Pianist Lin Returns To Play With The Adrian Symphony Orchestra – Entertainment – The Daily Telegram – Adrian, MI

ADRIAN – Mendelssohn's first piano concerto and Mozart's last symphony – the famous "Jupiter" symphony – as well as the return of a popular guest artist of recent years, are on display for the next Adrian Symphony Orchestra concert.

The concert is at 8 p.m. Friday March 13 at Sister Kevin McLaughlin Music Hall at the University of Siena Heights. Tickets are $ 32 for adults, $ 30 for seniors and $ 18 for students, and can be purchased by calling ASO at 517-264-3121; at the office of the orchestra at Mahan Hall, Adrian College; online at adriansymphony.org; or at the door depending on availability.

Due to the size of the venue and the demand for tickets, space availability is limited. All seats are for general admission.

ASO Music Director Bruce Kiesling will deliver a classic conversation about the evening's music at 7 p.m. in the concert hall. A free reception for all ticket holders follows the performance.

Mendelssohn's concerto features guest artist Steven Lin, making his third appearance with the Adrian Symphony. He performed Rachmaninov's "Rhapsody on a Theme from Paganini" with ASO in 2016 and returned the following year for Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No. 2.

Lin, whose list of honors includes the Discretionary Chairperson John Giordano Prize at the 2013 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition and the Silver Medal at the 2014 Arthur Rubinstein Piano Competition, received a full scholarship for Juilliard at 10 years old and debuted with the New York Philharmonic at the age of 13. He obtained his BA and MA from Juilliard and completed the performance diploma program at the Curtis Institute of Music.

Kiesling has worked with Lin numerous times in addition to his Adrian concerts, including a recent performance of Beethoven's first piano concerto with the Kiesling orchestra conducting in California. He likes having Lin as a soloist not only because of his artistic talent but also because of his reliability on the keyboard.

"With some soloists, they are unpredictable," he said, which can make performance with them difficult for the conductor and the orchestra. But even though Lin is a very creative artist who does interesting things with music, "you know Steven will do what you expect. I love it from him. "

And Kiesling said he was eager to conduct this particular concerto, which Mendelssohn wrote at the age of only 22 years old.

"This has been one of my favorite songs for so long, and I can't wait to do it," he said. "It’s so happy."

Like the other composer on Friday’s program, Mozart, Mendelssohn was a prodigious talent even at a very young age. Interestingly enough, the two also died young, Mendelssohn at 38 and Mozart at 35.

For Kiesling, this concerto and the composer's popular concerto for violin are works that “seem to be playing out. It sort of happens. "Lasting about 20 minutes, it is not a very long job," but it is so delicious, and even if it is in G minor it & # 39; 39; is so nice. "

The piece was perhaps not as revolutionary in its time, perhaps, as Mendelssohn's violin concerto, "but the interaction between the piano and the orchestra, especially in the final, is a little different. … (And) the orchestra has a more interesting role than in some concertos, ”he said.

As for Mozart, Symphony No. 41, which was called "Jupiter", is considered one of the most beautiful symphonies ever written.

It is the composer's last and longest symphony, written during an explosion of creative genius in the summer of 1788. He finished Symphony No. 39 in late June, Symphony No. 40 end of July, and this work in August. 10. Around the same time, he also wrote three pieces for piano and one for violin.

Mozart may never have heard the work itself; by this time in his life he had fallen out of favor, and no one seems to have been interested in the concert series he intended to present, so it is unclear when his first performance actually took place location.

But once it saw the light of day, it quickly found its place as one of the undisputed masterpieces of the canon.

"This is one of the great symphonies," said Kiesling. "It's so amazing how the parties come together, especially this massive fugue" which brings together the five major themes at the end of the fourth movement. "Back then, running away from home was considered old-fashioned, but it showed what could be done with it."