Music from the Mountains
The online film project “Music from the Mountains” will stream from August 16-29, 2020.
The online film project “Music from the Mountains” will stream from August 16-29, 2020. Madeline performs on three concerts including the grand finale: the Schumann Piano Quintet with pianist Yefim Bronfman!
Concertmasters Coast-to-Coast!
Concertmasters Coast-to-Coast! Madeline is one of eight featured Concertmasters in a performance of the gorgeous slow movement of the Bach Double Violin Concerto! Watch the video here!
Concertmasters Coast-to-Coast! Madeline is one of eight featured Concertmasters in a performance of the gorgeous slow movement of the Bach Double Violin Concerto! Watch the video here!
In addition, Madeline can be heard on the first episode of “Backstage Pass” from the Grand Teton Music Festival, as well as the “Ghost Light” podcast where she discusses her work as a project manager for the Utah Symphony’s 80th Anniversary Celebration.
International Musician Cover
Madeline is featured on the cover of the International Musician, which is the magazine of the American Federation of Musicians!!
Haitian Orchestra Institute
Madeline talks about her experience at the 2018 Haitian Orchestra Institute.
Utah Enlightenment 2017
The Top Ten Moments of the Utah Enlightenment in 2017
"As the NOVA Chamber Music Series marks its 40th anniversary season, audiences are observing the rigorous standards of musicianship in concerts featuring Utah performers that would be admired and respected in any major metropolitan market. One performance stands out as a definitive moment of the Utah Enlightenment: Concerto in D Major for violin, piano and string quartet, Op. 21, by Amédée-Ernest Chausson (1892), as performed by Madeline Adkins, concertmaster of the Utah Symphony and Jason Hardink, piano, and accompanied by the Fry Street Quartet, which is in a long-term artistic residency at Utah State University. It was in the slow movement (the third), which produced a sound truly of an other-worldly beauty – the most heartfelt poetry of music one could experience.
That standard of musicianship likely will be enhanced in the future, as Adkins also becomes NOVA’s music director while Hardink takes on the role as artistic adviser. The innovative move in organizational structure is intended to add depth to NOVA’s unique programming model, especially in how it juxtaposes existing works in the chamber music series with new compositions."
Music Director of NOVA Chamber Music Series
Utah Symphony Concertmaster, Madeline Adkins, has accepted a one-year appointment as Music Director of the NOVA Chamber Music Series, effective July 1.
New CD Release from American Record Guide
"Mendelssohn’s violin sonatas are unjustly neglected: only the first movement of an unfinished sonata is from his 16th year, the same year as his miraculous Octet. Two sonatas are juvenilia, written age 11 and 15, and the last from 1838 he left unpublished. So we have no complete violin works from Mendelssohn’s prime years. It’s a mystery that Mendelssohn hid the mature Sonata 3 in F, as it’s ebullient and stirring, cut from the same expressive cloth as his Italian Symphony.
Here Ms Adkins and Mr Magalhães are ardent and spontaneous, ecstatic, like mature Schumann—but Schumann had yet to publish any chamber music by 1838. The juvenile Sonata 2 in F minor would be the pride of any seasoned composer—it is masterly, dark, and profound, like the best early Beethoven, especially at the exceedingly moderato tempo in I; these players take 10-1/2 minutes where most take about 8. It’s a risky choice, and teases more adolescent angst out of a movement that can sound like a petulant snit fit at faster tempos. The soulful Beethovenian II is soothing, the grumpy Mozartean finale agitated and sec, where the fierce coordination of these musicians is breathtaking. The unfinished D minor Sonata comes next, fiery and brooding. It’s too bad Mendelssohn didn’t finish it.
His first childhood sonata comes last and owes much to Beethoven’s early violin sonatas. It’s playful and not at all profound. The performers toss off its considerable technical demands with ease. I thought the performers sounded distant at first, but grew to enjoy the realistic concert perspective and blend. Ms Adkins has a lovely and intense tone, very passionate. This is a desirable release in every way, and I have a hard time imagining the music done better."
