Queens Symphony Orchestra presents a magnificent evening concert featuring world-acclaimed pianist Andre-Michel Schub, this Saturday, Feb. 22, at 7 p.m. at Queensborough Community College’s Performing Arts Center, 56th Avenue & Springfield Blvd.<
The musical program selected by Maestro Arthur Fagen for the Great Romantic Classics Masterworks Concert Series brings concert-goers some of the most powerful and passionate compositions inspired by love and the intrigues of romance that have ever been penned.
Andre-Michel Schub has been praised by critics and audiences around the world for three decades. In 1982 he was the grand prize winner of the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition — the world’s most prestigious award in piano virtuosity. He also won the Avery Fisher Recital Award in 1977 and the Naumburg International Piano Competition in 1974.
He is an artist member of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and he has also performed with many of the world’s finest orchestras. Along with numerous TV appearances, Schub is a recording artist for Sony Classical and has recorded extensively for the PianoDisc system. Schub will perform Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” at this concert.
The Great Romantic Classics program will include the following pieces:
“Prelude” and “Love Death”
Richard Wagner (1813-1883) wrote the libretto as well as the music for his version of the Tristan legend from Celtic folklore during 1856-59, which premiered in 1865. Wagner was in an unhappy marriage during its composition and wrote of the opera, “Since I have never in my life enjoyed the true happiness of life, I want to erect a further monument to this most beautiful of dreams.”
“Rhapsody in Blue,” featuring guest artist Andre-Michel Schub
George Gershwin (1898-1937) wrote this piece in 1924 with themes inspired in part by the railroad rhythms. “Rhapsody in Blue” forever brought to Gershwin the admiration of the classical world.
“Romeo and Juliet” (excerpts)
Sergei Prokofieff (1891-1953), an established composer and reputed enfant terrible because of the raw energy of some of his music and orchestrations, was commissioned in 1938 by the Bolshoi Ballet to compose music for the production of “Romeo and Juliet.” It premiered in that same year and has taken on a life of its own in the form of three concert suites.
Queens Symphony Orchestra, now in its 50th anniversary season, is proud to be the borough’s only professional orchestra with a long and rich legacy. QSO’s vision and mission statements reflect the organization’s priority of service to the Queens community, one of the most diverse counties in the nation.
For more information on the concert series, call the QSO office at 718-326-4455 go to www.queenssymphony.org. To purchase tickets, call QCC Box Office at 718-631-6311 (M-F 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. and one hour prior to performance).
