John Fadial
Michael Griffith
Certainly, Shakespeare’s Tragedy of “Romeo and Juliet” has captured more hearts -- and generated more tears -- than any other story in the western canon. Film versions abound, Gounod’s opera is a perennial favorite, and “West Side Story” was groundbreaking on Broadway. In the ballet world, Prokofiev’s 1935 score stands out as a 20th century masterpiece, and orchestral performances of selected sections abound, even without the dancers.
That’s what’s in store for University of Wyoming Symphony Orchestra (UWSO) fans, as UWSO performs an extended suite from Prokofiev’s “Romeo and Juliet” Friday, Nov. 21, at 7:30 p.m. in the Buchanan Center for the Performing Arts concert hall.
Tickets are available at www.tix.com/ticket-sales/uwyo/6984, in person or at (307) 766-6666 at the Performing Arts box office, Monday through
Friday, noon to 6 p.m. and one hour before performances.
UWSO’s opening night fall concert was completely sold out, so UWSO conductor Michael Griffith encourages guests to purchase their tickets early.
For this performance, Griffith has chosen movements depicting the balcony scene, the swordfight, Friar Laurence, Romeo at Juliet’s grave and more.
“The music perfectly evokes the feelings and actions of these scenes, so the score is always an audience favorite,” Griffith says. “The music calls for a huge orchestra, even including a contrabassoon solo!”
Theater artist Anne Mason will introduce each movement, including some carefully selected text directly from Shakespeare. Mason is well known to Laramie audiences as the former artistic director at Relative Theatrics.
Before intermission, violinist John Fadial will present the finest American violin solo: Samuel Barber’s 1939 concerto for violin and orchestra.
“It’s truly a perfect synthesis of lyrical melodies, lush harmonies and brilliant technical passages,” Griffith says.
As professor of violin and head of strings at UW, Fadial appears frequently as a soloist or chamber musician on campus, and he’s well known throughout the U.S., performing frequently in France as well.
The concert will open with the overture to “L’Amant anonyme” (The Anonymous Lover) by Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges. He lived at the same time as Mozart, so his works have a clear, classical sound and elegant orchestration. Bologne was the first composer of African descent to attain widespread fame in Europe, where he was equally well known as a great swordsman. The 2022 biopic “Chevalier” starred Kevin Harrison Jr. as this fascinating man.
At the age of 11, Fadial performed for President Gerald Ford and since has appeared around the globe as chamber musician, soloist and pedagogue. His performances have been praised by the critics: “Sparkling Technique,” L’Est Republicain (France); “Wow! Great stuff,” The Washington Post; and “Gorgeously rendered,” New York Concert Review. He has toured four continents for the U.S. State Department as a U.S. artistic ambassador and has served as concertmaster of the North Carolina Opera; the Colorado Festival; ProMusica Colorado; the Menuhin Festival Orchestra of Saumur in France; the Heidelberg Schloss-Spiele in Germany; and the Greensboro Symphony Orchestra in North Carolina (18 seasons). Additionally, he has served as associate concertmaster of the Eastern Festival Orchestra, appearing as both concertmaster and soloist, under the direction of Gerard Schwarz since 1999.
As a recording artist, he was a semifinalist for the Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music Performance of 2007 for the CD “Where Does Love Go: Chamber Music of Mark Engebretson” on the Innova label; and, in 2009, he released a disc of the complete string sextets of Johannes Brahms (RadioFrance) with the Stanislas Sextet of Nancy, France, of which he is a founding member.
His disc of the chamber music of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor with English pianist Andrew Harley was deemed “not to be missed” by American Record Guide. The duo recently completed a recording of the Brahms sonatas for the Centaur label which was greeted with the critical acclaim: “five stars: extraordinary music-making, truly visionary,” wrote Fanfare. His disc of the chamber music of Jennifer Higdon, produced in collaboration with the Pulitzer Prize-winning composer was released on the Albany label in 2013.
In 2016, Fadial embarked on a recording project of string sextet repertoire with the Nancy-based Stanislas Sextet in celebration of their 20th season. Discs released so far include world premiere recordings of new Sextets by Georges, Sauget and Fadial, as well as great standards including Brahms (Op. 18 and Op. 36), Dvorak, Schoenberg and Schulhoff, on the Forgotten Records label.
The year 2023 saw his recording at Cornell University of the complete works for violin and piano of Gabriel Fauré, with pianist Chi-Chen Wu, using an 1860 Erard keyboard for release on MusicOmnia/Naxos. In May 2024, Fadial recorded another disc of English music including the epic Elgar sonata with longtime duo partner Harley of the Eastman School. In May 2025, he recorded the two works for violin and piano of Richard Strauss and Ottorino Respighi with pianist Jiwon Han. These last two discs will be released on the Centaur Label in 2026.
Fadial holds degrees from the North Carolina School of the Arts, the Eastman School of Music and the University of Maryland. His teachers have included Jerry Cadek Lucktenberg, Elaine Richey, Charles Castleman, Arnold Steinhardt, Zoltan Szekely and Joseph Silverstein. Mentors have included Jan DeGaetani, Aaron Rosand, Joseph Gingold, members of the Beaux Arts Trio and members of the Cleveland, Juilliard and Guarneri String Quartets.
