In
1994, Mr. Shilakowsky, performed as a guest leader (a position leading
the violin section) of the London Symphony Orchestra performing
recording sessions, tours and performances under music director Michael
Tilson Thomas and Sir George Solti, Sir Colin Davis and
André
Previn in performances with Jessye Norman, Yuri Bashmet, Peter
Zimmerman, and Kiri Tekanawa, among others. Upon returning to the USA,
Shilakowsky was called to serve as concertmaster for the Bocksch
Concerts Production of My Fair Lady, the European Tour with Maximillian
Schell.
Harris
Shilakowsky is a former concertmaster of the Charleston Symphony
Orchestra (D.Stahl), the New Orleans Symphony under Maxim Shostakovich,
the Omaha Symphony directed by Bruce Hangen, the Grand Rapids Symphony
(Semyon Bychkov), the Orquesta Sinfonica de Las Palmas and the Des
Moines Metro Opera Orchestra. He has also worked with the Boston,
Chautauqua and Nashville Symphonies, the Buffalo Philharmonic, the
Handel-Haydn Society of Boston, and the Opera Company of Boston. Other
recent U.S. free-lance work includes guest-concertmaster work with
Vermont Symphony, the Granite State Symphony and the Nashua Symphony. He
was also Concertmaster/contractor
of professional orchestras for Nutcracker performances with the
Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre at the Collins Center in Andover,
Massachusetts.
As
solo
violinist, Shilakowsky has appeared with the New Orleans, Omaha and
Charleston Symphony Orchestras, the New England Conservatory and Grand
Rapids Symphony Orchestras performing Mozart, Bach and Dvorak Violin
Concertos, Vaughan-Williams' "Lark Ascending" and Ravel's "Tzigane",
the Brahms Concerto and Chausson "Poeme" and in live recitals on NPR
Stations in Boston, Omaha and Nashville. He performed recitals in 1999
in Brockton, MA at Temple Beth Emunah, in 1998 at the Newton Free
Public Library & Jewish Community Center in Newton, MA, and in
Johannesburg & Pietersburg, South Africa.
He
also
performs with the Boston Lyric Opera, Boston Pops, the Boston Ballet,
Pro Arté Chamber Orchestra, and the American Symphony. He
was a
first violinist and on-stage solo musician for the Really Useful Group
'Frankfurt-1995' production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Sunset Boulevard.
In 1995, he completed a three month contract of West Side Story
performing at the Schiller Theater in Berlin, Germany.
Harris' latest project is the formation of the S-Band... s-band.com Returning to playing keyboards, electric violin, and being a band leader, writing music and writing words about
things that are important to people...
conductor
Shilakowsky founded & directs &
performs as violin
soloist of the
Bristol Chamber
Orchestra,
a professional
ensemble
dedicated to performing music of all periods in diverse settings,
educational concerts & special events including choral
concerts. He was founding director of the Sharon Community Chamber
Orchestra and has also
directed rehearsals with youth orchestras in Burlington, VT and at New
England Conservatory of Music. In 2002, Shilakowsky was guest conductor
of the Rocky Ridge Music Festival Orchestra (YAS program). He has
conducted chamber orchestra concerts in Grand Rapids and Baroque
readings in Germany with international musical colleagues. He was also
the Founder & Director of the Strauss Orchestra of Boston and
conductor of fund-raising concerts for Pro Arté Chamber
Orchestra and the Boston Philharmonic.
educational
background
Shilakowsky
earned his Bachelor of Music cum laudé from New
England
Conservatory of Music and a
Master's Degree from Yale
University. His
teachers include Joseph Silverstein, Koichiro Harada, Nancy Cirillo,
and Leo Panasevich of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, David Cerone, Vali
Bluttner and Yair Kless, chamber music with Joseph Gingold, Louis
Krasner, Rudolph Kolisch, Eugene Lehner, master classes and chamber
music with Oscar Shumsky and members of the Tokyo Quartet at Yale. He
was born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1955. He is a Tanglewood alumnus,
and is an active composer. He has been listed in 'Who's Who in Musical
America'. He has taught at several schools, including the New England
Conservatory Preparatory School, the Thayer Conservatory @ Atlantic
Union College, and The South Shore Conservatory, where he was the head
of the string department, and as an adjunct professor at the College of
Charleston.
Currently teaching privately.
Shilakowsky
performs on a violin by Dom Nicolo Amati
made circa 1725.
violin@Shilakowskyarts.com
eastonmusicschool.org
With his experience in the studio, on stage with symphonies and chamber
music, and performing in the pit and on stage in theatre productions,
writing, composing, arranging, and working with actors, singers and
instrumentalists, Shilakowsky has branched out to include coaching and
producing emerging artists.
