Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia to Open 2013-14 Season with Mendelssohn, Beethoven, 9/15-16

The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia opens their 2013 - 2014 concert season with beloved works by Mendelssohn and Beethoven. Warner Classics' (formerly EMI Classics) pianist HJ Lim joins Music Director Dirk Brossé and The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia for Mendelssohn | Beethoven onSunday, September 15 and Monday, September 16. These concerts are in collaboration with Warner Classics and Yamaha.

A founding resident company of The KimMel Center for the Performing Arts, the Chamber Orchestra's September 15 2:30 p.m. and September 16 7:30 p.m. concerts will be performed in theKimMel Center's intimate Perelman Theater.

Tickets for Chamber Orchestra performances are $24 to $81. The Sunday matinee performance will be followed by "Classical Conversations," a brief question-and-answer session with Maestro Brossé and Ms. Lim.

Felix Mendelssohn | Overture to a Midsummer Night's Dream, Op. 26

Mendelssohn's Midsummer Night's Dream is well known in the classical music world - as a Balanchine ballet; for the famous incidental pieces such as the Scherzo, Nocturne, and the Wedding March; and for the overture. Mendelssohn wrote the overture to a Midsummer Night's Dream when he was seventeen years old, and the piece is known as one of his most popular works.

Felix Mendelssohn | Piano Concerto No. 1 in G Minor, Op. 25

Mendelssohn's First Piano Concerto was written during his "grand tour" visit to Italy in 1830-1831, and was published three days after its completion. The concerto introduced new concepts, such as introducing the soloist seven bars after the opening, connecting the three movements together with linking passages unifying the work more thoroughly, and bringing back the first movement's theme toward the finale of the piece. Mendelssohn himself was the soloist when the work was premiered in Munich, Germany on October 17, 1832.

Ludwig van Beethoven | Symphony No. 4 in B-flat Major, Op. 60

Compared to its predecessor, Beethoven's "Eroica" Symphony, and its successor, his Fifth Symphony, his Fourth Symphony is seen to have more orchestral restraint and structural regularity, which was surprising to his contemporaries, who expected to be baffled by this work. The piece uses the smallest orchestra of any of Beethoven's symphonies, and his connection with tradition remains clear to emphasize the composer's true classicism.

Pianist HJ Lim is highly acclaimed by both audiences and musical critics all over the world. She is a graduate of the Conservatoire National Région de Compiegne with First Prize and highest distinction in the class of Marc Hoppeler, became the youngest person ever to obtain the "Diplôme d'Etudes Musicales Completes" of Normandy in France at fifteen years of age, and was awarded the "Perfectionnement Cycle" for chamber music and piano at the Conservatoire National de Rouen, where she received First Prize and the highest distinction. Ms. Lim has soloed with prestigious Symphony Orchestras all over the globe, and has given recitals in the most reputable recital halls in the world. Recently, she performed the all of Beethoven's Piano Sonatas live in concert in Paris over a span of eight consecutive days. A year later, she recorded the complete cycle for Warner Classics, and became, at the age of 24, the youngest interpreter to ever record those masterpieces, as well as the first and only classical pianist to debut at number 1 on Billboard Classical Chart and number 1 both on the US and Canada Classical iTunes chart. HJ Lim is an exclusive Yamaha artist.

The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia will present "Mendelssohn | Beethoven" on Sunday, September 15, 2013 at 2:30 PM and Monday, September 16, 2013 at 7:30 PM at the KimMel Center for the Performing Arts' Perelman Theater, featuring Dirk Brossé, conductor and HJ Lim, piano. Tickets: $24 - $81 at chamberorchestra.org or call 215.893.1709.

PROGRAM:

Mendelssohn | A Midsummer Night's Dream: Overture, Op. 21

Mendelssohn | Piano Concerto No. 1 in G minor, Op. 25

Beethoven | Symphony No. 4 in B-flat major, Op. 60