-$99
Tickets are available at sfsymphony.org, by phone at 415-864-6000, and at the Davies Symphony Hall Box Office, on
Grove Street between Van Ness Avenue and Franklin Street in San Francisco.
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