Jorge Mester, conductor
Joyce Yang, piano
There’s an old saying that, “all music was new music at one time!” The Louisville Orchestra’s lively February concerts feature three works composed over more than a century and written expressly for American audiences.
Dvořák’s now-famous Symphony No. 9 (”From the New World”) was, in fact, commissioned by the New York Philharmonic and was heard first by New York audiences in 1893, and later in Louisville in 1945. Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, written for the Philadelphia Orchestra, was premiered 41 years later.
Louivillians will have their chance to be the very first in the world to hear the newest original work written for symphony orchestra in the LO’s February concerts that feature our own commission by Grawemeyer Award-winning composer, and Grammy Award nominee, George Tsontakis.
Twice winner of Kennedy Center Awards, Tsontakis studied composition with Roger Sessions at the Juilliard School of Music. He is the featured composer-in-residence for the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center in 2009, where he is writing a work to commemorate the reopening of Alice Tully Hall, and he is Distinguished Composer-in-Residence at Bard College.
Also joining the Orchestra for this series of concerts is pianist, Joyce Yang. At nineteen, Ms. Yang was awarded the silver medal at the Twelfth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, which launched her meteoric international career.
Join us for what is sure to be one of the treasures of our season at the Kentucky Center for the Arts!
Tsontakis World Premiere
Rachmaninoff Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini
Dvořák Symphony No. 9 (“From the New World”)
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