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Austin Symphony Presents ‘Uncommonly Elegant’ Nel

September 12, 2008
  • Who: Anton Nel with the Austin Symphony Orchestra
  • When: October 17 & 18, 2008 - 8:00 p.m.
  • Where: Dell Hall, Long Center for the Performing Arts, 701 W. Riverside Dr.
  • Cost: $19 - $48
  • Contact: Don Hill, Director of Public Relations - 476-6064 x 213

For Immediate Release:

Season Sponsors: JPMorgan Chase & Four Seasons Residences Town Lake Austin
Concert Sponsors: Austin Asset Management and Alcoa Foundation
Media Sponsors: Time Warner Cable/News 8 Austin, Austin American-Statesman and Majic 95.5 FM

“A pianist of exceptional sensitivity and stylistic discrimination.” – Los Angeles Times

Austin audiences will continue to cheer the Austin Symphony’s inaugural season in the new Long Center when Maestro Peter Bay and the ASO welcome pianist Anton Nel on October 17th & 18th in evenings featuring music by Messiaen, Respighi and Mendelssohn. Austin Asset Management and Alcoa Foundation proudly sponsor this concert.

Program

Messiaen – L’Acension
Schumann – Introduction and Allegro appassionato, Op. 92
Mendelssohn – Piano Concerto No. 1 in G Minor, Op. 25
Respighi – Vetrate di chiesa (Church Windows)

Maestro Bay opens the evening with Olivier Messiaen’s L’Acension. Composed between May and July 1932, L’Acension is the most important work of Messiaen’s youth and is still one of the most played. These four “meditations” for orchestra take their inspiration from Scripture and are of varying instrumental formations.

Maestro Bay then welcomes pianist Anton Nel to center stage. Mr. Nel’s remarkable and versatile career has taken him around the world since his auspicious debut at the age of 12. He has appeared with many of the world’s great orchestras, including Cleveland and San Francisco and is an annual participant in the music festivals of Aspen, Seattle and Vancouver. He achieved international prominence by winning the 1987 Naumberg Competition and presently serves as a professor of piano and chamber music at the University of Texas in Austin. Mr. Nel will perform Robert Schumann’s Introduction and Allegro appassionato to close the first half of the concert.

After a brief intermission, Maestro Bay and Anton Nel return to perform Felix Mendelssohn’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in G Minor.

Maestro Bay concludes the evening with a performance of Ottorino Respighi’s symphonic suite, Vetrate di chiesa (Church Windows). Following an introduction to Gregorian chant by his wife, Respighi began this work as Tre prelude sopra melodie gregoriane (Three Preludes on Gregorian Melodies), written for piano. Vetrate di chiesa is a reworking of the piano pieces, scored for large orchestra, with the addition of a fourth movement to make a symphonic suite. It was premiered in the United States at Boston Symphony Hall in 1927.

Concert goers can enjoy “Concert Conversations” with Bob Buckalew at 7:10 p.m. in the concert hall. These discussions provide an in-depth look at the composers and works being performed, including commentary on the social climate in which they were composed.

Tickets for Anton Nel with the Austin Symphony range from $19 to $48. Student rush tickets are also available 20 minutes prior to performance for $5 cash and current student ID. Charge tickets online at http://www.austinsymphony.org where you will find seating charts, price options and a wealth of concert information. Tickets are also available at the Austin Symphony Box Office, 11th and Red River, or call 476-6064 or 1-888-4-MAESTRO (toll-free).