January 10-12 Program features Prokofiev’s Romeo & Juliet Suite, plus soloist Yulianna Avdeeva on Liszt’s First Piano Concerto
The Nashville Symphony returns to the Schermerhorn stage on January 10-12 with Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet, which will feature two of the most respected women in classical music today – guest conductor JoAnn Falletta and award-winning pianist Yulianna Avdeeva.
The Symphony’s first concerts of the New Year open with Maurice Ravel’s La Valse, a dark re-imagining of the traditional Viennese waltz, before Avdeeva joins the orchestra on Franz Liszt’s groundbreaking First Piano Concerto. Falletta and the orchestra close the performances with Sergei Prokofiev’s Suite from Romeo and Juliet, one of the Russian composer’s most beloved works.
Great seats are available starting at $27 (prices subject to change, additional fees apply), and the Symphony’s Soundcheck program offers $10 tickets to students in K-12, college and graduate school.
About the Program and Performers
· Performance Today’s 2019 Classical Woman of the Year, JoAnn Falletta became the first woman to lead a major American ensemble when she was appointed music director of the Buffalo Philharmonic. A multiple GRAMMY® Award winner with a discography of more than 115 titles, Falletta has introduced more than 500 works by American composers – including more than 100 world premieres – and has guest conducted leading orchestras throughout North and South America, Europe, Asia and Africa.
· Russian pianist Yulianna Avdeeva gained international recognition when she won First Prize in the prestigious Chopin Competition in 2010, and her combination of clarity, energy and elegance has solidified her place among the most distinctive artists of her generation.
Avdeeva has established a strong presence across Europe and Asia, and with these performances she is further elevating her profile in the U.S.
· Though Ravel envisioned La Valse as depicting the grandeur of “waltzing couples” in an “immense hall with a whirling crowd,” music is actually unusually dark. One critic noted that the piece is more representative of a danse macabre (“dance of death”) than a waltz, and many see La Valse as a symbolic representation of Europe after World War I.
· Liszt rose to fame as a piano virtuoso capable of transforming the instrument into a veritable orchestra and playing entire programs from memory – feats that stirred up a wave of adulation known as “Lisztomania.” As a composer, he was also a trailblazer who sought to develop the concepts of the orchestral symphonic poem and “thematic transformation.” The First Piano Concerto blends Liszt’s own virtuosity with those innovative techniques.
· Prokofiev teamed up with director Sergei Radlov on Romeo and Juliet, tailoring Shakespeare’s play into a ballet of more than 50 brief scenes that vividly capture the romance and tragedy of the classic tale. For the concert hall, Prokofiev prepared a series of suites drawing music from the ballet score, and this performance will feature highlights from two of those suites. His music for Romeo and Juliet teems with the lyricism and directness of the “new simplicity” the composer was pursuing at the time.
Tickets for Romeo & Juliet may be purchased:
Online at NashvilleSymphony.org/RomeoandJulietVia phone at 615.687.6400At the Schermerhorn Symphony Center Box Office, One Symphony Place in downtown Nashville
Full program notes, artist bios, a Spotify playlist and more can be found at NashvilleSymphony.org/RomeoandJuliet.
The GRAMMY® Award-winning Nashville Symphony has earned an international reputation for its innovative programming and its commitment to performing, recording and commissioning works by America’s leading composers. The Nashville Symphony has released more than 30 recordings on Naxos, which have received 24 GRAMMY® nominations and 13 GRAMMY® Awards, making it one of the most active recording orchestras in the country. The orchestra has also released recordings on Decca, Deutsche Grammophon and New West Records, among other labels. With more than 140 performances annually, the orchestra offers a broad range of classical, pops and jazz, and children’s concerts, while its extensive education and community engagement programs reached 45,000 children and adults during the 2018/19 season.