Mid-Winter Russian Masters Festi to Feature Rimsky-Korsakov, Stravinsky

Guest conductor Enrique Arturo Diemecke and guest pianist Vladimir Feltsman join the Columbus Symphony for the first of three concerts in their Mid-Winter Russian Masters Festival. The program will include Rimsky-Korsakov's Overture on Russian Themes, Stravinsky's Pétrouchka, and Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1. WOSU's Christopher Purdy will hold a free, pre-concert lecture about the program for ticket holders at 7pm each night on the fourth floor of the Ohio Theatre's Galbreath Pavilion.

The Columbus Symphony performs Tchaikovsky as part of the Mid-Winter Russian Masters Festival at the Ohio Theatre (39 E. State St.) on Friday, January 7, and Saturday, January 8, at 8pm daily. 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 Enrique Arturo Diemecke
Maestro Diemecke recently opened his fifth season as music director of the Buenos Aires Philharmonic, entered his tenth season as music director of the Long Beach Symphony, and began his 22nd season as music director of the Flint Symphony Orchestra. Having completed his tenure of 20 years at the helm of the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de México, Diemecke debuted with the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington in 2010, and has numerous engagements for the 2010-11 season including the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, Santa Rosa Symphony Orchestra, and Columbus Symphony Orchestra.

About guest pianist Vladimir Feltsman
Pianist and conductor Vladimir Feltsman is one of the most versatile and constantly interesting musicians of our time. His vast repertoire encompasses music from the Baroque to 20th-century composers. In 2010, Feltsman returned to the summer festivals of Ravinia, Aspen, LaJolla and Caramoor, where he performed Schumann's piano concerto with the Orchestra of St. Luke's and Robert Spano in celebration of the 200th Anniversary of Schumann's birth. He made a return appearance with the London Symphony Orchestra in June 2010, performing Rachmaninoff's Third Concerto with Xian Zhang at the Barbican. In the 2010-11 season, he performs Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 4 with the Chicago Symphony and Sir Andrew Davis, is featured soloist with the orchestras of Seattle, Long Beach, Columbus, and Greensboro, and performs recitals in New York, Los Angeles, Palm Beach, Kansas City, Lincoln, and Fort Worth.

About Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908)
Russian composer Rimsky-Korsakov's best-known orchestral compositions-Capriccio Espagnol, the RussIan Easter Festival Overture, and the symphonic suite Scheherazade-are considered staples of classical music repertoire, as well as suites and excerpts from some of his 15 operas. He believed in developing a national style of classical music, combining Russian folk song and lore with exotic elements in a practice known as musical orientalism. Rimsky-Korsakov is considered "the main architect" of what is considered the Russian style of composition.

About Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky (1882-1971)
Stravinsky was a Russian composer, pianist, and conductor widely acknowledged as one of the most important and influential composers of 20th century music. In addition to the recognition he received for his compositions, he also achieved fame as a pianist and a conductor, often at the premieres of his own works. He first achieved international fame with three ballets commissioned by the impresario Sergei Diaghilev and performed by Diaghilev's Ballets Russes (Russian Ballets)-The Firebird (1910), Petrushka (1911/1947), and The Rite of Spring (1913). The premiere of Rite transformed the way subsequent composers thought about rhythmic structure, and was largely responsible for Stravinsky's enduring reputation as a musical revolutionary, pushing the boundaries of musical design.

About Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893)
Tchaikovsky was a Russian composer of the Romantic era with a wide-ranging body of work including symphonies, operas, ballets, instrumental and chamber music, and songs. He wrote some of the most popular concert and theatrical music in the classical repertoire, including the ballets Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty, and The Nutcracker. Born into a middle-class family, Tchaikovsky pursued a musical career against the wishes of his family, entering the Saint Petersburg Conservatory in 1862 and graduating in 1865. This formal, Western-oriented training set him apart from the nationalistic movement embodied by a group of influential young Russian composers known as The Five. Amid private turmoil, Tchaikovsky's public reputation grew-he was honored by the Tsar, awarded a lifetime pension, and lauded in the concert halls of the world.

www.columbussymphony.com

The Columbus Symphony presents the first of three programs in the MID-WINTER RUSSIAN MASTERS FESTIVAL
Friday & Saturday, January 7 & 8, 8 pm daily
Ohio Theatre (39 E. State St.)
Guest conductor Enrique Arturo Diemecke and guest pianist Vladimir Feltsman join the Columbus Symphony for the first of three concerts in their Mid-Winter Russian Masters Festival. The program will include Rimsky-Korsakov's Overture on Russian Themes, Stravinsky's Pétrouchka, and Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1. WOSU's Christopher Purdy will hold a free, pre-concert lecture about the program for ticket holders at 7pm each night 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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