DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH (1906-1975)
Festive Overture (1954)
This vibrant, energetic overture is aptly named—perhaps reflecting the circumstances of its composition. Shostakovich’s friend, Lev Lebedinsky, recounts that the conductor of the Bolshoi Theater Orchestra visited the composer’s apartment with an urgent request for a piece to celebrate the 37th anniversary of the October Revolution. Not missing a beat, Shostakovich started writing and handing off the pages as they were completed. Said Lebedinsky: “The speed with which he wrote was truly astounding. Moreover, when he wrote light music he was able to talk, make jokes and compose simultaneously…He laughed and chuckled, and in the meanwhile work was under way and the music was being written down.”

SERGEI RACHMANINOFF (1873-1943)
Piano Concerto No. 2 (1900-1901)
After the underwhelming response to his First Symphony and an unhappy love affair, Rachmaninoff suffered from severe depression and bouts of drinking. He received help, thanks to the ministrations of Nikolai Dahl, a psychiatrist who used a new type of treatment called hypnotherapy. Rachmaninoff’s renewed self-confidence and creativity yielded this concerto, dedicated in gratitude to the doctor. “What I try to do when writing down my music, is to make it say simply and directly what is in my heart.” Its emotional appeal, sweeping melodies and Romantic passion have made it a big hit then as now. (You’ll recognize the theme that became the song “Full Moon and Empty Arms.”)

Conductor, composer, and pianist Bramwell Tovey has been music director of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra (VSO) since September 2000 and is also principal guest conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl. He has presided as host and conductor of the New York Philharmonic’s Summertime Classics series at Avery Fisher Hall since its founding in 2004. Mr. Tovey has appeared as a guest conductor with ensembles including the London Philharmonic, London Symphony, Frankfurt Radio, and Bournemouth Symphony orchestras, and, in North America, the orchestras of Baltimore, Philadelphia, St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Seattle, Montreal, and Toronto, where his trumpet concerto, Songs of the Paradise Saloon, was premiered in December 2009. This season Mr. Tovey appears with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra and the Los Angeles Philharmonic at Walt Disney Concert Hall; in January and February he led the VSO in Mahler’s Symphony No. 8, featuring the Toronto Mendelssohn and Vancouver Bach Choirs and an international cast, at the Cultural Olympiad of the Winter Olympic Games. In May 2010 he will return to the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra as curator, conductor, and piano soloist for the contemporary Metropolis Festival, and to the main subscription season in the fall of 2011. He will make his Sydney Symphony debut in the 2010–11 season.

Mr. Tovey’s recent compositions include Urban Runway, co-commissioned by the New York and Los Angeles Philharmonic orchestras, premiered in the summer of 2008, and The Inventor, a full-length opera for the Calgary Opera to be premiered in January 2011. In 2003 he was honored with a Juno Award for Best Canadian Classical Composition for his Requiem for a Charred Skull. Bramwell Tovey received a 2008 Grammy Award and a 2008 Juno Award for his recording of violin concertos by Barber, Korngold, and Walton with violinist James Ehnes and the VSO. His other numerous honors include fellowships from the Royal Academy of Music in London and the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, and honorary doctorates of law from the University of Winnipeg, University of Manitoba, and Kwantlen University College. In 1999 he received the M. Joan Chalmers National Award for Artistic Direction, a Canadian prize awarded to artists for outstanding contributions to the performing arts.

Find additional upcoming performances with Bramwell Tovey

JOYCE YANG
Piano, born in 1986 in Seoul, South Korea
Though Joyce Yang attends the College Division of The Juilliard School (having received Presidential Honors and a full scholarship) her career is already in full swing. Her first teacher was her aunt who gave Joyce Yang her first piano as a present on her 4th birthday, and she was soon winning national competitions in her native South Korea. She entered the Korean National Conservatory, and at age 10, she began to make concerto and recital appearances. In 1997 she moved to the U.S. to begin studies at Juilliard’s pre-college division, winning its Concerto Competition. Her victories at other competitions have garnered her opportunities to perform with many orchestras, including the Philadelphia Orchestra, the National Symphony, and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. When she was just 19, Joyce Yang won the silver medal at the Twelfth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in June 2005, (the youngest entrant at this prestigious piano event), was awarded Best Chamber Music Performance and Best Performance of a New Work, received $20,000, three years of US concert engagements, and a compact disc recording opportunity. She also is featured in In the Heart of Music, the film documentary about the competition. She made her New York Philharmonic debut in November 2006, and that same season also appeared with the symphony orchestras of Houston, Indianapolis, Fort Worth, Colorado, Kansas City, Colorado Springs, and Orlando, and gave numerous recitals throughout North America and in Europe, including appearances at The Kennedy Center and the Tonhalle in Zurich, Switzerland. Her desire for “anonymity” when playing runs counter to the star culture of many performers: “I think the best performance is when people don’t even know I’m there, when the connection between the music and the audience is so intense that the performer doesn’t exist. When I’m playing, that’s the highest goal for me. This is what it’s supposed to be like, (knowing) what the music is about, rather than remembering who I am. When I touch the audience by music, it’s something so indescribably beautiful, a heart to heart.”

“The recital’s blazing finish, which earned Yang a standing ovation, proved that she is one of the most gifted young pianists of her generation. The large audience should feel privileged to have witnessed her artistry at close range.” (The Flint Journal), after the 2005 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition

“Joyce Yang … won the audience’s heart right from the start. … She’s a brilliant pianist and a million-volt presence onstage.” (Dallas Morning News)