MEDIA ALERT: Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra to Dedicate Friday's Saint-Saens & Shostakovich Concert to the Victims of the Recent Terror Attacks in Paris

    KALAMAZOO, MI, November 18, 2015 /24-7PressRelease/ -- The Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra announces the dedication of its Friday, November 20, 2015 performance, Saint-Saens and Shostakovich, in memory of those who perished in the recent terror attacks in Paris. Internationally revered French pianist, Pascal Roge will perform French composer, Camille Saint-Saens', Piano Concerto No. 5 and Maestro Raymond Harvey will conduct Shostakovich's popular Symphony No. 5.

Written in 1896, twenty years after his fourth piano concerto, Saint-Saens' composed his Piano Concerto No. 5 while on a winter vacation in Egypt. Containing his most exotic writing, the concerto became known as the "Egyptian" concerto. Saint-Saens premiered the work at a jubilee concert celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of his debut at the Salle Pleyel in 1846.

To close the program, the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra will perform Dimitri Shostakovich's rousing Symphony No. 5. Shostakovich composed his fifth symphony during one of the most traumatic periods of his life. On January 26, 1936, Joseph Stalin attended a performance of Shostakovich's Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District. So displeased was Stalin with the opera that he published an anonymous but scathing review in the state-sponsored periodical, Pravda. The editorial denounced Shostakovich as a "formalist" and petty bourgeois composer whose "intentionally inharmonious muddled flow of sounds" was a direct danger to the Soviet people. Most contemporaries believed the review to be penned by Stalin himself--a view held by many historians to this day. Two weeks later a second review, this time of Shostakovich's ballet The Limpid Stream, appeared. This unprecedented sequence of attacks caused all of Shostakovich's colleagues in the Composer's Union to denounce his music. By the time his Symphony No. 5 was scheduled to premiere (November 21, 1937), the general public and intelligentsia were eager to hear Shostakovich's response. Fearing for his life, Shostakovich composed music in his Symphony No. 5 that, on the surface, appeared to adhere to Stalin's directives. However, he deftly wove deeper subtext into the music which bore testimony to the despair and terror that reigned over the nation.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Raymond Harvey

This season Maestro Harvey celebrates 17 years as Music Director of the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra. He previously held the top post at the Fresno Philharmonic (California), Springfield Symphony (Massachusetts), and El Paso Opera (Texas).

Maestro Harvey has appeared as guest conductor with many of America's leading orchestras, including those of Philadelphia, Atlanta, St. Louis, Indianapolis, Buffalo, Detroit, New Orleans and Minnesota, as well as the New York Philharmonic's Young People's Concerts and the Boston Pops. He has also had engagements with the Maggio Musicale Orchestra of Florence, Italy, the Pusan Symphony of South Korea, and the National Symphony Orchestra of Costa Rica. He regularly performs as a pianist, both in chamber music and as pianist/conductor in works of Gershwin, Mozart, and Rachmaninoff.

In addition to his commitment to Kalamazoo, Dr. Harvey has been named an Associate Professor at the University of Houston, where he serves as Music Director of the Moores School of Music opera department. His operatic repertoire is extensive, including favorites such as Carmen, Tosca, Madama Butterfly, La Boheme, Turandot, and Aida; as well as the more rarely performed The Consul, The Rape of Lucretia, and Samson and Delilah.

The Kalamazoo community continues to embrace Raymond Harvey through appreciation of his compelling performances and engaging lectures.

Pascal Roge

Pascal Roge exemplifies the finest in French pianism. Born in Paris, he was a student of the Paris Conservatory and was also mentored by Julius Katchen and the great Nadia Boulanger. Winner of Georges Enesco piano competition and 1st prize of Marguerite Long Piano competition, he became an exclusive Decca recording artist at the age of seventeen. His playing of Poulenc, Satie, Faure, Saint-Saens and especially Ravel, is characterized by its elegance, beauty and stylistically perfect phrasing.

Mr. Roge has performed in almost every major concert hall in the world and with every major orchestra across the globe and has collaborated with the most distinguished conductors in history, including Lorin Maazel, Michael Tilson Thomas, Mariss Jansons, Charles Dutoit, Kurt Masur, Edo de Waart, Alan Gilbert, David Zinman, Marek Janowski, Sir Andrew Davis, Raymond Leppard and others.

One of the world's most distinguished recording artists, Pascal Roge has won many prestigious awards, including two Gramophone Awards, a Grand Prix du Disque and an Edison Award for his interpretations of the Ravel and Saint- Saens concerti along with the complete piano works of Ravel, Poulenc and Satie.

Several years ago, Mr. Roge began a new and ambitious recording project for Onyx called the Roge Edition. With the Vienna Radio Symphony under Bertrand de Billy, he has recently recorded two CDs of both of the Ravel Piano Concerti and the Gershwin Concerto in F and Rhapsody in Blue.

Recently, Pascal has enjoyed playing recitals for four-hands/two-pianos with his partner in life and in music, Ami Roge. Together, they have travelled the world appearing at prestigious festivals and concert halls and recorded several CDs dedicated to the French 2 piano and 4 hands repertoire. In 2011, they performed the premiere of a newly commissioned Concerto for Two Pianos by the composer Matthew Hindson with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra conducted by Vladimir Ashkenazy.

Recently chairman of the Geneva Piano competition, Pascal Roge is also dedicated to teaching and gives regular masterclasses in France, Japan, United States and United Kingdom.

CALENDAR LISTING

Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra presents

Symphonic Series
Saint-Saens & Shostakovich

Raymond Harvey, Conductor
Pascal Roge, Piano

For their third concert of the 2015-2016 Symphonic Series, The Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra performs Saint-Saens and Shostakovich. Internationally revered French pianist, Pascal Roge will perform Saint-Saens' Piano Concerto No. 5 and Maestro Raymond Harvey will conduct Shostakovich's popular Symphony No. 5. The Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra dedicates this performance in memory of those who perished in the recent terror attacks in Paris.

Friday, November 20, 2015
Miller Auditorium

Tickets: $60 - $24
Student and Veteran ticket discounts available

For tickets, visit www.kalamazoosymphony.com, call the KSO Box Office at (269) 349-7759 or call Miller Auditorium Ticket Office at (269) 387-2300.

Visit www.kalamazoosymphony.com for up-to-date information, details and schedules. Prices, artists, dates, time and program are subject to change without notice.

The Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra receives major support from the Irving S. Gilmore Foundation, the Kalamazoo Community Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs. The Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra also receives generous support from other local, state and national foundations, as well as private and corporate support. For more information, visit www.kalamazoosymphony.com.

Founded in 1921, the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra is Southwest Michigan's premier musical organization, providing musical enrichment to over 80,000 adults and youth per year. The third-largest professional orchestra in the state, the KSO has won numerous awards and grants, including the Met Life Award for Arts Access in Underserved Communities, the National Endowment for the Arts for its extensive education programs, and a major Ford Foundation grant to found its innovative Artist-in-Residence program.

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