Acclaimed cellist to perform at YSO concert
By GUY D’ASTOLFO
YOUNGSTOWN
The Youngstown Symphony Orchestra will close its season Saturday with a concert featuring acclaimed cellist Inbal Segev as guest soloist.
The concert, titled “Hebraic Rhapsody,” will feature works by Jewish composers.
The Israeli-American Segev will perform with the YSO, under the direction of Randall Craig Fleischer, on Ernest Bloch’s “Schelomo” and Leonard Bernstein’s “Mass: Three Meditations.”
“As a native Hebrew speaker raised in Israel, Bloch’s ‘Schelomo’ and Bernstein’s ‘Three Meditations’ are works that speak my language,’” said Segev, in a press release. “I look forward to performing them with my friend, Randall Fleischer, with whom I recently collaborated on the premiere of a different kind of a cello concerto, by Israeli composer Avner Borman.”
She performed the premiere of the Dorman Cello Concerto with the YSO in 2013.
Saturday’s concert program also will feature Mahler’s Symphony No. 5 and Copland’s “The Tender Land” suite.
Segev’s playing has been described by The Strad as “characterized by a strong and warm tone ... delivered with impressive fluency and style,” and by Gramophone as “first class,” “richly inspired” and “very moving.”
The New York resident is a founding member of the Amerigo Trio with former New York Philharmonic concertmaster Glenn Dicterow and violist Karen Dreyfus. Her cello was made by Francesco Ruggieri in 1673.
Segev released her recording of the complete Cello Suites of J.S. Bach in fall 2015 on the Vox label to critical acclaim and a spot on The New York Times classical playlist.
She has performed Bach’s Cello Suites in venues around the world, including Lincoln Center and The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, Shanghai Concert Hall, and Henry Crown Hall in the Jerusalem Theatre.
As a soloist, Segev has performed with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Castleton Festival Orchestra with Lorin Maazel, Bogota Philharmonic, Helsinki Philharmonic, Dortmund Philharmonic, the Orchestre National de Lyon, the Polish National Radio Symphony and the Bangkok Symphony.
She made debuts with the Berlin Philharmonic and Israel Philharmonic, led by Zubin Mehta, at age 17.
While she is in town, Segev and Fleischer will present outreach programs at Heritage Manor today and Levy Gardens on Friday.
The two also will appear at 5:30 p.m. today at the art gallery of the Jewish Community Center, 505 Gypsy Lane, for the opening reception of “Collective Resonance: An Exhibit of Women Artists.” Segev will give a recital at the event; for reservations, call the JCC at 330-740-3250, ext. 195.
After Saturday’s YSO concert at Powers Auditorium, the Jeff Bremer Group will perform in an After Hours show in the Overture restaurant lobby.