Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, Music Director
Learn more about Nadja by tuning into KQED's airing of Speaking in Strings, February 22 at 12 noon. Click here for full details.
Passionate interpretations, impeccable technique, and profound musicianship are just few of the characteristics that have established violin virtuoso Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg as one of the most prominent violinists of our time. Her performances are as unique and powerful as the artist behind them. In the 2008-09 season, Nadja takes on a new challenge when she becomes the Music Director and Concertmaster of New Century Chamber Orchestra, a 17-member string orchestra made up of an international group of top chamber musicians. She leads this ensemble in four different subscription series throughout the season.
Fall 2008 finds Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg inaugurating her association with the New Century Chamber Orchestra as she presents a colorful program of works by Ginastera, Assad, Piazzolla and Villa-Lobos, in the opening season concerts, September 11-16 in Berkeley, San Francisco, San Rafael and Palo Alto. To celebrate the holiday season, Nadja reunites with the NCCO for a festive selection of pieces by Handel and Bach, and is joined by soprano Melody Moore and San Francisco’s Schola Cantorum for Holiday Songs & Carols, December 11-14, 2008. She is also soloist this season with The Philadelphia Orchestra, Atlanta Symphony, Cincinnati Symphony, Saint Louis Symphony, Memphis Symphony, and San Diego Symphony. In March 2009, Nadja embarks on a tour with Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, bringing Piazzolla’s Four Seasons of Buenos Aires to New York’s Carnegie Hall and to the Florida music centers of Miami, Naples and Clearwater, as well as Easton, PA. Additional performances find Nadja reunited with the NCCO in March and May, 2009. A celebrated master of recital repertoire, Ms. Salerno-Sonnenberg is once again joined by pianist Anne-Marie McDermott for performances throughout the US, including University of Arizona and Phoenix Chamber Music Society. Other highlights include collaborations with famed guitarists Sérgio and Odair Assad in concerts hosted by Omaha Performing Arts Society, Friends of Chamber Music (Portland, Oregon), Santa Fe Concert Association and University of Georgia. In February 2009, Tokyo Symphony Orchestra and Aspen Incorporated present her in two concerts, bringing her artistry to the audiences of Tokyo Opera City (February 7) and Muza Kawasaki (February 8).
A powerful and innovative presence on the recording scene, Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg continues to enrich the collection of her record label NSS Music, which she started in 2005. The label already features Ms. Salerno-Sonnenberg’s “Merry” (a compilation of Christmas favorites, performed by Nadja and friends), “Nadja” (Tchaikovsky and Assad, Violin concertos), “Live” (Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg and Anne-Marie McDermott), as well as Anne-Marie McDermott’s “Bach”, and John Cerminaro’s “John Cerminaro, A Life of Music.” This year marked the release of NSS Music’s first jazz album, entitled “Love, All That It Is,” featuring The Clarice Assad Trio. An ever-evolving and creative project, NSS Music will continue to bring forth unique performances from many musical genres.
Ms. Salerno-Sonnenberg’s exceptional artistry is paired with great musical intelligence, which along with her unique sense of humor have served her well in numerous environments—on camera, in a commercial for Signet Bank, hosting a Backstage/Live from Lincoln Center program for PBS, appearing in the PBS/BBC series The Mind, even talking to Big Bird on Sesame Street. She was the subject of the 2000 Academy Award-nominated film, Speaking In Strings, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. Released in theaters nationwide and subsequently premiered on HBO’s Signatures channel in 1999, this intensely personal documentary on her life is available on VHS and DVD through New Video. The CD of music from the film was released in 1999 by Angel/EMI. Ms. Salerno-Sonnenberg has also appeared on ABC’s prime time comedy Dharma & Greg in 2001, and she has been interviewed and profiled on CBS’ 60 Minutes, 60 Minutes II, and Sunday Morning; CNN’s Newsstand; NBC's National News and The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson; A & E's Artist of the Week with Elliot Forrest; Bravo's Arts & Minds and The Art of Influence; PBS' Live from Lincoln Center, The Charlie Rose Show, and City Arts. On the publishing front, Nadja: On My Way, her autobiography written for children discussing her experiences as a young musician building a career, was published by Crown Books in 1989.
Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg’s professional career began in 1981 when she won the Walter W. Naumburg International Violin Competition. In 1983 she was recognized with an Avery Fisher Career Grant, and in 1988 was Ovations Debut Recording Artist of the Year. In 1999 she was honored with the prestigious Avery Fisher Prize, awarded to instrumentalists who have demonstrated “outstanding achievement and excellence in music.” In May of that same year, Ms. Salerno-Sonnenberg was awarded an honorary Masters of Musical Arts from the New Mexico State University, the first honorary degree the University has ever awarded. An American citizen, Ms. Salerno-Sonnenberg was born in Rome and emigrated to the United States at the age of eight to study at The Curtis Institute of Music. She later studied with Dorothy DeLay at The Juilliard School.