CD Review from Fanfare Magazine
"The playing by these two musicians is astonishingly good. It’s so good, in fact, that the highest tribute I can pay it is to say that if Mendelssohn were alive today to hear these artists play his completed sonatas, he would rush to dust off his uncompleted manuscripts and finish them, just to hear Adkins and Magalhães play them. Even if the performances were not as phenomenally good as they are, and the TwoPianists recording was not as immaculately clean, transparent, and beautifully balanced as it is, this release would still deserve strong commendation for including more of Mendelssohn’s violin and piano works on a single disc than any others I know. But the performances and the recording are magnificent, so, urgently recommended."
– Jerry Dubins
Solo Debut Profile
Profile of Madeline and her upcoming solo debut with the Utah Symphony.
Baltimore Sun CD Review
"Madeline Adkins, who starts as concertmaster of the Utah Symphony this season, was long valued as Baltimore Symphony Orchestra associate concertmaster for her sure technique and vibrant personality. Those gifts abound on this Mendelssohn collection.
Partnered with equal ease and nuance by pianist Luis Magalhaes, Adkins captures the lyrical sweep of Mendelssohn's F major Sonata from 1838. The youthful F major Sonata from 1820 inspires playing of great clarity and color, especially in the whirlwind finale. Adkins finds the drama in the F minor Sonata, Op. 4, as well as the poetic possibilities in the single, promising fragment from an unfinished D minor Sonata."
– Tim Smith
WOSU NPR Interview
Listen to Madeline speak with WOSU's Boyce Lancaster about her Mendelssohn CD and her new position as Utah Symphony concertmaster.
Violinist.com Interview
Madeline chats with Samuel Thompson at Violinist.com about finding her path
CD Release!
Madeline's new disc of the Complete Mendelssohn Sonatas with pianist Luis Magalhães was released in early August!
From the Baltimore Sun
"Madeline Adkins, the highly regarded Associate Concertmaster of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra since 2005, and Assistant Concertmaster before that, has been appointed Concertmaster of the Utah Symphony, effective September 2016.
Adkins will be missed around here, as much for her pristine technique and sensitive music-making as for her personal charm and dynamism."
Review: Washington Post
"Stenz brought a feather-light touch and hushed dynamics to Mozart’s youthful First Symphony and glorious Sinfonia Concertante for Violin and Viola, which featured solo work of gorgeous timbre and Olympian poise from BSO Associate Concertmaster Madeline Adkins and principal viola Lisa Steltenpohl."
Review: Baltimore Sun
"There is no mistaking the maturity of the Sinfonia Concertante for violin, viola and orchestra, written when Mozart was in his early 20s. The score offers a feast of melodic invention and, in the second movement, a peak of poetic thought.
Two of the BSO's star players, associate concertmaster Madeline Adkins and principal violist Lisa Steltenpohl, took the solo parts with confidence and style. Backed solidly by Stenz and the ensemble, they zipped nimbly through the outer movements; in the Andante, their expressive tenderness and well-blended tone yielded particular pleasure."
Review: Washington Post
"BSO concertmaster Jonathan Carney and associate concertmaster Madeline Adkins then took the stage as soloists in Bach’s beloved Concerto for Two Violins in D Minor. The lively tempos now considered appropriate in baroque music can be challenging to contemporary string players with their different bows and techniques of using them. Nevertheless, Carney and Adkins acquitted themselves marvelously, particularly in the heartfelt slow movement."
Review: Baltimore Sun
"The Concerto for Two Violins put the spotlight on concertmaster Jonathan Carney and associate concertmaster Madeline Adkins. They delivered superbly blended playing in tone and temperament; even their occasional slides were neatly matched. The violinists also enjoyed supple rapport with conductor and colleagues throughout, including the nearly breathless finale."