Join Monterey Symphony's 68th season - a Season of Discovery - Innovation February 21, 22 and 23rd

Save the date for a great event and entertainment by the Monterey Symphony. End Quote

Salinas, CA (1888PressRelease) January 22, 2014 - The 68th season of the Monterey Symphony offers what's sure to be a rich season filled with exploration, musical encounters and treasures that emerge across the canvas of the stages at Steinbeck Institute for Arts and Culture at Sherwood Hall in Salinas and Sunset Center in Carmel-by-the-Sea. Music Director & Conductor Max Bragado-Darman invites you to join the Monterey Symphony with your 2013-'14 Passport to musical discovery!

Innovation
· February 21, 22, 23
· Performances in Salinas and Carmel
· Innovation may arrive in many forms, be it harmonic/melodic as in Dvořák's popular Symphony No. 8 in G Major, in technique as in Prokofiev's Piano Concerto, or in nationalistic style as Denmark's leading composer Carl Nielsen evokes in Aladdin. The internationally-celebrated Korean pianist Kun Woo Paik lends his passion and virtuosity to one of the most challenging piano concerti written. Inspired by Bohemian folk theme's Dvořák's lively and triumphant Symphony No. 8 brings hummably-familiar joy to the end of a great orchestral program.
· Max Bragado-Darman, conductor
· Kun Woo Paik, piano
· Concert Program:
Carl Nielsen, Aladdin (two movements), Op. 34 Oriental Festive March and Blackamoor's Dance
Sergei Prokofiev, Concerto for Piano No. 2
Antonín Dvořák, Symphony No. 8, G Major, Op. 88

Background on Kun Woo Paik, Piano
Kun Woo Paik is greatly admired for his passionate and virtuosic playing. Born in Seoul, Kun Woo Paik's first concert was at the age of ten performing Grieg's Piano Concerto with the Korean National Orchestra. At the age of fifteen, Kun Woo Paik moved to New York to study with Rosina Lhevinne at the Julliard School and with Ilona Kabos in London. Paik is the winner of the Naumburg award and Gold Medalist at the Busoni International Piano Competitions. His international career took off following his first New York appearance, in which he performed complete piano works by Maurice Ravel at the Lincoln Center, and his orchestral debut at the Carnegie Hall.

In 1974, Paik made his European debuts with three consecutive recitals at the Wigmore Hall, London, followed in 1975 by a recital in Berlin's Philharmonie. Since then he has closely collaborated with conductors such as Lorin Maazel, Mariss Jansons, Long Yu, Sir Neville Marriner, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Jiří Bĕlohlávek, Dmitri Kitaenko, James Conlon, John Nelson, Eliahu Inbal and Antoni Wit, and performed with orchestras such as the New York Philharmonic, St Petersburg Philharmonic, London Symphony, BBC Symphony, Orchestre de Paris, Berlin Symphony, Hungarian National, Oslo Philharmonic, Rotterdam and Warsaw Philharmonic. He is also performed at festivals including Berliner Festwochen, Aix-en-Provence, La Roque d'Anthéron, Ravinia, Mostly Mozart, Colmar, Montreux, Dubrovnik, Aldeburgh and Moscow Easter Festival. He was the first Korean artist to be officially invited by the Chinese government in October 2000.

Recent and upcoming concerts include performances with Zubin Mehta and Israel Philharmonic, Paavo Järvi and Orchestre de Paris, John Nelson and Basel Symphony, Marc Albrecht and Danish National Symphony and Eliahu Inbal and Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony, and recitals in France, Italy, Hong Kong, China and Japan.

Kun Woo Paik's numerous recordings include Scriabin, Liszt, complete works for solo piano by Mussorgsky, Rachmaninov's complete piano concerti and Rhapsody on a theme of Paganini (under Vladimir Fedoseyev for BMG). His complete Prokofiev piano concerti recording received both Diapason d'Or of the year and Nouvelle Académie du disque awards in France.

