Classical Romance

Concert Preview

The Dallas Symphony’s 2007-2008 Feel the Passion: A Season from the Heart begins with Classical Romance.

The Dallas Symphony’s Associate Principal Cellist Yuri Anshelevich will perform as soloist for the evening. Assistant Conductor Danail Rachev will conduct.

The program will begin with the heart rending Strauss: Don Juan, Opus 20 followed by Schumann’s Concerto in A minor for Cello, Opus 129.

The second half will feature the classical favorite, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 4 in B-flat major, Opus 60..

Danail Rachev, Assistant Conductor
The Dallas Symphony Orchestra

The Performers

Bulgarian native Danail Rachev was named assistant conductor for the Dallas Symphony Orchestra effective in the 2005-2006 season. In his role as assistant conductor for the Symphony, Rachev assists the music director and guest conductors for various subscription and tour performances throughout the season as well as leads Dallas Symphony education concerts and community parks concerts.

In 2002-2003, Rachev was the first-ever conducting fellow of the New World Symphony in Miami, where he studied with Maestro Michael Tilson Thomas and shared the podium with him on several occasions. His debut and subsequent appearances in numerous subscription and chamber music concerts were met with consistent critical acclaim. Rachev has also served as cover conductor of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, assistant conductor of the Columbia Orchestra (MD), associate director of orchestras at Baltimore School for the Arts and assistant conductor for the Baltimore Opera Company in productions of Elektra, Eugene Onegin and La Cenerentola.

Originally trained at the State Musical Academy in Sofia, where he received degrees in orchestral and choral conducting, Rachev came to the United States in 1998 for studies at Peabody Conservatory on full scholarship. While at Peabody, he served as assistant conductor for the Opera Department, Peabody Symphony Orchestra and Peabody Camerata, graduating in 2000 with the master of music in orchestral conducting.

During the summer of 2002, Rachev was simultaneously chosen to be an academy conductor for the American Academy of Conducting at the Aspen Music Festival and one of four participants in the National Conducting Institute in Washington, DC. The latter culminated in his well-received debut with the National Symphony Orchestra.

Born and raised in Shumen, Bulgaria, Rachev comes to Dallas from New York City, where he has made his home for the past two years with his wife, Elizabeth.

Russian-born cello virtuoso Yuri Anshelevich made his recital debut at the age of 9, and five years later earned acceptance at the famed Moscow State Conservatory. That same year he won First Prize in the Cello Division of the All-Russian Competition, which led to studies with world-famous cellist Mstislav Rostropovich. Currently serving as Associate Principal Cello with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, he has served on the faculty of Southern Methodist University and as artist-in-residence at the University of Dallas. Active as a soloist and chamber musician, his repertoire includes every major work written for cello. He and his wife, Olga, have one adult son, Leonard.

Before the Concert

Learn more about this concert at the Performance Prelude, from 7:15 until 7:45 p.m. on the lower level of the Greenville Municipal Auditorium. Kevin Salfen, Adjunct Assistant Professor of Musicology at Southern Methodist University, is this year’s speaker for all Dallas Symphony in Greenville concerts.