Violinist to perform with Northwest Symphony Orchestra

The Northwest Symphony Orchestra is pleased to announce that violinist Rabia Brooke will appear with the orchestra Sunday, April 14. She will perform the Violin Concerto in D minor, Opus 47, by Jean Sibelius.

Conducted by newly appointed music director Timothy Semanik, this program will take place at Forest View Educational Center, 2121 S. Goebbert Road, Arlington Heights, and will begin at 3 p.m.

Maestro Semanik is also the music director of the Bradley Symphony Orchestra, the Salt Creek Chamber Orchestra, and has recently completed his 10th season with the Savoyaires of Evanston.

In addition to the lively and hauntingly beautiful Sibelius Violin Concerto, this concert features two works by Ludwig van Beethoven, the Fidelio Overture and Symphony No. 5.

Perhaps the best known work of Beethoven, the Symphony No. 5 was written between 1804 and 1808. Though there was little critical response to the premiere performance, a year and a half later, music critic E.T.A. Hoffman wrote a rapturous review and later published an essay in which he wrote, "How this wonderful composition, in a climax that climbs on and on, leads the listener imperiously forward in the spirit world of the infinite!"

While Beethoven wrote only one opera, "Fidelio," he struggled with the overture and eventually wrote four different versions. The music we know as the "Fidelio Overture" was written for the 1814 revival of the opera. It is the lightest of the four versions and the one generally performed in productions of the opera.

Brooke has been playing violin since age 3. Last season she was honored to perform under the baton of Maestro George Stelluto at Ravinia with the Peoria Symphony Orchestra, participated in the Musique Dans la Gers Festival in France, performed with Rachel Barton Pine on the Buckingham Salon series, WFMT Broadcast, Make Music Now series as soloist and Piano Forte Studies.

This season, in addition to the Northwest Symphony, she will appear with the Musicians Club of Women and will have solo senior recitals at WFMT, Curtis Hall, Fine Arts Music - Performances and Scholarship Series, as well as solo appearances at Carnegie Hall and Orchestra Hall. She is currently studying with Desirée Ruhsrat.

Brooke is the winner of the 2019 Paul Vermel Young Artist Award. This award was created in 1995 by Barbara Hedlund, a colleague of Maestro Paul Vermel, NSO Music Director Emeritus, to honor his many contributions to emerging musicians.

Each year a talented string player is selected from the entrants of the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra concerto competition. In addition to a monetary award, the chosen musician is given the opportunity to perform in concert with the NSO.

Tickets for this performance are $20 for general admission, $15 for seniors ages 65 and older, and $10 for students with ID. Children younger than 14 are admitted free with a paying adult. Tickets can be purchased at the door on the day of the concert, using cash, checks or credit cards; online or through the Box Office at (847) 718-7702 with a credit card.

This concert is presented in partnership with District 214 Community Education.

For more information, visit www.northwestsymphony.org or call (847) 965-7271.

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