Las Vegas Philharmonic Rising Star Concert Set for Next Month

= On Saturday, January 10th at 7:30 p.m. in Reynolds Hall at The Smith Center, the Las Vegas Philharmonic will perform its annual Rising Star Masterworks concert featuring up-and-coming guest violinist, Bella Hristova, and returning guest conductor, Rei Hotoda. The program will feature three selections, Maurice Ravel's Mother Goose Suite, Max Bruch's Violin Concerto No. 1 and Antonín Dvorák's Symphony No. 8.

Each season, the Philharmonic spotlights a young "Rising Star" in classical music. This year, the Las Vegas Philharmonic will showcase award-winning Bulgarian violinist Bella Hristova (29). Her most recent awards include the prestigious 2013 Avery Fisher Career Grant, first prize in the 2009 Young Concert Artists International Auditions, and first prize in the 2007 Michael Hill International Violin Competition in New Zealand. The Strad has praised, "Every sound she draws is superb", and the Washington Post's The Classical Beat has stated she is "a player of impressive power and control". Hristova will perform Bruch's Violin Concerto No. 1, one of the most popular violin concertos which brought much critical acclaim to Bruch's career. The concerto is a beautiful work indicative of the Romantic period and includes three movements showcasing strong melodic themes.

The concert will begin with Maurice Ravel's delightful Mother Goose Suite, a work Ravel originally composed for piano duet and later orchestrated as a ballet. The suite is composed of five movements illustrating different fairytales including Sleeping Beauty, Tom Thumb, Empress of the Pagodas, Beauty and the Beast and The Fairy Garden. The orchestra will conclude the concert with Dvorak's magnificent Symphony No. 8, a work characterized as pastoral and uplifting with strong references to Slavic folk music.

Guest conductor Rei Hotoda will return to Las Vegas after conducting the Philharmonic's Youth Concert Series in January 2014. Hotoda recently completed her tenure as assistant conductor of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and was also the assistant conductor of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra and the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music. As a champion of new music, she has premiered works by notable composers including John Cage, Gene Coleman, Vivian Fung, Jennifer Higdon, and Kotoka Suzuki. Hotoda has received awards including the 2006 Taki Concordia Conducting Fellowship (for women conductors), the Peabody Career Development Grant, the Women's Philharmonic Scholarship, and the Illinois Arts Council International Arts Exchange Grant. She will deliver a pre-concert talk just prior to the "Rising Star" concert at 6:45 p.m. that is open to all ticket-holders to attend.

The Las Vegas Philharmonic offers $26 tickets for balcony seating at all of its 2014-15 season concerts. Seats in other sections are priced $46, $66 and $96. Tickets are available from The Smith Center Box Office, phone 702.749.2000 or online from lvphil.org. A 50% student discount is available on all single ticket purchases (ID required) and a 10% discount is available to seniors and military personnel Groups of 10 or more receive 20% off the ticket price by calling the Las Vegas Philharmonic.

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