from staff
The Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra will begin the New Year with Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 5, Emperor, one of the most popular piano concertos of all time. The JSO will be joined by Sa Chen, first recipient of the Crystal Award at the 12th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. Sa Chen was born into a musical family in Chingqing, China and is considered as one of the leading Chinese pianists in the music world today.
The program will be led by internationally renowned guest conductor Maximiano Valdes, music director of the Orquesta Sinfonica del Principado de Asturias in Spain. Part of the Fidelity National Financial Masterworks Series, the concert takes place Jan. 4 at 7:30 p.m., Jan. 5 at 8 p.m. and Jan. 6 at 8 p.m. in Jacoby Symphony Hall at the Times-Union Center for the Performing Arts. Sa Chen is the JSO’s 2006-07 Yvonne Charvot Barnett Young Artist.
Born in Santiago, Chile, Maximiano Valdes has conducted orchestras throughout the world. He served as music director of the Buffalo Philharmonic for nearly 10 years. In North America, he has guest conducted the St. Louis, National, Montreal, Baltimore, Seattle, Houston, Dallas and New Jersey symphonies and the Calgary and Brooklyn Philharmonics.
The program opens with an Argentinean flair in Ginastera’s musical tale of the opera “Faust.” Sa Chen then takes center stage in Beethoven’s magnificent and powerful Emperor Concerto. Shostakovich’s 6th Symphony closes the program, in which the composer artfully concealed tragic emotion under the repressive Soviet regime.
For tickets and information, call the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra box office at 354-5547, toll free (877) 662-6731, or log on to jaxsymphony.org.