RI Philharmonic Orchestra Kicks Off Season with Lilya Zilberstein Tonight

An Open Dress Rehearsal takes place Friday September 25 at 5:30pm. Music Director Larry Rachleff collaborates with the orchestra and guest artists to put the finishing touches on the program for Saturday'sClassical concert. A microphone onstage lets the audience listen in on the comments and direction happening up front.

"Our 71st season opens with an all-Russian concert, featuring three great works," says music director LARRY RACHLEFF. "You'll hear Stravinsky's hair-raising Rite of Spring, which caused such a scandal at its ballet premiere in 1913. The great choreographer Nijinksky stood in the wings counting beats for the dancers so that they could perform Stravinksy's remarkable, erotic, exotic Rite of Spring." RACHLEFF continues: "In Mussorgsky's beautiful, gentle prelude Dawn on the Moskva River you can hear the very same musical material that Tchaikovsky uses in his colossal First Piano Concerto. We bring back a favorite of ours, the great Russian pianist Lilya Zilberstein, for this most famous of all piano concerti."

ABOUT THE RHODE ISLAND PHILHARMONIC AND MUSIC SCHOOL

The Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra & Music School is the largest fully integrated orchestra and music school in the United States. It enriches and transforms Rhode Island and Southern New England through great music performance and education.

About the ORCHESTRA

2015-2016 is the Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra's 71st Season and Music Director Larry Rachleff's 20th anniversary with the Orchestra. The eight-concert Saturday TACO Classical Series features world-renowned guest artists including pianists Lilya Zilberstein, Lukas Vondracek and Alexander Toradze, violinists Benjamin Beilman, Angelo Xiang Yu and Tracy Silverman, and Cellist Julie Albers. The four-concert Friday Amica Rush Hour Series offers an earlier start time and shorter program with full performances of select repertoire from the Saturday Classical concerts and musical discussion provided by Larry Rachleff and Host Cathy Fuller of WCRB Classical Radio. Four Friday Open Rehearsals offer audience members insight into the collaboration between the conductor, guest artists and orchestra musicians in an informal environment that is perfect for families. Special Concerts include the perennial holiday favorite Handel's Messiah with The Providence Singers on Saturday, December 12 and a special Gala Evening with Sir James Galway on Wednesday, March 23. Resident Conductor Francisco Noya conducts Link Up! Education Concerts that serve over 13,000 elementary school children each year, as well as Summer Pops Concerts in parks across the state. With adult tickets starting at $15 for most concerts, and even better deals for children and students, the Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra offers affordable cultural entertainment for all.

About the MUSIC SCHOOL

Now in its 28th year, the Rhode Island Philharmonic Music School serves approximately 1,500 children, youth and adults every week with lessons, classes and ensembles, and an additional 25,000 students annually through community partnerships, residencies, education concerts and in-school performances. Five youth orchestras, two wind ensembles, eleven jazz ensembles and many chamber music ensembles, in addition to weekly private lessons for many instruments, provide a musical education customized for each student. Graduates of the Philharmonic's Music School and Youth Ensembles have gone on to succeed in many endeavors. Alumni include principal players in the nation's finest orchestras, skilled music educators, esteemed composers and conductors, corporate CEOs, doctors, lawyers, mathematicians, and academicians, and a former Miss Universe. As one of the largest community music schools in the nation, the Rhode Island Philharmonic Music School offers an extensive faculty and one of the finest music education facilities in the Northeast - the Carter Center for Music Education and Performance in East Providence - in addition to a branch in East Greenwich and partner locations throughout the State. A Westerly branch is slated to open in 2016.

ABOUT THE GUEST ARTIST

LILYA ZILBERSTEIN began playing the piano at the age of five. Her first international success was in 1987 when she won the Busoni competition in Bozen. Her victory in this competition was a sensation; it was not until five years later that the first prize was even awarded again. Born in Moscow, from 1988 onwards Ms. Zilberstein was able to perform all over the world. Now living in Germany, Ms. Zilberstein made her debut with the Berlin Philharmonic orchestra under Claudio Abbado in 1991, forming the basis for continued collaboration. She has appeared with many of the finest international orchestras including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Moscow Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Milan La Scala Orchestra, and Staatskapelle Dresden alongside many others. In recent seasons Ms. Zilberstein has appeared in the USA, Canada, Italy, Spain and Austria and all the major German cities. These performances have included an extended tour with the Moscow Philharmonic, playing in the Hamburg Musikhalle, the Alte Oper in Frankfurt and the Liederhalle in Stuttgart, appearances with the Radio Symphony Orchestra (Wien) in Vienna's Musikverein, with the Gewandhaus Orchestra in Leipzig and in the Konzerthaus in Berlin with the Radio Symphony Orchestra alongside a veritable marathon of music by Rachmaninov in the Prinzregententheater in Munich when, in the space of three evenings, she performed all four piano concertos and the Paganini Variations.

ABOUT THE CONCERT

OPENING WEEKEND: TCHAIKOVSKY'S FIRST CONCERTO

Larry Rachleff, conductor

Lilya Zilberstein, piano

MUSSORGSKY Dawn on the Moskva River

TCHAIKOVSKY Piano Concerto No.1, B-flat minor, op.23, TH 55

STRAVINSKY The Rite of Spring

Saturday September 26 at 8:00pm Open Rehearsal Friday September 25 at 5:30pm

Veterans Memorial Auditorium, Avenue of the Arts,Providence

Concert Sponsors: Lisa Bisaccia & Robert Naparstek; Almon & Suzanne Hall

TICKET & BOX OFFICE INFORMATION:

$15 to $100, with discounts for students and groups in selected sections.

