Elgin Symphony to open season with 'Pines of Rome'
This weekend guest conductor Tania Miller will lead the Elgin Symphony Orchestra through the works of Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, Miller, and Respighi in "Pines of Rome" to open the 2021-2022 season.
The concerts will be at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 2, and 3 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 3, at the Hemmens Cultural Center, 45 Symphony Way in Elgin.
The program will feature Capriccio italien, op. 45 by 19th century Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky; "Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini," op. 43 by Sergei Rachmaninoff, one of the greatest of 20th century piano virtuosos; "Under Sea, Above Sky," commissioned by the National Youth Orchestra of Canada for its summer season of 2019, by Canadian-American composer Jared Miller; and "Pini di Roma" ("Pines of Rome") by early 20th century Italian composer Ottorino Respighi.
Tickets, which are $35 to $65, are available at www.elginsymphony.org/concerts/pines-of-rome. Youth tickets are available for $10. Audience members must provide proof of complete vaccination for COVID-19 prior to entering the concert venue. Bring your COVID-19 vaccination record to the performance (photos of both sides of the record are also accepted), as well as photo ID. Patrons may choose to email photos of both sides of their vaccine record to d.prevost@elginsymphony.org prior to concert day or provide the record in person between the hours of 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. Monday-Friday.
Concert attendees will be required to wear masks at all times within concert venues.
About the performers
Tania Miller: The Canadian conductor has distinguished herself as a dynamic interpreter, musician and innovator. Miller's 2020-21 season featured debuts with the KBS Symphony Orchestra in Seoul and L'Orchestre Symphonique de Quebec, as well as a return to the Vancouver Symphony. This season, she will debut with Calgary Opera ("The Merry Widow") and the Vermont Symphony and return to the Elgin Symphony.
Miller was music director of Canada's Victoria Symphony for 14 years, and gained national acclaim for her commitment to the orchestra and community during that time.
Sara Davis Buechner: Noted for her musical command, cosmopolitan artistry, and visionary independence, Buechner is one of the most original concert pianists of our time.
In her 20s, Buechner earned some of the top prizes at the world's premiere international piano competitions - Queen Elisabeth (Brussels), Leeds, Mozart (Salzburg), Beethoven (Vienna), and Sydney. She was a Bronze Medalist of the 1986 Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow and the Gold Medalist of the 1984 Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition.
Buechner has performed in every state and province of North America - as recitalist, chamber musician and soloist with top orchestras like the New York Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony and Philadelphia Orchestra; and in venues such as Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center and the Hollywood Bowl. She has toured throughout Latin and South America and Europe, and she enjoys a special following in Asia.
She has released recordings of rare piano music by composers such as Rudolf Friml, Dana Suesse, Joseph Lamb, Joaquín Turina, Miklós Rózsa, and Ferruccio Busoni.
Buechner joined the faculty of Temple University's Boyer College of Music and Dance in 2016.