The Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of Music Director and Conductor John Morris Russell, will open the orchestra’s 33rd season, “Music of Dreams and Drama,” with the works of Leonard Bernstein and Dmitri Shostakovich. Shostakovich’s Soviet trauma in his brooding and heroic Symphony No. 5 reveals the reality of Voltaire’s Utopian fantasy in Bernstein’s Candide Overture. Stephen Lin, the engaging and imaginative Taiwanese American pianist, will play Franz Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 1.
The concert will be held on Sunday, October 12 at 4 pm and Monday, October 13 at 8 pm in Hilton Head’s First Presbyterian Church. Each concert will now include a matinee on Sunday afternoons at 4:00 pm along with the traditional Monday night concert at 8:00 pm. Maestro Russell will conduct a pre-concert chat before each concert. A reception for the performers and audience will follow the Monday night concert in the church’s Gathering Space.
Soloist Stephen Lin’s artistry was clear when he was accepted into the Juilliard Pre-College Division at the age of 10; he made his debut with the New York Philharmonic at the age of 13. Concert engagements have included the New Jersey Symphony, Tulsa Symphony, Orlando Philharmonic, and Sendai Symphony in addition to Baltimore and New York appearances. He also claimed an unprecedented three honors at the 2012 Hilton Head International Piano Competition—for excellence in baroque and contemporary music as well as his overall pianism.
Concert tickets are $25, $40, and $50. Reduced prices are available for children and their accompanying parent. Call the Hilton Head Symphony office at (843)842-2055 to purchase tickets, or log into the orchestra web site at www.hhso.org. Program notes by Joseph and Elizabeth Khan are available on the website before each performance.