Online: tickets.riphil.org • 24/7

Phone: 401.248.7000 • Monday-Friday 9?4:30

In Person:

RI Philharmonic Box Office
The Carter Center
667 Waterman Avenue
East Providence, RI 02914

Monday-Friday 9-4:30

OR

The VETS Box Office
1 Avenue of the Arts
Providence, RI 02903

Concert Friday 2?5:30pm; Concert Saturday 3:30?8pm

Ticket prices start at $15 for adults, with discounts in selected areas of the hall for full?time students and groups. Online convenience fees may apply for website purchases. All tickets for Open Rehearsals are $15, including facilities fee (Internet fee may apply). There is free parking for all RI Philharmonic concerts at designated lots along Smith Street. For Saturday evening concerts, a free shuttle bus is provided to and from the parking lots before and after the concert.

ABOUT THE PROGRAM: stories behind the music

Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat minor, op.23 Peter I. Tchaikovsky (1840-1893)

Frenemies: On Christmas Eve 1874, Tchaikovsky played his First Piano Concerto for Nicolai Rubinstein, his superior at the Moscow Conservatory, seeking some friendly technical advice about the piano part. Instead, Tchaikovsky reports, Rubinstein declared that "my concerto was worthless, that it was unplayable, that passages were trite, awkward and so clumsy that it was impossible to put them right, that as a composition it was bad and tawdry, that I had filched this bit from here and that bit from there, and that there were only two or three pages that could be retained, and that the rest would have to be scrapped or completely revised.... 'I won't change a single note," I replied, "and I'll publish it just as it is now!' And so I did!"

Dawn on the Moscow River Modest Mussorgsky (1839-1881)

That's all he wrote: Mussorgsky envisioned a historical opera, Khovanshchina, depicting turbulent times when Russia was evolving from medieval to modern ways of life. He completed only the orchestral prelude, portraying a winter dawn on the Moscow River, the Kremlin and the square. The somber music depicts the quiet and cold, then a folk-like melody appears in the woodwinds and develops using variations on the melody, clothed in unusual harmonies and textures. Finally, the music returns to the simplicity of the opening, where fragments of the melody bring the prelude to a quiet close.

The Rite of Spring Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971)

No such thing as bad publicity: Ballet goers were outraged by the Rite of Spring at the famous premiere on May 29, 1913. Stravinsky wrote: "I was disgusted. These demonstrations, at first isolated, soon became general, provoking counter-demonstrations and very quickly developing into a terrific uproar. . . . I had to hold Nijinsky [the choreographer] by his clothes, for he was furious and ready to dash on to the stage at any moment and create a scandal. Diaghilev kept ordering the electricians to turn the lights on or off, hoping in that way to put a stop to the noise." Diaghilev clearly recognized the promotional value of a controversial show that would make Stravinsky the bad boy of music for years to come. Many years later, Stravinsky wrote: "After the performance, we were excited, angry, disgusted, and - happy. I went with Diaghilev and Nijinsky to a restaurant. Diaghilev's only comment was: 'Exactly what I wanted.' He certainly looked contented."

RHODE ISLAND PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA: 2015-16 CLASSICAL SEASON - SEASON 71

2. BEETHOVEN'S "PASTORAL"

Larry Rachleff, conductor

Benjamin Beilman, violin

PROKOFIEV Classical Symphony

SIBELIUS Violin Concerto

BEETHOVEN Symphony No.6 (Pastoral)

Saturday October 17 at 8:00pm Amica Rush Hour Concert Friday October 16 at 6:30pm

3. WEST SIDE STORY

Larry Rachleff, conductor

Tracy Silverman, electric violin

BERNSTEIN West Side Story: Symphonic Dances

MUHLY Seeing Is Believing

RAVEL Alborada del gracioso

DEBUSSY La Mer

Saturday November 14 at 8:00pm Amica Rush Hour Concert Friday November 13 at 6:30pm

4. DVO?ÁK'S "NEW WORLD"

Grant Llewellyn, Guest Conductor

Lucas Vondracek, piano

LISZT Les Préludes

SCHUMANN Piano Concerto

DVO?ÁK Symphony No.9 (New World)

Saturday January 16 at 8:00pm Open Rehearsal Friday January 15 at 5:30pm

5. RIDE OF THE VALKYRIES

Larry Rachleff, conductor

Angelo Xiang Yu, violin

WAGNER Götterdämmerung: Siegfried's Rhine Journey

WAGNER Die Walküre: Ride of the Valkyries

MOZART Violin Concerto No. 4

SHOSTAKOVICH Symphony No.1

Saturday February 20 at 8:00pm Open Rehearsal Friday February 19 at 5:30pm

6. RACHMANINOFF THIRD CONCERTO

Larry Rachleff, conductor

Alexander Toradze, piano

RACHMANINOFF Piano Concerto No.3

BRAHMS Symphony No.1

Saturday March 19 at 8:00pm Amica Rush Hour Concert Friday March 18 at 6:30pm

7. DVO?ÁK IN LOVE

Larry Rachleff, conductor

Julie Albers, cello

SIBELIUS Finlandia

DVO?ÁK Cello Concerto

NIELSEN Symphony No.4 (The Inextinguishable)

Saturday April 9 at 8:00pm Open Rehearsal Friday April 8 at 5:30pm

8. BEETHOVEN'S NINTH

Larry Rachleff, conductor

The Providence Singers, Christine Noel, artistic director

WEBERN Passacaglia

BEETHOVEN Symphony No.9 (Choral)

Saturday May 7 at 8:00pm Amica Rush Hour Concert Friday May 6 at 6:30pm

All programs and artists are subject to change without notice.