Pianist Barnatan and Conductor Lehninger Perform 5 Beethoven Concertos with the PSO

On Saturday, October 27 at 8 pmand Sunday, October 28 at 4 pm,the Princeton Symphony Orchestra (PSO) welcomes pianist Inon Barnaton and conductor Marcelo Lehninger to Princeton for collaboration on a two-day cycle of all five piano concertos completed by Ludwig van Beethoven. Concertos Nos. 1, 2, and 4 make up the Saturday program and Nos. 3 and 5 (The Emperor) are reserved for Sunday. Both concerts are at historic Richardson Auditorium, Alexander Hall on the campus of Princeton University and include a free Pre-Concert Talk for ticket holders.

"This is not only a rare opportunity to hear all of Beethoven's Piano Concertos in one weekend," says PSO Executive Director Marc Uys, "but a chance to have the interpretive genius of a superstar pianist as our guide through this body of work which spans around 25 years of the composer's creative life. I would encourage everyone to make a weekend of it!"

Inon Barnatan is celebrated for his poetic sensibility, musical intelligence, and consummate artistry. He is the recipient of both a prestigious 2009 Avery Fisher Career Grant and Lincoln Center's 2015 Martin E. Segal Award. He was recently named music director of the La Jolla Music Society Summerfest. A regular soloist with many of the world's foremost orchestras and conductors, the Israeli pianist recently served three seasons as the inaugural Artist-in-Association of the New York Philharmonic. This season he plays Beethoven with Hamburg's Elbphilharmonie Orchestra led by Alan Gilbert, Mozart with the Australian Chamber Orchestra in New York's Alice Tully Hall, and Rachmaninov with the Pittsburgh Symphony and Israel Philharmonic, again led by Gilbert.

Marcelo Lehninger is music director of the Grand Rapids Symphony. In 2018, he brought the orchestra to Carnegie Hall, its first performance at the famed venue in thirteen years. He previously served as music director of the New West Symphony in Los Angeles, for which the League of American Orchestras awarded him the Helen H. Thompson Award for Emerging Music Directors. After a very successful two-year tenure as assistant conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra that included stepping in for James Levine on short notice in Boston and on tour at Carnegie Hall, he served as associate conductor for an additional three years. Chosen by Kurt Masur in 2008, Mr. Lehninger was awarded the First Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy Scholarship sponsored by the American Friends of the Mendelssohn Foundation.

Tickets ($96, $80, $62, $35, and $28-youth) for Beethoven Piano Concertos and other PSO Classical Series concerts are available at princetonsymphony.org or by calling 609 497-0020. Pricing includes admission to the Pre-Concert Talk, held one hour prior to concert start time. A discount is offered on purchase of the complete two-day Beethoven concerto cycle. Five-concert subscriptions and Saturday concert discounts are also available.

The Princeton Symphony Orchestra's performances of Beethoven's concertos are made possible in part through the generosity of Jay and Harriet Vawter.

Fans of Beethoven can also look forward to the PSO's February 2 and 3 performances of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, to be conducted by Music Director Rossen Milanov in celebration of the start of his 10thyear with the Princeton Symphony Orchestra. It is also this season's Edward T. Cone Concert.

Programs, artists, dates, and times are subject to change.

The ground floor of Richardson Auditorium is fully accessible, including its restrooms. Accessibility features include wheelchair platforms and hand rails. Please note there is no elevator to the balcony.

Assistive listening devices and large print programs are available in the lobby. Additional accommodations or services (i.e. ASL, Braille Program, Audio Description etc.) can be arranged with two weeks' notice; contact Kitanya, Manager of Patron Services at 609/497-0020.

Photo Credit: Marco Borggreve