CSO Holds Free Happy Hour Concert Today with Joel Smirnoff

The Columbus Symphony continues its Happy Hour free concert series at the Ohio Theatre today, February 12. The concert will feature guest conductor Joel Smirnoff in an approximately 90-minute performance featuring Copland's Fanfare for the Common Man, Bernstein's Fancy Free, Gershwin's Lullaby for String Orchestra, and Gould's Interplay (American Concertette) featuring guest pianist Caroline Hong. WOSU's Christopher Purdy will host, adding commentary on each of the works and interviewing the conductor throughout the evening.

The 2014-15 Happy Hour concert series is presented by PNC Arts Alive with additional support from Watershed Distillery and the Johnstone Fund for New Music.

The Columbus Symphony presents Happy Hour with guest conductor Joel Smirnoff at the Ohio Theatre (39 E. State St.) on Thursday, February 12. Doors open at 5:30pm. The concert begins at 6:30pm. Admission is free. Cash bar. Free appetizers. No intermission.

PNC Arts Alive is a multi-year, $2.5 million initiative of the PNC Foundation that supports visual and performing arts groups with the goal of increasing arts access and engagement in new and innovative ways.

"We know what art can do, how it changes perspectives, even changes lives. From classical music and fine art to dance and theatre, we're committed to keeping the arts alive in central Ohio," said Michael Gonsiorowski, PNC regional president for central Ohio.

Conductor, violinist, and eminent pedagogue, Joel Smirnoff was named president of the Cleveland Institute of Music in 2008, where he holds the Mary Elizabeth Callahan President's Chair. Encouraged by Seiji Ozawa to "take up the baton," Smirnoff has developed into a highly acclaimed conductor with an impressive and wide-ranging repertoire. He is consistently cited for his high energy and special attention to the stylistic demands of each work.

Hailed for her "expressive and powerful playing," "formidable technique," and "keen sense of lyricism and the classical style" (Columbus and Richmond Times Dispatch), pianist Caroline Hong continues to flourish in her career as an internationally active soloist, chamber musician, artist-teacher, guest-lecturer, and adjudicator. Pulitzer Prize and Academy Award-winning composer John Corigliano referred to her as "one of the greatest pianists I have ever heard" after a performance of his Etude Fantasy (1976).