Adele Anthony, violin

Reviews:

'Throughout, Adele Anthony plays beautifully, with warm, luminous tone, and she's well supported by the Adelaide orchestra... Anthony has the measure of the Sibelius... playing with complete assurance, and her mellow tone is heard to splendid effect in the lyrical  passages,  above all in the Adagio...' 

Gramophone

'She’s superb.... and she makes a glowing case for Australian composer Ross Edwards’s Maninyas ... And it’s magnificently played by Anthony, whose athleticism in the faster sections is staggering... Anthony’s slow movement [Sibelius] is ecstatic, and she closes proceedings with a finale that’s infectious and ultimately thrilling... She’s superbly accompanied by Arvo Volmer’s Adelaide forces, and the recording is nicely balanced.'

The Arts Desk
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'... None of the above prepared me for the phenomenal quality of her playing of the Sibelius. I can honestly say I have never heard the work played before with such accuracy and apparent ease...  As far as the performance of the solo part is concerned this would be my number one choice... Purchasers buying the disc for either work should be delighted with their ‘main’ choice but equally pleased with the remaining music....On the strength of her magnificent reading of the Sibelius Ms Anthony is a name I will actively seek out in the future.' 

RECORDING OF THE MONTH

MusicWeb International
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Since her triumph at Denmark’s 1996 Carl Nielsen International Violin Competition Anthony has enjoyed an acclaimed and expanding international career.  Performing as a soloist with orchestra and in recital, as well as being active in chamber music, Ms. Anthony’s career spans the continents of North America, Europe, Australia, India and Asia.

Highlights from recent seasons have included performances with the symphony orchestras of Houston, San Diego, Seattle, Buffalo, Dayton, Ft. Worth, Indianapolis, Long Beach, Milwaukee, Virginia, Wichita and the IRIS Chamber Orchestra.  Being an avid chamber music player, Ms. Anthony appears regularly at La Jolla SummerFest and Aspen Music Festival.  Abroad, she has performed with the Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra, Denmark’s Aalborg and Aarhus Symphony Orchestras, Finland’s Kuopio Symphony Orchestra, the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, the Iceland Symphony Orchestra, the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, the NDR Orchestra Hannover, and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France.  Ms. Anthony’s wide-ranging orchestral repertoire extends from the Baroque of Bach and Vivaldi to all the classical war horses including Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, and Sibelius to contemporary composers comprising of Ross Edwards, Arvo Pärt, and Phillip Glass.

An active recording artist, Ms. Anthony’s work includes two releases with Sejong Soloists: “Vivaldi: The Four Seasons” (Naxos), released in 2006, and “Sejong plays ‘Ezawen’” (Albany Records) released in 2003. Her recording of the Philip Glass Violin Concerto with Takuo Yuasa and the Ulster Orchestra, also on Naxos in 2000, following an earlier all-Schubert album from the same label.  She has also recorded Arvo Pärt's Tabula rasa with Gil Shaham, Neeme Järvi and the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra (Deutsche Grammophon) in 1999 and the Nielsen Violin Concerto with Dorrit Matson and the New York Scandia Symphony (Centaur).  Ms. Anthony released a Sarasate recording in 2009 with her husband, Gil Shaham (Canary Classics).  Her recording of the Sibelius Violin Concerto and Ross Edwards Maninyas with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra was released in 2011 (Canary Classics CC09) to wide acclaim MusicWeb International observing in her recording of the Sibelius concerto her ‘accuracy and apparent ease' and 'as far as the performance of the solo part is concerned this would be my number one choice.’

She has collaborated with her husband, violinist Gil Shaham in the United States and Spain in concerts and recording marking the centenary of the death of legendary Spanish violinist and composer Pablo Sarasate.  From the Kaplan Penthouse at New York’s Lincoln Center, this program was broadcast nationally on PBS, as part of its Live from Lincoln Center Series. This was Ms. Anthony’s second appearance in the series, having performed in the Emmy Award–winning “Lincoln Center Celebrates Balanchine” in 2004.

Ms. Anthony holds numerous awards and prizes. She has received awards from the Australia Council, the South Australian Government and The Queen’s Trust.  In 1990 the National Arts Club in New York invited her to perform at the presentation of the Medal of Honor to Zubin Mehta. At age 13, she was the youngest winner of the ABC Instrumental and Vocal Competition. She performed the Sibelius Violin Concerto with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra. As part of the prize, she also played the Tchaikovsky Concerto in a live national telecast.

Ms. Anthony studied at the Conservatory of the University of Adelaide with Beryl Kimber until 1987 and continued her studies at New York’s Juilliard School, where she worked with the eminent teachers Dorothy DeLay, Felix Galimir and Hyo Kang.  She made her Australian debut with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra in 1983 and since then has appeared with all 6 major Australian orchestras; Sydney, Melbourne, Queensland, West Australian, Tasmanian, and Adelaide.  

She performs on an Antonio Stradivarius violin, crafted in 1728.