Pacific Symphony's All-Beethoven Weekend Belatedly Honors Composer's 250th Birthday

With three nights of Beethoven (June 9-11), Pacific Symphony presents "Beethoven's Piano Concertos"-a weekend-long extravaganza belatedly celebrating the beloved composer's 250th birthday. Originally scheduled for March 2020, the beginning of the pandemic necessitated rescheduling. Boasting a different Beethoven-only program every night, the weekend features all five of the composer's piano concertos, performed by the spectacular guest pianist Alexander Romanovsky.

The three-day celebration starts off with Beethoven's First and Fourth Piano Concertos along with Overture to Egmont (June 9). Continuing with Romanovsky's performances of the Second and Third Piano Concertos, Friday night also welcomes Concertmaster Dennis Kim as soloist for Romance No. 1 and Romance No. 2 both written for violin and orchestra (June 10). Saturday night's grand finale opens the concert hall doors to Beethoven's lighthearted Symphony No. 8 before the orchestra and Romanovsky tackle the monumental "Emperor" concerto together (June 11).

"Beethoven's Piano Concertos" takes place Thursday-Saturday, June 9-11, at 8 p.m. in the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall. Tickets start at $23. Doors open at 6:45 p.m. and a preview talk with Dr. Jacob Sustaita begins at 7 p.m. These programs are sponsored by the Board of Counselors, Avenue of the Arts (Official Hotel), PBS SoCal (Official TV Station) and Classical KUSC (Official Radio Station). The 2021-22 season piano soloists are generously sponsorsed by The Michelle F. Rohé Fund.

The matinee performance on Sunday, June 12 at 3 p.m. opens with Beethoven's Egmont Overture of Beethoven's "Emperor" Concerto featuring Romanovsky. These concerts are part of the Symphony's 2021-22 Hal and Jeanette Segerstrom Family Foundation Classical Series. The matinee is sponsored by Avenue of the Arts (Official Hotel), PBS SoCal (Official TV Station) and KPCC (Official Music Station for the Sunday Matinee series). For more information or to purchase tickets, call (714) 755-5799 or visit www.PacificSymphony.org.

The Ukrainian born pianist Alexander Romanovsky was described by Carlo Maria Giulini as "extraordinarily gifted." Romanovsky is a riveting, distinct and subtle performer with an utterly engaging voice. At the age of 17, he won first prize at the prestigious Busoni Competition in Italy. The New York Times praised his artistry as "special, not just an extraordinary technician with a flair for color and fantasy, but also a sensitive musician and lucid interpreter." Romanovsky regularly performs with major orchestras throughout Europe, Asia and the Americas including the UK's Royal Philharmonic, English Chamber, Hallé and Bournemouth Symphony orchestras; Italy's Orchestra dell'Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome and Milan's Filarmonica della Scala; Russia's Mariinsky and Russian National orchestras and St. Petersburg and National philharmonics; Japan's Tokyo and NHK symphony orchestras; Chicago Symphony at the Ravinia Festival; and with the New York Philharmonic, under Alan Gilbert, at the Bravo! Vail Festival. In 2007, he was invited to give a concert at the Papal Residence in the presence of Pope Benedict XVI in celebration of the 110th Anniversary of Pope Paul VI's birth.

Dennis Kim is the concertmaster of Pacific Symphony. He has spent more than a decade leading orchestras in the United States, Europe and Asia. Most recently, he was concertmaster of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra in New York. He was first appointed concertmaster of the Tucson Symphony Orchestra at the age of 22. He then served as the youngest concertmaster in the history of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, before going on to lead the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra and the Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra in Finland. As guest concertmaster, Kim has performed on four continents, leading the BBC Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre National de Lille, KBS Symphony Orchestra, Montpelier Symphony Orchestra, Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra, Western Australia Symphony Orchestra and Symphony Orchestra of Navarra. After making his solo debut at the age of 14 with the Toronto Philharmonic Orchestra, Kim has gone on to perform as a soloist with many of the most important orchestras in China and Korea.

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