Mid-Winter Russian Masters Festival to Feature Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture

Guest conductor Peter Stafford Wilson and guest cellist Julian Schwarz join the Columbus Symphony for the second of three concerts in their Mid-Winter Russian Masters Festival. The program will include Prokofiev's Classical Symphony and Suite from Lieutenant Kijé, as well as Tchaikovsky's Variations on a Rococo Theme and 1812 Overture. 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 21, and Saturday, January 22, 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 Peter Stafford Wilson
Peter Stafford Wilson has served the Columbus Symphony since 1990, first as Assistant Conductor then as Associate Conductor in 1993. Since that time, he has appeared on all of the CSO's subscription, education, and outreach series. Wilson also leads the nationally renowned Columbus Symphony Youth Orchestras program, conducting the senior orchestra, the Columbus Symphony Youth Orchestra (CSYO), and the Columbus All-City Orchestra comprised of students from the Columbus City Schools. Under Wilson's leadership, the CSYO has appeared at national conventions of the Music Educators National Conference and the League of American Orchestras. The group has also toured internationally, with highly acclaimed performances in Canada, Europe, China, and Hong Kong. In 2010, the CSO honorEd Wilson with its Honorary Music Educator of the Year Award for his 20 years of service to the CSO's education activities.

About guest cellist Julian Schwarz
Julian Schwarz made his orchestral debut at the age of 11 playing the Saint-Saens Concerto No. 1 with the Seattle Symphony and his father, Music Director Gerard Schwarz, on the podium. Since then, he has appeared as soloist with many of the Seattle-area orchestras as well as with the Syracuse, Memphis, and Greensboro (NC) symphonies. In the winter of 2010, he was one of the featured soloists on an extensive US tour with the Moscow State Radio Symphony Orchestra, performing 13 concerts on the East and West coasts. In 2009, Schwarz was the "Featured Young Artist" at both the Seattle Chamber Music Festival and the Cape Cod Music Festival, and attended and performed at the prestigious Verbier Festival in Switzerland. He returned to the Verbier, Eastern Music, and Cape Cod festivals in 2010 for chamber music performances. In both 2007 and 2008, Schwarz won the highly regarded Northwest Sinfonietta Youth Concerto Competition. The resulting performances as soloist with Music Director Christophe Chagnard led to his appointment as assistant conductor with Seattle's Lake Union Civic Orchestra, with which he has conducted Borodin's Second Symphony and Dukas' Sorcerer's Apprentice.

About Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev (1891-1953)
Prokofiev was a Russian composer, pianist, and conductor who mastered numerous musical genres and is generally regarded as one of the major composers of the 20th century. With the exception of Richard Strauss, Prokofiev's orchestral music is played more frequently in the US than that of any other composer of the last hundred years, and his operas, ballets, chamber works, and piano music are performed regularly worldwide.

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

CALENDAR LISTING
The Columbus Symphony performs the 1812 Overture as part of the second installment of the MID-WINTER RUSSIAN MASTERS FESTIVAL
Friday & Saturday, January 21 & 22, 8 pm daily
Ohio Theatre (39 E. State St.)
Guest conductor Peter Stafford Wilson and guest cellist Julian Schwarz join the Columbus Symphony for the second of three concerts in their Mid-Winter Russian Masters Festival. The program will include Prokofiev's Classical Symphony and Suite from Lieutenant Kijé, as well as Tchaikovsky's Variations on a Rococo Theme and 1812 Overture. 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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