Oakland Symphony to Present LOST ROMANTICS, Today

Oakland, CA, September 8, 2015 - Music Director a Michael Morgan and the Oakland Symphony continue their 2015/2016 season Friday, November 13, at 8 pm at the Paramount Theatre with a program entitled Lost Romantics.The evening will feature the debut of 2015 James Toland Voice Competition winner Brent Turner, tenor, and the return of gifted young pianist Llewellyn Werner-Sanchez. The program includes the rarely performed 1895 Symphony No. 3 of "lost" Romantic composer Victor Bendix and Mendelssohn's Piano Concerto No. 1 with Mr. Sanchez Werner-who was featured in 2015 on the Symphony's Notes from Mexico concert. Mr. Turner will perform Lehar's Freunde, das Leben is lebenswert from Giuditta and Dein ist mein ganzes Herz from Das Land des Lachelns, and Offenbach's Au mont Ida, trois Déesses from La Belle Hélène. Completing the program will be the Bach/Stokowski Toccata and Fugue in D minor, which served as the opening work in Disney's groundbreaking and visionary 1940 film Fantasia, which celebrates its 75th anniversary this year. No-host drinks and a pre-concert talk will begin at 7 pm and there will be free lobby entertainment and informal intermission talks with orchestra musicians at the foot of the stage. The concert is sponsored in part by The Grubb Co. Tickets, priced $15-$70, may be purchased online at www.OaklandSymphony.org or by phone at 510-444-0802.

About the Artists

American tenor Brent Reilly Turner has been critically acclaimed across the United States. Turner's appearances in opera, concert and recital have been characterized as having a full, dramatic timbre, e?nergetic personality and unique honesty.

In 2015, Turner received 1st place honors at the 2nd Annual James Toland Competition in Oakland, CA. He also was named the Grand Prize winner at the 2015 New Jersey State Opera Competition held in Clifton, NJ. Turner received 3rd place honors at the 2015 National Opera Association Vocal Competition and was also awarded a coveted study grant from the Wagner Society of New York, recognizing him as an up-and-coming heldentenor.

Last year, Turner received the Grand Prize at the 2014 Peter Elvins Vocal Competition and the Grand Prize at the 2014 Mary Jacobs Smith Singer of the Year Competition hosted by Shreveport Opera. Turner received 2nd place honors at the 2014 Dallas Opera Guild Competition, and 3rd place in the 2014 Irma M. Cooper Competition hosted by Opera Columbus. Turner also took 1st place in the 2013 Orpheus Vocal Competition and 1st place in the 2013 Florida Suncoast Opera Guild Competition. Turner was an encouragement award recipient in the Wagner Division of the 2014 Gerda Lissner Vocal Competition in New York City."

Mr. Turner's Wagnerian repertoire includes roles such as Siegmund in Die Walkure, the title role of Lohengrin, Erik in Der Fliedende Hollander, and Froh/Loge in Das Rheingold. Other roles include Max in von Weber's Der Freischutz, Bacchus in R. Strauss' Ariadne auf Naxos, Florestan in Beethoven's Fidelio, Don Jose in Bizet's Carmen, Sam Polk in Floyd's Susannah, and Einsenstein in J. Strauss' Die Fledermaus.

He has participated with several major Young Artist and Apprentice Programs including Santa Fe Opera, Utah Opera, Tulsa Opera, Ash lawn Opera, Opera North, Opera Saratoga, Opera Theatre and Music Festival of Lucca, Brevard Music Center, and V.O.I.C.Experience.

Nineteen-year-old pianist Llewellyn Sanchez-Werner was the 2014 Gilmore Young Artist, an honor awarded every two years to single out the most promising American pianists of the new generation. He made his Oakland Symphony debut that same year performing Carlos Chavez' Piano Concerto on the Notes from Mexico program. He received the Atlantic Council's 2014 Young Global Citizen Award, along with fellow recipients Robert De Niro, Prime Minister Shimon Peres, and other world leaders. In 2009 he performed solo at the White House for President Obama, and in 2013 for the Presidential Inauguration concert at the Kennedy Center. He has performed humanitarian concerts in Rwanda and Iraq. Mr. Sanchez-Werner studies with Dr. Yoheved Kaplinsky in New York, where he made Juilliard School history at age 14 as the youngest student ever to be admitted to the College Division.