ROCCO PRIOLETTI
Staff Writer
Violinist Aubree Oliverson was first introduced to Antonín Dvořák’s Violin Concerto at the age of 12. Her teacher at the time, Eugene Watanabe, assigned her to listen to one standard violin concerto each week to accustom herself to the repertoire. She familiarized herself with seminal works and composers — from Ludwig van Beethoven to Johannes Brahms. However, Dvořák’s work stood out.
“I remember sitting next to my CD player on the carpet in my bedroom and just listening to this gorgeous piece and falling head-over-heels in love with it,” Oliverson remembered. She enjoyed the other concertos, but “… This one just captured my attention immediately, and I wanted to play it so badly. But I wasn’t quite ready to play it yet. I had to wait a little bit longer.”
Now, from carpeted bedroom floors to the Chautauqua Amphitheater stage, Oliverson will be spotlighted during her performance of Dvořák’s Violin Concerto. At 8 p.m. tonight in the Amp, she will join the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra as the evening’s guest violinist under the baton of Rossen Milanov.
Oliverson’s relationship with the violin began shortly after viewing a violin recital performed by her father’s friend for her master’s degree.
“I think we went out that very night and rented a violin because we thought it was so cool,” Oliverson said.
Oliverson’s family did not come from a classical music background; before picking up the violin, she briefly learned piano with her father, a self-taught pianist. Her lifelong dedication to the violin grew gradually with time and practice, stoked under the undying flame of a childhood dream that refused to let out.
“When I was a kid, I think, like we all do, we kind of envision our future in a very naive … way. We don’t really understand what we’re getting ourselves into, no matter which career paths we choose,” Oliverson said. “That’s kind of the way it was for me. I just imagined, ‘Oh, I’ll practice hard and then I’ll just have a flourishing international career in a couple years, you know?’”
However, Oliverson did not allow her childhood dream to linger on idly as an ideal. Instead, her sought-after career propelled the violinist to refine her craft year after year: every audition, every concert, every unheard practice session in a school basement, she proved herself.
“I remember hearing Hilary Hahn play Tchaikovsky with the Utah Symphony. I think I was about 13 or 14. I’ve just always been really inspired by her,” Oliverson said. “I remember sitting in the audience, thinking, ‘I want to be doing that one day.’ And then, I got to do it.”
A decade later, Oliverson took the stage alongside the Utah Symphony as a professional musician.
Similarly, having spent four years at Aspen Music School as a student, Oliverson returned this year as a recording artist for her debut studio album, Aubree Oliverson: Live from the Aspen Music Festival.
In addition to Oliverson’s love for the repertoire itself, music’s communicative qualities remained formative in the violinist’s journey. She recalled the “rush of emotion” she felt while performing Fritz Kreisler’s “Tempo Di Minuetto” at the age of 10. Despite playing only for the audience of a small studio recital, the impact was lasting.
“I just remember playing my heart out and loving that feeling, and I felt like the audience was affected by what I did. I remember looking out and feeling like, ‘Wow, I actually affected them by this performance.’ I could tell … I could tell a difference,” Oliverson said.
Bookended on either side of Dvořák’s centerpiece concerto, Milanov will guide the CSO through Missy Mazzoli’s “Orpheus Undone,” concluding the evening program with Kevin Puts’ Concerto for Orchestra.
Oliverson and Milanov have worked together previously in Costa Rica, Princeton, New Jersey, and Columbus, Ohio. Having performed Dvořák’s Violin Concerto together before, she noted that this familiarity allows them to be more “free,” “daring” and “improvisatory.”
“I find that [Milanov] has this sort of magical presence onstage that he’s able to lock everybody in in the orchestra and just kind of commands their attention,” Oliverson said. “And there’s this special, sparkling energy that he brings to the pieces that we do together. It’s just always such a pleasure for me to work with him.”
