Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra Presents SEASON FINALE: BEETHOVEN WITH ALON GOLDSTEIN Tonight

The Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra and music director LARRY RACHLEFF celebrate the finale of the Philharmonic's 69th season tonight, May 10. Pianist ALON GOLDSTEIN makes a return engagement with a performance of Beethoven's Piano Concerto No 1. The orchestra will also performRichard Strauss' Don Juan, and Ravel's Daphnis et Chloé Suites, with the PROVIDENCE SINGERS, CHRISTINE NOEL, artistic director. The concert takes place Saturday May 10 at 8:00pm at The Vets in Providence. The concert is sponsored by The Joseph and Rosalyn Sinclair Foundation. Mr. Goldstein's appearance is sponsored by The Joseph and Rosalyn Sinclair Foundation, Dr. Herbert Rakatansky and Ms. Barbara Sokoloff, and The Sage and Sgro Families. WPRO News Talk 630 is the media sponsor. Tickets (starting at $15) are available at riphil.org/tickets, by phone at 401.248.7000, and in person at the RIPO box office, 667 Waterman Ave., East Providence. There is an Open Rehearsal Friday May 9 at 5:30pm.

LARRY RACHLEFF, music director, said: "This concert pairs the love story of Richard Strauss's Don Juan with that of Ravel's Daphnis and Chloé. Ravel's ballet suites comprise fifty minutes of glorious French sound. 150 musicians will be on stage, a huge orchestra and chorus; we're glad to collaborate with the Providence Singers again. After the tender ecstasy of Ravel's French impressionism, Strauss's tone poem asks the orchestra to play with uncommon speed, dexterity, electricity and fire. You certainly hear the fervor of Don Juan in this athletic romp." Rachleff continued: "Our friend Alon Goldstein returns with Beethoven's first piano concerto. Alon is a frequent collaborator of ours, most recently with Grieg's piano concerto. It's interesting to compare this first concerto of Beethoven with the twentieth of Mozart, which we heard Bob Levin play in our April concert. The two concerti reach towards each other, across the years."

Pianist ALON GOLDSTEIN has performed with major orchestras throughout the United States, Europe and Israel and as a recitalist in major music centers around the world. His 2012-13 season included a tour of Central and South America with the Israel Chamber Orchestra, his debut with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and performances with the Tokyo Quartet, as well as nation-wide performances with the Goldstein-Peled-Fiterstein Trio. A graduate of the Tel-Aviv academy and the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, where he studied with the legendary Leon Fleisher, Alon is the winner of numerous competitions. He received the America Israeli Cultural Foundation scholarships for 10 years. Mr. Goldstein is a favorite with the Philharmonic audience, and in the spring of 2012 he assisted the artistic staff in the selection of the new Steinway Grand piano.

The PROVIDENCE SINGERS celebrates the choral art through concerts of masterworks and contemporary works, creative collaborations, recordings of American choral treasures, new music commissions, and education programs. Led by artistic director Christine Noel, the Providence Singers presents an annual concert series and performs regularly with the Rhode Island Philharmonic. A guest appearance with Dave Brubeck at the 2004 Newport Jazz Festival was hailed by Mr. Brubeck as "the best performance yet" of his cantata Gates of Justice; at the composer's invitation, the Providence Singers premiered Mr. Brubeck's The Commandments and reprisedGates at Lincoln Center in 2005. Other collaborators include the Kronos Quartet at the FirstWorks Festival, Boston Modern Orchestra Project, the New Haven Symphony, New Bedford Symphony, the Aurea Ensemble, Boston Landmarks Orchestra, and others.

CHRISTINE NOEL celebrates her inaugural season as Artistic Director of the Providence Singers. She recently conducted the Singers with chamber orchestra in Haydn's Missa in Angustiis and Mozart's Vesperae Solennes de Confessore. As past Associate Conductor, she prepared the Providence Singers for performances of Messiah,Carmina Burana, and Gustav Mahler's Symphony No.3, and collaborated with colleague Andrew Clark on the BMOP/sound recording of Lukas Foss' The Prairie and Dominick Argento's Jonah and the Whale with the Boston Modern Orchestra Project. She is on the music faculty and serves as Director of Choral Activities at Clark University, Worcester, MA. She is also Founder and Artistic Director of the RI Children's Chorus, which has performed at conventions of the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA) and the Music Educators' National Conference (MENC).

The Philharmonic's season featured eight Classical concerts on Saturday nights at The Vets. Four have had FridayOpen Rehearsals, including this Friday May 9 at 5:30pm, offering insight into the collaboration between the conductor, guest artists and orchestra musicians as they prepare for the upcoming classical concert. Please call the Philharmonic box office at 401.248.7000, or visit riphil.org/tickets.

Photo Credit: Meagan Cignoli