The Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and Music Director Edo de Waart Present RADU LUPU, 1/24-25

The Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and Music Director Edo de Waart present Radu Lupu on January 24-25, 2014 at 8:00 p.m. at the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts. The program features pianist Radu Lupu who reunites with Edo de Waart for Brahms's First Piano concerto. Their 1974 recording of the work is still considered a benchmark performance. The program also features Schumann's Manfred Overture and James Macmillan's The Confession of Isobel Gowdie.

Both concerts include Meet the Music, a free, interactive pre-concert discussion held in the Anello Atrium, beginning at 7:00 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.

Schumann's Manfred Overture, Opus 115 was composed in 1848 and premiered in 1852. Schumann felt a special kinship to the works of English writer and poet Lord Byron, particularly his dramatic poem Manfred. Though Byron did not intend Manfred to be staged as a play, Schumann was commissioned to write incidental music for a stage production in Weimar, Germany. Upon completion, Schumann wrote to Liszt that he "felt it is one of the finest of my brain children, and I wish you may agree with me."

James Macmillan's The Confession of Isobel Gowdie was composed and premiered in 1990 by the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra at the BBC Proms. The Scottish composer/conductor has emerged in the past twenty years as one of the most important musicians of his generation. The piece recounts the story of Isobel Gowdie, a woman who in 1662 confessed to joining a coven of witches in Scotland and was subsequently strangled at the stake. The composer wrote, "This work is the Requiem that Isobel Gowdie never had."

Brahms's Piano Concerto No. 1 in D minor, Opus 15 was composed from 1854-1858. After attending a performance of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony in 1854, Brahms was inspired to tackle larger-scale symphonic forms. He began conceptualizing a large-scale sonata for two pianos in the same key of D minor as Beethoven's Ninth. It took four years to fully take form, and ultimately evolved into the First Piano Concerto. The concerto is in many ways grander than any concerto that came before it, both in

length and scope.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS
The 2013.14 season is Edo de Waart's fifth as the sixth music director of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra. He is also chief conductor of the Royal Flemish Philharmonic, artistic partner of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, and conductor laureate of the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra.
Guest conducting highlights include performances with the San Francisco Symphony, NHK Symphony, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, Washington's National Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, Los Angeles

1101 North Market Street, Suite 100 | Milwaukee, WI 53202-3148 | ph: 414.291.6010 | f: 414.291.7610 | mso.org

Philharmonic, Sydney Symphony, and Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. As an opera conductor, Mr. de Waart has conducted at Nikikai Opera, Geneva Opera, Opera de Bastille, Santa Fe Opera, and The Metropolitan Opera. Semi-staged and concert opera performances include Der Rosenkavalier (The Metropolitan Opera), Bluebeard's Castle (Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra), and The Rake's Progress (Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra). He regularly conducts an opera with the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic as part of the Concertgebouw's Zaterdag Matinee series.

Edo de Waart's extensive catalogue encompasses releases for Philips, Virgin, EMI, Telarc, and RCA. With the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, he has recorded all the orchestral works of Rachmaninoff, the overtures of Wagner for Octavia/Exton, and a Wagner series for Challenge Classics.

Born in Holland, he studied oboe, piano, and conducting at the Music Lyceum in Amsterdam and upon graduating took up the position of associate principal oboe of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. Two years later, at the age of 23, he won the Dimitri Mitropoulos Conducting Competition in New York which resulted in his appointment as assistant conductor to Leonard Bernstein at the New York Philharmonic. On his return to Holland, he was appointed assistant conductor to Bernard Haitink at the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. In 1967, the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra appointed him guest conductor and, six years later, chief conductor and artistic director. Since then, Edo de Waart has also been music director of the San Francisco Symphony and Minnesota Orchestra, chief conductor and artistic director of the Sydney Symphony, and chief conductor of De Nederlandse Opera. In December 2004, he was made a Knight in the Order of the Dutch Lion, and in 2005, he was appointed an Honorary Officer in the General Division of the Order of Australia.

Radu Lupu is firmly established as one of the most important musicians of his generation and is widely acknowledged as a leading interpreter of the works of Beethoven, Brahms, Mozart, and Schubert. Since winning the prestigious Van Cliburn and Leeds piano competitions, Mr. Lupu has regularly performed as soloist and recitalist in the musical capitals and major festivals of Europe and the United States. He has appeared many times with the Berlin Philharmonic since his debut with that orchestra at the 1978 Salzburg Festival under Herbert von Karajan, and with the Vienna Philharmonic, including the opening concert of the 1986 Salzburg Festival under Riccardo Muti. He is also a frequent visitor to the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and all of the major London orchestras. In the 2012.13 season, Mr. Lupu's concerto engagements included the London Symphony Orchestra, the Luxemburg Orchestra, Santa Cecilia Orchestra, Chicago Symphony, St. Louis Symphony, Boston Symphony, Orchestre de Paris, Berlin RSB, and the Mozart Orchestra Bologna. He continued his cycle of the Beethoven piano concertos at the new concert hall in Helsinki with the Finnish Chamber Orchestra. His recitals included Paris, Geneva, Genova, Turin, several cities in the United States including New York's Carnegie Hall, Aix-en-Provence, Vicenza, and the Brescia and Bergamo Festival.

ABOUT THE PERFORMANCE

Radu Lupu
Edo de Waart, conductor
Radu Lupu, piano
Uihlein Hall, Marcus Center for the Performing Arts

1101 North Market Street, Suite 100 | Milwaukee, WI 53202-3148 | ph: 414.291.6010 | f: 414.291.7610 | mso.org

Friday, January 24 | 8:00 p.m. Saturday, January 25 | 8:00 p.m.

Tickets range from $25-$105. For more information, please call 414.291.7605 or visit mso.org. Tickets may also be purchased through the Marcus Center Box Office at 414.273.7206.

The 2013.14 Classics Series is presented by UPAF.
Friday Classics Series is sponsored by Chase.
Saturday Classics Series is sponsored by Rockwell Automation.

ABOUT THE MSO

Ranked among the top orchestras in the country, the MSO is the largest cultural institution in Wisconsin. Since its inception in 1959, the orchestra has received critical acclaim for artistic excellence. The orchestra's full-time professional musicians perform more than 135 concerts each season. A cornerstone organization in Milwaukee's arts community, the MSO provides enrichment and education activities for audiences of every age, economic status, and background.

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