Program

Beethoven Coriolan Overture
Chopin Piano Concerto No. 2
Kadar Qian, Piano, (12 year old prodigy)
Mendelssohn"Italian" Symphony

12-year old Piano Prodigy
Kadar Qian opens our season
in grand style

Program Notes

Coriolan Overture
Beethoven wrote this highly popular composition in 1807 to accompany Heinrich Joseph von Collin's now obscure drama.  The music depicts the story of Coriolanus, a banished Roman patrician who shamefully and tragically leads an army against Mother Rome.  As one of Beethoven’s most performed and recorded works, the overture has far outpaced its literary counterpart in fame and acclaim. 

Piano Concerto No. 2
It is fitting, perhaps, for young Kadar Qian to be performing Chopin’s F Minor Piano Concerto as it is the youthful work of a great pianist who was himself a prodigy.  Chopin, born in Poland of French parents, began performing in public when he was 8 years old.  Composed when he was 20, Piano Concerto No. 2 was actually Chopin’s first.  It was labeled the second because it was the second to be published.  The music itself is magically expressive and typical of Chopin.

Symphony No. 4 in A (Italian Symphony)
Mendelssohn spent the years 1829 -1831 touring Europe which provided the inspiration for his Scottish Symphony, The Hebrides, and of course the Italian Symphony.    Writing from Rome to his equally musical sister Fanny about his work in progress, he said “It will be the jolliest piece I have ever done.”  Indeed it is a sunny work and evocative of the magical spirit of Italy.