Columbus Symphony to Perform Mozart, Schubert in Schubert’s Unfinished

Guest conductor Günther Herbig will lead the Columbus Symphony in a program featuring a trio of composers from the Romantic and Classical periods. The program will include Mozart's Symphony No. 36 ("Linz"), Schubert's Symphony No. 8 ("Unfinished"), and Dvorák's Symphony No. 8. WOSU's Christopher Purdy will hold a free, pre-concert lecture about the program for ticket holders one hour prior to each performance on the fourth floor of the Ohio Theatre's Galbreath Pavilion.

The Columbus Symphony presents Schubert's Unfinished at the Ohio Theatre (39 E. State St.) on Saturday, February 26, at 8pm, and Sunday, February 27, at 3pm. Tickets are $20.50-$66.50 for adults and $11.50-$34.50 for children, and can be purchased at the Ohio Theatre Ticket Office (39 E. State St.), all Ticketmaster outlets, and www.ticketmaster.com. To purchase tickets by phone, please call (614) 228-8600 or (800) 745-3000. The Ohio Theatre Ticket Office will also be open two hours prior to each performance. Students between the ages of 13-19 may purchase $5 High Five tickets while available. The 2010-11 Classical Series is made possible through the generous support of series sponsor Battelle.

About guest conductor Günther Herbig
Herbig left behind the challenging political environment of East Germany and moved to the US in 1984, where he has since conducted all of the top-tier orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Cleveland Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, and the Chicago, Boston, and San Francisco symphony orchestras. Posts Herbig has held include music director of the Detroit and Toronto Symphonies, Principal Guest Conductor of the Dallas Symphony and the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, and general music director of the Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra and Berlin Symphony Orchestra. Currently, he is Artistic Advisor of the National Symphony Orchestra of Taiwan and Principal Guest Conductor of Las Palmas in the Grand Canaries, Spain.

About Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
Mozart was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music. The Symphony No. 36 in C major (known as the Linz Symphony) was written by Mozart in 1783 during a stop in the Austrian town of Linz on his way back home to Vienna from Salzburg. After hearing of Mozart's arrival in Linz, the local count announced Mozart would be giving a concert. Thus, this composition was written in four days to accommodate the public declaration. The premiere in Linz took place on November 4, and it was subsequently premiered in Vienna on April 1, 1784.

About Franz Peter Schubert (1797-1828)
While Austrian composer Franz Schubert died at an early age, he was tremendously prolific. He wrote some 600 Lieder, nine symphonies (including the famous "Unfinished Symphony"), liturgical music, operas, some incidental music, and a large body of chamber and solo piano music. Appreciation of his music during his lifetime was limited, but today, Schubert is admired as one of the leading proponents of the early Romantic era and remains one of the most frequently performed composers. Schubert's Symphony No. 8 in B minor, commonly known as the "Unfinished Symphony," was started in 1822, but only two movements are known to be complete even though Schubert lived another six years. A scherzo, nearly completed in piano score but with only two pages orchestrated, also survives.

About Antonín Leopold Dvorák (1841-1904)
Dvorák was a Czech composer of Romantic music who employed the idioms of the folk music of Moravia and his native Bohemia. His works include operas, symphonic, choral, and chamber music. The Symphony No. 8 in G major was composed and orchestrated within the two-and-a-half-month period from August 26, to November 8, 1889, in Bohemia. The score was dedicated, "To the Bohemian Academy of Emperor Franz Joseph for the Encouragement of Arts and Literature, in thanks for my election." Dvorák conducted the premiere in Prague on February 2, 1890. The symphony draws its inspiration from the Bohemian folk music that Dvorák loved.

www.columbussymphony.com

CALENDAR LISTING
The Columbus Symphony presents SCHUBERT'S UNFINISHED
Saturday, February 26, 8 pm
Sunday, February 27, 3pm
Ohio Theatre (39 E. State St.)
Guest conductor Günther Herbig will lead the Columbus Symphony in a program featuring a trio of composers from the Romantic and Classical periods. The program will include Mozart's Symphony No. 36 ("Linz"), Schubert's Symphony No. 8 ("Unfinished"), and Dvorák's Symphony No. 8. WOSU's Christopher Purdy will hold a free, pre-concert lecture about the program for ticket holders one hour prior to each performance on the fourth floor of the Ohio Theatre's Galbreath Pavilion. Tickets are $20.50-$66.50 for adults and $11.50-$34.50 for children and can be purchased at the Ohio Theatre Ticket Office (39 E. State St.), all Ticketmaster outlets, and www.ticketmaster.com. To purchase tickets by phone, please call (614) 228-8600 or (800) 745-3000. www.columbussymphony.com

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