Featuring some of the most memorable pieces of music, the concert will be take place at 7:30 pm in the Donald C. Bedell Performance Hall.

The piano concerto will feature guest artist, Brian Woods, on piano. Dr. Sara Edgerton, artistic director and conductor of the Southeast Missouri Symphony, will conduct the program. 

“We are very excited about the upcoming ‘Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff’ concert, and to once again bring together the Southeast Missouri Symphony and the Southern Illinois Symphony after having delayed this collaboration due to the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Edgerton.  “We are especially looking forward to this fabulous occasion and this wonderful music! Audiences will be thrilled to hear these great masterpieces performed live here on the beautiful Donald C. Bedell concert stage.” 

The program will open with Rachmaninoff’s “Piano Concerto No. 2, Op. 18.” It was composed in 1900—1901, following a period of depression and writer’s block that Rachmaninoff experienced as a composer.  Rachmaninoff consulted with the neurologist Nikolai Dahl, whose treatments eventually cured Rachmaninoff of his inability to compose, and Rachmaninoff dedicated the concerto to Dahl. The concerto was premiered in 1901 with Rachmaninoff at the piano, to  rapturous applause. The concerto has gone on to become one of the most popular and beloved of all piano concertos ever written and is listed by the UK Gramophone Company as number one of the top 10 piano concertos ever written . It also tops the Classic FM (USA) list of best piano concertos as voted by its listeners each year. 

The second half of the program will present Tchaikovsky’s memorable “Symphony No. 5 in E Minor.” Composed and premiered in 1888, just five years before Tchaikovsky’s death, it travels the entire gamut of human emotion, from despair and suffering to radiant and triumphant joy.

“It is a masterpiece of great orchestral writing, and is ranked among the most popular of all symphonic works composed,” Edgerton said. “Highlights of the symphony include the famous French horn melody in the second movement, the beautiful waltz in the third movement, and the virtuosic orchestral writing of the final movement.”

Guest Artist Biography 

Brian Woods is a St. Louis, Missouri, native who has had success in international music competitions, including the Verona International Competition and the American Prize. He has given recitals and concerto appearances throughout the United States and in Canada and Ireland. In the current 2021-22 concert season, he is featured in numerous performances including a solo debut for the World Piano Teachers Association.

Tickets

Tickets may be purchased by contacting the River Campus Box Office, located in the Cultural Arts Center, 518 S. Fountain St., weekdays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., by calling (573) 651-2265 or online at RiverCampus.org.