The Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and Music Director Edo de Waart Present GOODE PLAYS MOZART, 1/24-25

The Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and Music Director Edo de Waart present Goode Plays Mozart on January 24-25, 2015 at the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts. The performances feature pianist Richard Goode performing Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 18 along with Schubert's Symphony No. 8.

Both concerts include Meet the Music, a free, interactive pre-concert discussion held one hour prior to concert start time in Anello Atrium.

Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 18 in B-flat major, K. 456 was composed in 1784. The piece likely premiered in Vienna the same year with Maria Theresia von Paradis on piano. Between 1784 and 1786, Mozart completed twelve piano concertos and was in demand as one of Vienna's preeminent pianists. Intricate woodwind writing is a hallmark of the piano concertos Mozart completed around this time. The piece exhibits a highly developed sense of dialogue between the solo piano and orchestra, transforming into what feels like a large-scale chamber music work.

Schubert's Symphony No. 8 in C major, D. 944, "The Great," was composed in 1825-26 and premiered in 1839. The Symphony was not officially discovered until the composer Robert Schumann paid a visit to Franz Schubert's brother Ferdinand in 1837. There is controversy surrounding the numbering of Schubert's symphonies since they were published after Schubert's death. Isaac Thompson, MSO program annotator, wrote, "Schubert's C major Symphony is one of the crowning achievements of the composer's remarkable output and lives on as one of the most important symphonic contributions of the nineteenth century."

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Edo de Waart enters his sixth season as the sixth music director of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra in 2014.15. He also serves as chief conductor of the Royal Flemish Philharmonic and conductor laureate of the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra. Regular guest conducting appearances include the Chicago Symphony, NHK Symphony, and Royal Stockholm Philharmonic orchestras as well as the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra where, as with the San Francisco Symphony and Hong Kong Philharmonic, he has previously held a post. At the end of the 2013.14 season, he returned to the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra.

As an opera conductor, de Waart has enjoyed success in a large and varied repertoire in many of the world's greatest opera houses. He has conducted at Bayreuth, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Grand Théâtre de Genève, Opera de Bastille, Santa Fe Opera, and The Metropolitan Opera. His most recent appearance at The Met received rave reviews for Der Rosenkavalier, and he will return to the house in future seasons. In addition to semi-staged and concert opera performances with his orchestras in the United States, he regularly conducts opera with the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra as part of the Amsterdam Concertgebouw's Zaterdag Matinee series, most recently Richard Strauss's Salome.

Edo de Waart's extensive catalogue encompasses releases for Philips, Virgin, EMI, Telarc, and RCA. His most recent recording is with the Royal Flemish Philharmonic; Mahler's Symphony No. 1 was released in April 2013. Future releases include Wagner's Tristan und Isolde: Nachtgesang und Isoldes Liebestod (arr. Henk de Vlieger) with the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra and Elgar's Dream of Gerontius with the Royal Flemish Philharmonic.

At the age of 23, de Waart won the Dimitri Mitropoulos Conducting Competition in New York which resulted in his appointment as assistant conductor to Leonard Bernstein at the New York Philharmonic. On his return to Holland, he was appointed assistant conductor to Bernard Haitink at the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. In 1967, the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra appointed him guest conductor and, six years later, chief conductor and artistic director. Since then, he has also been music director of the San Francisco Symphony and Minnesota Orchestra, chief conductor and artistic director of the Sydney Symphony, and chief conductor of De Nederlandse Opera.

Richard Goode has been hailed for music-making of tremendous emotional power, depth, and expressiveness and has been acknowledged worldwide as one of today's leading interpreters of Classical and Romantic music. In regular performances with the major orchestras, recitals in the world's music capitals, and acclaimed Nonesuch recordings, he has won a large and devoted following. In the 2013.14 season, Mr. Goode appeared as soloist with such orchestras as The New York Philharmonic with David Zinman, the Chicago Symphony with Mark Elder, the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin with Herbert Blomstedt, and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra with Peter Oundjian, with whom he will also tour throughout Canada with the Toronto Symphony. His always compelling recitals were heard at Carnegie Hall in New York, in London, in Paris, at the Aldeburgh Festival and on leading concert and university series around the world. Richard Goode is an exclusive Nonesuch artist, and has made more than two-dozen recordings, including the complete Beethoven Piano Sonatas and Partitas by J.S. Bach, and solo and chamber works of Brahms, Schubert, Schumann, Chopin, Busoni, and George Perle.

ABOUT THE PERFORMANCE

Goode Plays Mozart
Edo de Waart, conductor
Richard Goode, piano
Uihlein Hall, Marcus Center for the Performing Arts

Saturday, January 24 | 8:00 p.m.
Meet the Music, Anello Atrium | 7:00 p.m.

Sunday, January 25 | 2:30 p.m.
Meet the Music, Anello Atrium | 1:30 p.m.

Tickets range from $25-105. For more information, please call 414.291.7605 or visit mso.org. Tickets may also be purchased through the Marcus Center Box Office at414.273.7206.

ABOUT THE MSO
The Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, under the dynamic leadership of Music Director Edo de Waart, is among the finest orchestras in the nation and the largest cultural institution in Wisconsin. Now in his sixth season with the MSO, Maestro de Waart has led sold-out concerts, elicited critical acclaim, and conducted a celebrated performance at Carnegie Hall on May 11, 2012. The MSO's full-time professional musicians perform over 135 classics, pops, family, education, and community concerts each season in venues throughout the state. Since its inception in 1959, the MSO has found innovative ways to give music a home in the region, develop music appreciation and talent among area youth, and raise the national reputation of Milwaukee.

Photo Courtesy of the MSO

To post a comment, you must register and login.