Renowned young American pianist Orion Weiss, who has performed with major orchestras including the Chicago Symphony, Boston Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, and New York Philharmonic, is returning to Winston-Salem to perform as the special guest artist. He last performed with the Winston-Salem Symphony during the 2011–2012 season. A graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Music and the Juilliard School, Weiss was named the Classical Recording Foundation’s Young Artist of the Year in September 2010 and is the recipient of several awards, including the Gilmore Young Artist Award, an Avery Fisher Career Grant, the Gina Bachauer Scholarship at the Juilliard School, and the Mieczyslaw Munz Scholarship. His 2017-2018 season opened with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, performing Beethoven’s Triple Concerto, and ends with the Colorado Symphony and Mozart’s majestic Concerto in C major, K. 467, including playing with eleven orchestras and a recital tour with Canadian violinist James Ehnes. For more information on Weiss visit WSsymphony.org.
“We’re excited to welcome soloist Orion Weiss back to Winston-Salem for what will surely be a dynamic and moving performance,” said Maestro Moody. “Audiences will enjoy taking a musical journey that includes the energy of both comic opera and more serious, soulful masterpieces.”
Under the baton of Maestro Moody, the concerts will take place on Saturday, January 6; at 7:30 p.m.; Sunday, January 7 at 3 p.m.; and Tuesday, January 9 at 7:30 p.m. at the Stevens Center of the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, 405 West Fourth Street in downtown Winston-Salem. Tickets range from $20 to $67 and are available in advance by calling the Symphony Box Office at 336-464-0145 or online at WSSymphony.org.
The Saturday, January 6 performance is part of the Kicked-Back Classics Series. Kicked-Back Classics concerts are full-length but have a more informal atmosphere and include educational insights from the conductor.
Music Lovers’ Luncheon, a fun and informative pre-concert lunch with Maestro Moody and Orion Weiss, will take place Friday, January 5 at noon at 1703 Restaurant, located at 1703 Robinhood Road in Winston-Salem. The luncheon is $20 per person and is a great opportunity to learn more about the concert in a relaxed atmosphere. Reservations are required for Music Lovers’ Luncheon and can be made by calling 336-464-0145.
The concerts will open with W.A. Mozart’s Italian comic opera masterpiece, Overture to The Marriage of Figaro (Le nozze di Figaro), K. 492. The Marriage of Figaro was Mozart’s first effort after settling in Vienna in 1781 and premiered at the Burgtheater in Vienna on May 1, 1786. It has long been thought that the opera, which today is widely considered as one of Mozart’s masterpieces, was initially considered a failure. However, as David B. Levy, Professor of Music at Wake Forest University writes in his program notes for this concert: “While it was true that Mozart and his librettist, Lorenzo da Ponte, ran into difficulty with the theater censors and that the first run of the opera only had nine performances, it received the approbation of many Viennese aficionados. Furthermore, it went on to great success in Prague, which at the time was an integral part of the Austrian Empire.”
The concerts will also feature W.A. Mozart’s Concerto in C Major for Piano and Orchestra, K. 467. Composed in 1785, the keyboard concerto is beautiful, slow moving, and soulful. While Mozart wrote 28 keyboard concertos during his lifetime, David Levy says in his program notes that “this concerto is an excellent specimen of Mozart’s invaluable contribution to the genre.”
Ending the concert series will be Dmitri Shostakovich’s (1906 – 1975) Symphony No. 10 in E minor, op. 93. One of the Soviet Union’s greatest composers, Shostakovich’s music often evokes the pain and grimness of persecution and totalitarian political ideology at the time. His tenth symphony was first performed by the Leningrad Philharmonic (now St. Petersburg) on December 17, 1953. The opening is brooding, with David Levy stating in the program notes, “The first movement’s melancholy now yields to savage anger. Brass and percussion punctuate a perpetual motion machine that unleashes the previous movement’s potential energy. The music maintains a loud dynamic level throughout. Here we encounter unbridled fury. Some writers have speculated that this movement is a grimly-etched portrait of Stalin.” The symphony continues with tension but finally culminates and closes in optimism.
This concert series and the Winston-Salem Symphony are sponsored by Season Presenting Sponsors Bell, Davis, & Pitt, P.A. and BB&T; Kicked-Back Classics Series Presenting Sponsors Chris & Mike Morykwas; Media Sponsor 89.9 FM WDAV Classical Public Radio; the Arts Council of Winston-Salem/Forsyth County; and the North Carolina Arts Council.
About the Winston-Salem Symphony
The Winston-Salem Symphony, one of the Southeast’s most highly regarded regional orchestras, began its 71st season, which is Music Director Robert Moody’s Farewell Season, in September 2017. Under the baton of Maestro Moody, the season includes the Classics and Kicked-Back Classics series, Plugged-In Pops series, Discovery Concerts for Kids, annual performances of Handel’s Messiah, a concert featuring Winston-Salem Symphony and Youth Symphony musicians, holiday concerts, three youth orchestra ensembles, and a multitude of educational and community engagement programs. The Symphony is supported by Season Presenting Sponsors BB&T and Bell, Davis & Pitt, P.A., as well as generous funding from the Arts Council of Winston-Salem/Forsyth County, the North Carolina Arts Council, and other dedicated sponsors. For more information, visit WSsymphony.org.
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