It’s hard to know where to start here. I’ve been playing in public pretty much since I was toilet trained, so I’ll limit things to professional experience and will divide them into somewhat arbitrary categories.
As a teacher I believe it’s essential to walk the walk if you’re going to talk the talk. That’s one reason I’ve tried to maintain a busy solo career along with my other activities.
Over the years I’ve had appearances with orchestras including the Utah Symphony, Boston Pops, Sydney Symphony, Hartford Symphony, Colorado Springs Symphony, Sunriver Music Festival (OR), San Juan Symphony (CO), Southwest Symphony (UT), and university and conservatory orchestras around the world. Conductors I’ve worked with have included, Joseph Silverstein, Keith Lockhart, John Williams, Arthur Fiedler, Robert Spano, Christoph Perrick, Lawrence Leighton Smith, James Paul, Christopher Wilkins, Victor Yampolsky, John Hopkins, Robert Debbaut, and Dante Valdez.
“Particularly impressive from Elias' standpoint were the mounting passion and incisiveness of the unaccompanied introduction, [Ravel ‘Tzigane’, Utah Symphony] with its trills, pizzicato effects and multiple stops . . . In short, a virtuoso performance, and not just from Ravel.”  Deseret News 3/28/93
“[Elias] turned in a pleasingly uninsistent account of the solo part, [Mozart Concerto #3, Utah Symphony] ennobled by natural phrasing and, in the warmly aromatic slow movement, easeful ornaments and an unerring sense of line . . . he pretty much let the music speak for itself. Which, I suppose, is not an inconsiderable interpretive gift on its own.” Deseret News 3/5/90
As far as recitals are concerned, I’ve given them on five continents (excluding Africa and Antarctica, though I hope someday to perform in the former). In particular, during my sabbatical year of 1986-87 I gave a large number of recitals in Japan, New Zealand, and Australia in programs featuring American music. I spent a second sabbatical year, 1997, living and composing in Umbria, Italy, and performing recitals and chamber music in Florence, Preggio and Bevagna. Since 2005 I’ve performed several recitals annually in various cities in Peru, including Lima, Cusco, and Arequipa. I’m especially proud of three benefit recitals I performed (2001-2003) for the humanitarian organization, Seeds of Peace, in Salt Lake City.
“Elias . . . showed himself to be an outstanding recitalist. He is an exceptionally talented and sublime musician. His musicality is impressive, and his technical skill is unsurpassed.”
Deseret News 4/06/01
“One of the highlights was Richard Strauss' Sonata in E flat major, op. 18. Elias and Janove brought out the heroic as well as the sublimely lyrical elements of this work with their superb performance. Elias and Janove captured the spirit and vibrancy of this music, playing it with a fervor that gave the music depth and perception.” Deseret News 4/22/02
“The evening's show-stopper, though, was a dazzling performance by Elias of Saint-Saens' ever popular ‘Havanaise.’ Elias played the piece with stylish flair, bringing out the sensuousness of the Latin melody while sparkling in the bravura passages.
“Arguably the most rewarding of these surprises was Elias' stunning performance of Eugene Ysaye's Unaccompanied Sonata No. 2. [Elias] wowed the audience with his musicianship and conviction in this virtuoso tour-de-force. The ominous plainchant ‘Dies irae’ wove through the work's four movements. Elias captured the mood of each in his memorable performance.”
Salt Lake Tribune 6/1/03
I joined the Boston Symphony at the age of twenty-three, and was a member of the violin section for thirteen years. I’m still invited to play with them at Tanglewood, their summer festival, to fill in when one of their regular members is unavailable. Since 1988, however, I’ve been proud to be the Associate Concertmaster of the Utah Symphony.
Having a full-time orchestral position makes outside activities difficult to schedule and potentially exhausting, especially when raising a family is the number one priority, as it should be. Nevertheless, I consider it my great good fortune to have been a founding member of the Abramyan String Quartet, which in its ten year existence not only achieved extraordinarily high artistic standards, but toured Japan six times and had an enviable program of education and outreach that extended to schools, senior citizen centers, hospitals, and corrections facilities. The Abramyan Sting Quartet can be heard on CRI, Centaur, Tantarus, Off The Record, and Albany labels.
I include just a few of the reviews we received over the years:
“The Abramyan is without question one of the finest string quartets around. As with the Janacek, the "Lyric Suite" is an intense, gripping and totally enthralling work. Each of the six movements presents a different mood, and the work is emotionally draining. And the Abramyan was unbelievable in their performance of this hypnotic work.” Deseret News 1/31/00
“I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that the Abramyan has a fresher and more creative approach to the quartet repertoire than many full-time groups. Its performances have consistently been vibrant and dynamic, never routine or mechanical.”
