North State Symphony Opens Season with Concert Featuring Unique Compositions, Sept. 15 & 16

The North State Symphony opens its 102nd season on Sept. 15 and 16 with a program featuring solo pianist Brian Ganz and conducted by Kyle Wiley Pickett. The Sept. 15 season-opener will be held at Chico’s Laxson Auditorium at 7:30 p.m., and the concert is repeated on Sunday Sept 16 at 2 p.m. in Redding’s Cascade Theatre.
 
Brian Ganz will perform the “First Piano Concerto” by Johannes Brahms, and the symphony will also present Wagner’s “Siegfried Idyll” and the popular “Classical Symphony” of Prokofiev. The selection of works was made, according to Music Director Pickett, “in essence, because of each of these works has a unique appeal, though they were all written within a fifty year period.

“When I go to pick music for the orchestra, I feel as though I have a wealth of wonderful music to choose from. They are real cultural treasures. These three works, each so different, all complement each other. In a similar way, if you look at three paintings on a museum wall,  each one affects the way you see the others.”
 
Solo pianist Ganz has enjoyed a successful international career, with frequent appearances on both coasts.An award-winner at piano competitions in Belgium and France, Ganz has made solo appearances with the orchestras in St Louis, Baltimore, and Washingotn DC as well as frequent concerts and radio broadcasts in Europe and appearances in Japan.
 
In contrast to the powerful emotional content of Brahms’ “Concerto,” the other two works on the concert range from intimate to fun, according to Pickett. Wagner’s “Siegfried Idyll” was a gift from the composer to his wife, commemorating their new-born son, and it’s surprisingly sweet and sentimental. Prokofiev’s “Classical Symphony” was written to show that Mozart, if he had been alive in the 20th Century, could have found his graceful, witty 18th century style would still be at home in the age of the machine.

The North State Symphony’s 102nd season is being sponsored by Tri Counties Bank, with additional support from Matson and Isom, the Mercy Medical Center Redding, and the North Valley Community Foundation. NSS support also comes from CSU, Chico’s School of the Arts and the Department of Music. Chico concerts are also funded, in part, by Instructionally Related Activity Fees.
 
Tickets for the North State Symphony concerts are available in Chico at the University Box Office, 898-6333 and in Redding at the Cascade Theatre, 243-8877.

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