By Staff Reports
(Honolulu)– Hawaii Symphony Orchestra’s second fall season concert featuring pianist Cecile Licad performing Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in C Minor will be at 4 p.m. Sunday, November 3. Maestro Tito Muñoz will also conduct Mendelssohn’s Hebrides Overture (Fingal’s Cave) and Brahms’ Symphony No. 2 in D Major.
Maestro Muñoz will be participating in Concert Conversations, a Q&A with the conductor one hour before the concert with Ignace Jang as the host. Concert Conversations is an informal get-together to discuss the music to be heard that evening, including musical notes, happenings in the conductors’ life, and general context of the piece composed that will help paint a backdrop of the time the piece was written. Concert Conversations are designed to enhance the concert experience and are aimed at first-time concertgoers, although the moderated session is open to anyone with a ticket to the concert. Muñoz and Licad will also meet with and greet patrons after the concert backstage.
Called “a pianist’s pianist” by The New Yorker, Licad’s artistry is a blend of daring musical instinct and superb training. Her summer festival appearances have included Caramoor, Tanglewood and the Mostly Mozart Festival (in both New York and Tokyo). She has also performed at the Great Mountains Music Festival in South Korea. Licad began her piano studies at the age of 3 with her mother, Rosario Licad, in her native Philippines. At age 7, she made her debut as soloist with the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra. She is one of the youngest musicians to receive the prestigious Leventritt Gold Medal.
Muñoz is increasingly recognized as one of the most gifted and versatile conductors of his generation. Most recently serving as Music Director of the Opera National de Lorraine and the Orchestre Symphonique et Lyrique de Nancy, his previous appointments have included a three-year tenure as Assistant Conductor of The Cleveland Orchestra and League of American Orchestras Conducting Fellow, and Assistant Conductor positions with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra.
Tickets are available for this weekend’s concerts at the Blaisdell Box Office or online at www.HawaiiSymphonyOrchestra.org. All performances are at the Neal Blaisdell Concert Hall.
The third concert in the Masterworks series will be on Saturday, November 16 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, November 17 at 4 p.m. with Hawaii Symphony Orchestra’s Artistic Advisor JoAnn Falletta conducting and featuring flute soloist Sir James Galway and violinist Ignace Jang. The concert will feature Berlioz’s Roman Carnival, Mozart’s Flute Concerto No. 2 in D Major, K. 314 and Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade, Op. 35.
The remaining lineup for the Fall 2013 season:
Sunday, November 24, at 4 p.m.
Jean-Marie Zeitouni conducting, with piano soloist Joyce Yang. The concert will feature works by Glinka, Tchaikovsky and Stravinsky.
Saturday, December 7, at 8 p.m. and Sunday, December 8, at 4 p.m.
Michael Stern conducting with banjo soloist Béla Fleck. The concert will feature works by Stephen Hartke, Béla Fleck and Copland.
Monday, December 23, at 8 p.m.
Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 will be conducted by Andrew Litton and featuring local vocalists: soprano Chiho Villasenor, mezzo-soprano Maya Hoover, tenor Kip Wilborn, bass Leon Williams, and the Oahu Choral Society, Esther Yoo, artistic director. The concert will open withTchaikovsky’s Suite No. 4 in G Major
The second half of the 2013-2014 season will feature concerts on March 16; April 5, 6, 26, 27; May 11, 17, 18; and June 1.
About the Hawaii Symphony Orchestra
The Hawaii Symphony Orchestra, one of the oldest orchestras west of the Rocky Mountains, has won the enthusiastic praise of the nationally and internationally renowned soloists and guest conductors who have performed with it.
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