A well-known piano
concerto will be performed by a popular and dynamic pianist at the next University
of South Carolina Symphony Orchestra concert. The Tuesday, Nov. 13 concert will
feature Marina Lomazov performing the Piano Concerto in A minor, op. 16 by
Edvard Grieg.
The Piano
Concerto is Grieg’s best-known work and among the most-performed piano
concerti. The opening bars – a roar of tympani and dazzling piano entrance –
are immediately recognizable even to a casual classical music listener.
"The
Grieg is a quintessential romantic concerto with broad emotional range and brilliant
piano writing, combined with beautiful lyricism and atmosphere," said Dr.
Lomazov, a Steinway Artist. "It is a virtuosic piece of music that
requires endurance, pacing and wide range of sound and color."
This will be
the first time she has performed the concerto in Columbia.
Performances
by Dr. Lomazov in the Southeast frequently sell out and she also had the same
impact recently in China. Her extensive summer tour there culminated in a
sold-out concert at the Shanghai City Theater. Talk Magazine Shanghai called her performance "a dramatic
blend of boldness and wit." She has also performed throughout North
America and South America, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Austria, Bulgaria,
Ukraine, Russia and Japan and been soloist with the Boston Pops, the Rochester
Philharmonic, the Chernigov Philharmonic (Ukraine), the KUG Orchester Graz (Austria),
the Bollington Festival Orchestra (England) and the Piccolo Spoleto Festival
Orchestra. Her concerts have been broadcast on National Public Radio’s Performance Today, the Bravo cable
channel and WNYC’s Young Artist Showcase.
A native of
Ukraine, Dr. Lomazov studied at the Kiev Conservatory before immigrating to the
U.S. where she earned degrees from the Juilliard School and the Eastman School
of Music. She is an associate professor at the USC School of Music and Artistic
Director of the Southeastern Piano Festival.
The Grieg
concerto won international fame after its 1869 premiere. Franz Liszt was a fan
of the concerto and provided suggestions for improvements which the composer
incorporated. In 1909 it became the
first piano concerto ever recorded and portions of it have been used in
everything from Nike commercials to the movies Lolita and The Adventures of
Milo and Otis.
"It's a
thrill to perform a widely-known piece of music - its beauty is the foundation
of its universal appeal,” Dr. Lomazov said. “Whether one hears it for the first
or for the hundredth time, the work stands strong and fresh on its
own."
The concert
will open with the Overture to The Creatures
of Prometheus ballet by Ludwig van Beethoven. The ballet and the full score
have rarely been performed since the premiere in 1801, but the five-minute
overture has become a concert mainstay.
“It is very
quick and lively – a great opening for a concert,” said orchestra Music
Director Donald Portnoy.
The overture
will be followed by Richard Strauss’ Death
and Transfiguration (Tod und Verklärung), Op. 24, a tone poem depicting the
death of an artist. Although only 26 when he wrote the work in 1898 it was his
third great symphonic poem. For the first time, he provided a details synopsis
of the narrative the music expressed – the final hours of “a man who had
striven for the highest ideals…”
“Strauss is
one of the mainstays of the orchestral repertoire,” said Maestro Portnoy. “It
isn’t played that often because it’s not easy, but it is something the
orchestra needs to play and audiences need to experience.”
The concert takes
place at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 13 at the Koger Center for the Arts, Assembly
Street at College Street. Tickets are $25; $20 for USC faculty and staff,
seniors and military; and $8 for students. Call (803) 251-2222 or go to http://www.capitoltickets.com/.
