LSO with Tessa Lark, Violin

Under the direction of Music Director & Conductor Daniel Meyer, the Lakeside Symphony Orchestra (LSO) will perform with special guest soloist, Tessa Lark, violin, at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 8 in Hoover Auditorium. The program will feature works by Gabriela Ortiz, Torke and Dvořák.

TESSA LARK, VIOLIN

Violinist Tessa Lark is one of the most captivating artistic voices of our time, consistently praised by critics and audiences for her astounding range of sounds, technical agility and musical elegance. Increasingly in demand in the classical realm, in 2020 she was nominated for a Grammy in the Best Classical Instrumental Solo category. She is also a highly acclaimed fiddler in the tradition of her native Kentucky, delighting audiences with programming that includes Appalachian and bluegrass music and inspiring composers to write for her.

Following a busy summer that saw her perform with the Sarasota Festival, Seattle Chamber Music Festival, La Jolla Music Society SummerFest, Classical Tahoe, Tippet Rise and Moab Music Festival, among others, highlights of Lark’s 2024-25 season include returns to the BBC Symphony Orchestra in London, the Rochester Philharmonic and a debut with Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. In recital, she will debut with San Francisco Symphony, University of California at Santa Barbara and the Artist Series of Sarasota. She reprises Michael Torke’s violin concerto, Sky – written for her, and the 2020 recording of which earned her a Grammy nomination – with the Boulder and Colorado Springs Philharmonic Orchestras, as well as the West Michigan, Williamsburg, Shreveport, and Tallahassee Symphony Orchestras. As a chamber musician, she will tour with her string trio project with composer-bassist Edgar Meyer and cellist Joshua Roman through the Fall to venues including Meany Hall, Seattle, Cal Performances Berkeley, WPAS in Washington D.C., and the Boston Celebrity Series.

The violinist has performed with orchestras, recital venues and festivals around the world. She has appeared with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, the Louisville Orchestra, the Stuttgart Philharmonic and the Indianapolis, Knoxville and Seattle Symphonies; as well as being presented by Carnegie Hall, New York’s Lincoln Center, London’s Wigmore Hall, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, Cal Performances, San Francisco Performances, the Seattle Chamber Music Society, Australia’s Musica Viva Festival and the Marlboro, Mostly Mozart, and Bridgehampton summer festivals.

Lark’s album, The Stradgrass Sessions, released in spring 2023, features an all-star roster of collaborators and composers including Meyer, pianist Jon Batiste, mandolinist Sierra Hull and fiddler Michael Cleveland. Album selections mix original compositions by Lark and her collaborators with a sonata by Eugène Ysaÿe, a selection of Bartók’s violin duets arranged for violin and mandolin and the world premiere recording of John Corigliano’s STOMP.

Lark’s debut commercial recording was the Grammy-nominated SKY, a bluegrass-inspired violin concerto written for her by Michael Torke and performed with the Albany Symphony Orchestra. Besides The Stradgrass Sessions, her discography also includes Fantasy on First Hand Records: fantasias by Schubert, Telemann and Fritz Kreisler; Ravel’s Tzigane; and Lark’s own composition Appalachian Fantasy. Invention, marking the debut album for the violin-bass duo made up of Lark and bassist Michael Thurber, comprises arrangements of Two-Part Inventions by J. S. Bach along with original compositions by both duo partners.

DANIEL MEYER, MUSICAL DIRECTOR & CONDUCTOR

Daniel Meyer was named Music Director & Conductor of the LSO in 2019.

As Music Director of the Erie Philharmonic and Artistic Director of the Westmoreland Symphony and Cleveland’s BlueWater Chamber Orchestra, Meyer has reinvigorated orchestras with his innovative programs, engaging presence and keen musical intellect.

In addition to collaborating with world-renowned soloists such as Marc-André Hamelin, Sharon Isbin, Gil Shaham, Jeremy Denk, Daniil Trifonov, Midori and Emanuel Ax, Meyer has commissioned new works by Michael Torke, Vivian Fung, Richard Danielpour and Zhou Tian.

Meyer recorded the music of Hanson, Diamond and Daugherty for the Bavarian Radio with the Bamberger Symphoniker, and his recent guest appearances include the Detroit Symphony, Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra, Portland Symphony, Symphony Silicon Valley, Württembergische Philharmonie, Staatsorchester Darmstadt and the Nuremberg Symphony in Germany.

In his role as Director of Orchestral Activities at Duquesne University, Meyer embarked on a recording project of the concertos of American composer Lynn Purse.

In recent seasons he conducted the Rochester Philharmonic and the Pittsburgh Symphony, as well as guest engagements with the Indianapolis, Columbus, Phoenix, Eugene, Alabama, Toledo and Knoxville Symphonies.

His critically acclaimed European debut took place with the Staatstheater Stuttgart Orchestra and violinist Thomas Zehetmaier, and he returned to Germany soon after for concerts with the Neue Philharmonie Westfalen and to Austria with the Tonkünstler Orchestra in Vienna and the Wiener Jeunesse Orchestra.

Meyer’s summer festival appearances have included the Cleveland Orchestra at Blossom, the Aspen and Grand Teton Music Festivals, the Chautauqua Festival and the Brevard Music Center.

Upon the invitation of Mariss Jansons, Meyer was named Resident Conductor of the Pittsburgh Symphony and Music Director of the Pittsburgh Youth Symphony, where he served until 2009.

A native of Cleveland, Meyer studied conducting at the Hochschule für Musik in Vienna as a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar and is a graduate of Denison University and the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.

He composed and conducted works for ensembles at both schools, including a Stabat Mater for soprano, chorus and orchestra.

At Boston University, Meyer received the Orchestral Conducting Honors Award and was awarded the prestigious Aspen Conducting Prize from David Zinman. He received an honorary doctorate from Edinboro University in 2016.