By Staff Reports
(Honolulu)– The Hawaii Symphony Orchestra (HSO) will conclude the fall portion of its 2013-2014 concert season with a performance of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 in D Minor on Monday, Dec. 23, the day before Christmas Eve, at 8 p.m. at the Neal Blaisdell Concert Hall. On the podium will be Andrew Litton, music director of the Colorado Symphony and Bergen (Norway) Philharmonic Orchestra, conductor laureate of Britain’s Bournemouth Symphony and artistic director of the Minnesota Orchestra’s Sommerfest.
Also known as the Choral Symphony, the work will feature the Oahu Choral Society (Esther Yoo, artistic director) and soloists Chiho Villasenor, soprano; Maya Hoover, mezzo-soprano; Kip Wilborn, tenor; and Leon Williams, bass.
Beethoven’s Ninth, a favorite of Hawaii audiences, is widely regarded as the pinnacle of the symphonic art. Since it premiered in 1824, with the composer himself conducting, it has served as the standard against which the greatest symphonies by such giants as Brahms and Mahler are compared.
Litton and the HSO will open the concert with a performance of Tchaikovsky’s Suite No. 4 in G Major, also known as Mozartiana – a homage to Mozart consisting of orchestrations of four of his pieces.
“Concert Conversations” will take place in the hall beginning at 7 p.m. HSO’s concertmaster Ignace Jang will serve as host to discussing the pieces being performed and to answer any questions. “Concert Conversations” is open to anyone who has a concert ticket.
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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