The State Theatre presents the Hamburg Symphony Orchestra with Conductor Jeffrey Tate on Wednesday, January 18, at 8pm. The program includes Vaughn Williams, Wasps: Overture; Johannes Brahms, Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 77; and Dvorák, Symphony No. 7 in D minor, Op. 70, B. 141.  Tickets range from $36-$58.

Mr. Tate originally studied medicine at Cambridge University and  practiced three years as an eye surgeon in London before he started his professional artistic career by joining the music staff at the Royal Opera Covent Garden in 1970. He assisted Sir George Solti in London, Sir John Pritchard in Cologne, Pierre Boulez for the centenary Ring at the Bayreuth Festival, and Herbert von Karajan in Salzburg. He made his conducting debut with Carmen at Gothenburg Opera in 1978.

Mr. Tate has since worked with most of the major orchestras in the world. He has recorded a vast number of landmark recordings, and  regularly conducts in the world’s leading opera houses and festivals. He is a specialist in the music of Wagner and Strauss, of core classical and romantic repertoire, of British music of the late 19th and 20th century and of classical modern and contemporary music. Since 2001, he has been Honorary Director of the National Italian Radio Orchestra. He was appointed Principal Conductor of the Hamburg Symphony Orchestra in 2009.

Violinist Guy Braunstein was born in Tel Aviv and studied the violin under Chaim Taub, Glenn Dicterow, and Pinchas Zuckerman. He started performing as an international soloist and chamber musician at a young age and has since played with orchestras such as the Israel Philharmonic, the Tonhalle Orchestra in Zurich, the Bamberg Symphony, the radio orchestras in Copenhagen and Frankfurt, the Filarmonica della Scala, and the Berlin Philharmonic.

He has collaborated with musicians such as Isaac Stern, András Schiff, Zubin Mehta, Maurizio Pollini, Vladimir Fedosejew, Yefim Bronfman, and Daniel Barenboim, among others. Mr. Braunstein was the youngest person ever to be appointed concertmaster of the Berlin Philharmonic in 2000, a position which marked his debut as an orchestral member and which he currently retains, working with the Berlin Philharmonic for four months of the year.

The State Theatre is located at 15 Livingston Avenue in New Brunswick. For tickets or more information, call the State Theatre ticket office at (732) 246-7469, or visit www.StateTheatreNJ.org.