Ignat Solzhenitsyn Joins North Carolina Symphony for Beethoven’s Fourth Piano Concerto, Oct. 27-29

The theme from 2001: A Space Odyssey launches a concert to remember later this month when the North Carolina Symphony, led by Maestro William Henry Curry and joined by renowned pianist Ignat Solzhenitsyn, presents works by three of classical music's leading lights.

"Zarathustra," featuring blockbuster music by Strauss, Beethoven and Wagner, takes place in Memorial Hall on the campus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill on Thursday, Oct. 27. The performances continue at Meymandi Concert Hall, in downtown Raleigh's Progress Energy Center for the Performing Arts, on Friday and Saturday, Oct. 28-29. All three concerts begin at 8:00 p.m.

The evenings begin with some of the most famous opening notes in all of music, Richard Strauss's deep and commanding tone poem Also sprach Zarathustra, most famously used in the opening scenes of Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey.

"Strauss's tone poems are all unique," says Symphony Music Director Grant Llewellyn. "They're all wonderful. This one is a very interesting blend of the intellectual and the visceral, and it's intriguing to me to see Also sprach Zarathustra, with all of the philosophical implications behind the literature that inspired Strauss, with Solzhenitsyn's name on the same program."

The Solzhenitsyn in question is celebrated pianist Ignat Solzhenitsyn, son of Nobel Prize-winning novelist Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn and recognized as one of today's most gifted artists, enjoying an active career as both pianist and conductor. His extensive touring schedule has recently included concerto performances with major orchestras across the world, from Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles and Washington to London, Zurich, Tokyo and Sydney.

He is particularly well-known for his interpretations of Beethoven. "Great Beethoven performances don't come along all that often," wrote the Philadelphia Inquirer following a 2008 concert by the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, which Solzhenitsyn led as principal conductor for six years. "Under Ignat Solzhenitsyn, the group has been a revitalizing force with Beethoven, but now more than ever."

Good thing for Triangle concertgoers, as Solzhenitsyn joins the North Carolina Symphony to perform one of Beethoven's most beloved compositions, the tender and lovely Fourth Piano Concerto.

"[Here] the piano concerto once and for all shakes itself loose from the 18th century," wrote American musicologist Milton Cross about the Fourth. "Virtuosity no longer concerns Beethoven at all; his artistic aim here, as in his symphonies and quartets, is the expression of deeply poetic and introspective thoughts."

The tender piece is a perfect balance to the evening's rousing finish: Wagner's stately Overture to Tannhäuser. "Pure unadulterated orchestral power," says Llewellyn of the Overture, a bold finish to any concert from the first of Wagner's operas to be staged in the United States.

"Zarathustra" is part of the Symphony's four-concert miniseries "Piano Icons." The miniseries, made up of programs from the larger Duke Medicine Classical Series Raleigh, showcases five world-class soloists as they perform the breakthrough works of music's most accomplished pianist-composers.

Solzhenitsyn is followed in the miniseries by the incredible Louis Lortie playing dark and luscious masterworks by Liszt and Rachmaninoff on Nov. 11-12. Visit www.ncsymphony.org/pianoicons for this exciting opportunity to save. "Piano Icons" is presented in partnership with Fidelity Investments.

Regular tickets to the Duke Medicine Classical Series Raleigh performances of "Zarathustra" on Friday and Saturday, Oct. 28-29 range from $40 to $70, with $40 tickets for seniors.

Tickets to the Chapel Hill Series performance on Thursday, Oct. 27 range from $40 to $60, with $40 tickets for seniors.

Students receive $10 tickets at both venues.

Meymandi Concert Hall is located in the Progress Energy Center for the Performing Arts, 2 E. South St., in Raleigh. Memorial Hall is located on the UNC-Chapel Hill campus, at 208 E. Cameron Ave.

 

 

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