Masterworks I – Bernstein, Richman, Bates

Jeffrey Biegel, piano soloist

Charles Latshaw, conductor and music director

Leonard Bernstein – Overture to Candide
Lucas Richman – Concerto for Piano and Orchestra: In Truth
Mason Bates – Mothership
Leonard Bernstein – Symphonic Dances from West Side Story

With two works by Leonard Bernstein, this concert commemorates his 100th birthday. In 1985 Bernstein said of pianist Jeffrey Biegel, “He is a splendid musician and a brilliant performer.” Biegel will perform a piano concerto by Lucas Richman (b. 1964), an American composer who studied composition and conducting with Bernstein. Introducing electronic elements to the symphony, Mothership by Mason Bates (b. 1977) imagines a space station that is “docked” by several visiting soloists. Bernstein’s Symphonic Dances from West Side Story (1957) illuminates the clash of New York gang cultures and the exhilaration and anguish of the love between Tony and Maria, a deliberate nod to the doomed lovers Romeo and Juliet.

All concerts begin at 7:30 p.m. in Ardrey Memorial Auditorium on the campus of Northern Arizona University.
Concerts are preceded at 6:30 p.m. by a Conversation with the Conductor, giving the audience the opportunity to speak with the conductor and guest soloist(s) about the evening’s program.

Ticket available at: https://goo.gl/QTw86W or call 523-5661