Deseret News 5/25/03
“The four musicians gave a stunning performance of this captivating quartet [Dvorak’s ‘American’] capturing the exuberant lyricism flowing through it with their transparent playing . . . filled to the brim with infectious spirit and lightheartedness.”
Deseret News 4/30/03
“. . . the four plunged headlong into Shostakovich's Quartet No. 8. One of the Russian composer's most disturbing chamber works, the Abramyan did full justice to it, playing with an intensity that brought out the powerful emotions that run through each of the quartet's five connected movements."
Deseret News 1/29/03
”The concert concluded with Beethoven's Quartet in C major, op. 59, no. 3 ("Razumovsky"). Here, too, the Abramyan gave a compelling performance, playing the work with understanding, feeling and romantic passion, while never neglecting its lyricism and expressiveness.” Deseret News
“The Abramyan put passion and fervor into its performance of the Barber. It was a vibrant and vivid interpretation of this brief, yet gripping work. The molto adagio movement . . . was played with infinite beauty and tenderness.” Deseret News 5/1/02
“[Pianist Andre] Schub and the four string players . . . approached the Brahms with an intuitive sense of perception and an uncanny unanimity of purpose and direction. The performance was vivid and powerful and striking in its vibrancy and vitality.
Deseret News 11/5/01
“The Abramyan brought out the lyricism and youthful lightheartedness of this work [Mendelssohn op.12#1] wonderfully, in a performance that was vivacious and engaging and filled with good-natured charm. Mendelssohn doesn't get much better than this.” Deseret News 4/30/01
“Sunday evening, Schub made his local chamber-music debut performing with the Abramyan Quartet. And together, these five musicians gave an exceptionally dynamic and electrifying performance of Schumann's great Piano Quintet in E flat major, op. 44. Their interpretation was passionate, refreshingly bold, and yet full of subtle nuances that gave the music depth and a dramatic and distinctively unique personality. It would be difficult indeed to find an interpretation of the Schumann quintet that could surpass this emotionally charged and vivid performance.”
Deseret News 10/30/00
“The four musicians played the Beethoven (opus 130) work magnificently. Their interpretation was imbued with power and passion, and in their hands, it became a very personal statement. They brought out all of the work's intensity and emotions in a performance that was quite simply electrifying and stupendous.” Deseret News 4/17/00
“The quartet was at its best in the concert closer, Bedrich Smetana's ‘From My Life.’ Its collective tone was full and rich, the sense of teamwork strong. The third movement, depicting Smetana's relationship with his wife, was especially tender and romantic. A palpable nostalgia hung over the work's final movement, which ends with a sense of resignation as the composer anticipates his death.” Salt Lake Tribune 4/29/03
During my Boston years I was the violinist in the Andover Trio, which for many years was the resident piano trio of Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts. Violinist Ronan Lefkowitz and I paired up for several years to form the vaunted Elias/Lefkowitz Duo which performed regularly at Boston’s Institute for Contemporary Art. Among our greatest feats was a three-concert series including all 44 Bartok duos.
I’ve also had the pleasure of performing as a free-lance chamber musician in series such as Nova, New Music Ensemble, and Canyonlands in Salt Lake City, and Collage in Boston. For three years (1989-91) between Thanksgiving and Christmas, my wife, Cecily, and I organized, hosted, and performed in a dozen chamber music concerts in our home, the proceeds of which went to the Salt Lake City homeless shelter.
I am particularly excited about my novels, Devil's Trill and Danse Macabre, excursions into the dark side of the classical music world, published by St. Martin's Press.
In 2009 I was honored by Barnes and Noble, who selected Devil's Trill for their Discover Great New Writers fall catalog, in which was written: "Rich in music detail and featuring a fabulously roguish cast, Devil's Trill will delight music lovers and mystery fans alike. Danse Macabre, featuring the same roguish cast, will be released in September, 2010."
Take a look at my interview with Heather Simonsen, featured in the December 2009 issue of the Salt Lake Magazine. "Who knew classical music could be so Sinister? Gerald Elias' new novel is your guide to the Shadowy side of Symphony life."
See what Dick Adler, Crime Fiction Reviewer for the Chicago Tribune and Barnes&Noble.com has written on his blog about Devil's Trill.
Read more about my writing and read more reviews from the critics. Please join me at one of my local booksigning events. Visit one of the booksellers listed on this page, where you can order a copy of Devil's Trill.
For more details about what I have been up to, please peruse the other pages of my website. If you are interested in contacting me for potential engagements or for any other reason whatsoever, don't hesitate to drop me an email.
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