DENTON, Texas (UNT) – The College of Music recently welcomed Dallas Symphony Orchestra’s co-concertmaster Nathan Olson as an adjunct faculty member. Olson will perform in concert Sept. 16 and 25 at UNT.
“We are very proud to have Nathan (Olson) join our faculty, and it is a joy to have him perform twice on campus this fall,” said College of Music Dean James Scott. “Simply stated, he is one of the finest young violinists in today’s professional world. The Dallas Symphony is fortunate to have him as co-concertmaster, and we are delighted that he is choosing to make the guidance of our students a significant part of his life in Texas.”
Olson will play violin alongside other College of Music faculty and guest artists at an 8 p.m. Sept. 16 (Monday) recital in Voertman Hall, in the Music Building. The concert will also feature cello professor Eugene Osadchy and viola professor Susan Dubois, and guest artists Alexander Kerr, who recently joined the Dallas Symphony Orchestra as concertmaster, on violin and Anastasia Markina, an alumna, on piano. The free concert features chamber works of Mozart, Beethoven and Brahms.
The UNT Symphony Orchestra concert at 8 p.m. Sept. 25 (Wednesday) in Winspear Hall in the Murchison Performing Arts Center features Olson and percussion professor Christopher Deane. Olson will perform Ernest Chausson’s Poème for Violin and Orchestra, while Deane will be featured in Zoltán Kodály’s Háry János Suite as soloist on the cimbalom, a Hungarian type of hammered dulcimer. David Itkin will conduct the program, which also includes Brahms’ Symphony No. 4.
About Nathan Olson
A native of Berkeley, Calif., violinist Nathan Olson began his appointment as co-concertmaster with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra in September 2011. He is a graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Music's Concertmaster Academy, where he studied with William Preucil and Paul Kantor. A winner of the Joseph and Elsie Scharff prize in violin at the Cleveland Institute of Music, he has performed as soloist with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, the Canton Symphony Orchestra, the Breckenridge Music Festival Orchestra, the Cleveland Pops Orchestra, CityMusic Cleveland, the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra, the Berkeley Symphony, the Oakland East Bay Symphony and the Lexington Bach Festival Orchestra. Olson is a silver medal winner at the Fischoff Competition. In recent seasons, he has appeared as guest concertmaster with the Symphony Orchestras of Toronto, Omaha and Tucson, and as principal second violin with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra.
About the UNT College of Music
The UNT College of Music is one of the largest and most respected comprehensive music schools in the country. More than 1,500 music students attend UNT each year, participating in more than 50 widely varied ensembles and pursuing specialized studies in performance, composition, music education or music scholarship. UNT faculty members and students have made appearances on the world’s finest stages and have produced numerous recordings, many receiving Grammy awards and nominations. Distinguished UNT alumni can be found around the globe, in top music ensembles, opera companies, universities and schools.