To celebrate JS Bach's memorial year in 2000, he recorded Busoni's transcriptions of Bach's organ works followed by an album of Fauré's Piano works, which won all the major prizes in France. He recently released the complete works for piano and orchestra by Chopin with Antoni Wit and the Warsaw Philharmonic.

Kun Woo Paik has recorded all thirty-two Sonatas by Beethoven for Decca.

"Paik's sense of drama, his wit, mastery of nuance, thoughtfully weighted chords and fleet-fingered virtuosity, all are remarkable." (Rob Cowan, The Independent)

Kun Woo Paik lives in Paris with his wife, Korean film-star Yoon Jeong-hee, where he is the Artistic Director of the Festival International de Musique de Dinard, France and was made the "Chevalier de l'ordre des arts et des lettres" by the French Government in 2000.

The Facts:
· Fridays at 7:30 p.m. ($20; all seats general admission) at Steinbeck Institute for Arts and Culture at Sherwood Hall, Salinas
· Saturdays at 8 p.m. ($29-$79) and Sundays at 3 p.m. ($29-$9 at Sunset Center, Carmel-by-the-Sea
· Pre-Concert Lecture Series: All concerts will feature a free pre-concert lecture one hour prior to the performance. These lectures, provided by Dr. Todd Samra, offer intriguing facts and historical context about the composers and the pieces to be performed, which greatly enhance the concert-going experience. To learn more about Dr. Samra, click here: http://www.montereysymphony.org/?attachment_id=3832
· Enjoy the best of harmony for your ears, and flavor for your palate, with the Monterey Symphony Supper Club! Enhance your journey by participating in this program hosted by four Carmel restaurants, including a delicious three-course meal complete with hand-selected wines. Restaurants include: Andre's Bouchee, Il Fornaio, Grasing's and Anton & Michel. To learn more or to make reservations, go to www.montereysymphony.org/special-events.
· To make a reservation call 831-646-8511 or go to http://www.montereysymphony.org/category/upcoming-season/ to request your Monterey Symphony Passport and Map of Discovery for a chance to win fabulous prizes throughout the season!

Save the Date For 2013/2014 Season Upcoming Events:
Insight
· March 21, 22, 23
· Performances in Salinas and Carmel
· If listening to music is like peering into a composer's soul, this destination is the insight into genius. Le Tombeau de Couperin is a noble memorial for Maurice Ravel's friends killed during the first World War. The Bassoon Concerto, Mozart's first concerto for a wind instrument, is a glimpse into a young, yet sophisticated, composer as well as a striking new guest artist, Ignacio Soler Pérez. Berlioz claimed that Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony No. 4 was the work of Archangel Michael himself.
· Ignacio Soler Pérez Biography http://www.montereysymphony.org/?attachment_id=5521
· Alvaro Cassuto, guest conductor
· Ignacio Soler Pérez, bassoon
· Concert Program:
Maurice Ravel, Le Tombeau de Couperin
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Bassoon Concerto, KV 191, Bb Major
Ludwig van Beethoven, Symphony No. 4, Bb Major, Op. 60
Reflection

· April 25, 26, 27
· Performances in Salinas and Carmel
· Inspired by earlier works, Rossini borrows his own themes to compose the overture to The Barber of Seville, his most popular piece. Saint-Saëns' The Carnival of the Animals was an exercise written purely for fun, the composer's reflection on 13 different creatures. Mozart's Symphony No. 40 captures the pathos of "passion, violence and grief" found in some of his best work. Monterey Symphony is honored to welcome pianists Heidi Hau, returning to the Monterey Symphony stage again this season, and William Wellborn.
· Heidi Hau Biography http://www.montereysymphony.org/?attachment_id=3014
· William Wellborn Biography http://www.montereysymphony.org/?attachment_id=5530
· Max Bragado-Darman, conductor
· Heidi Hau, piano (primo)
· William Wellborn, piano (secundo)
· Concert Program:
Gioachino Rossini, Overture, The Barber of Seville
Camille Saint-Saëns, The Carnival of the Animals
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Symphony No. 40, KV 550, G minor
Splendor

· May 16, 17, 18

· Performances in Salinas and Carmel

· Les Preludes … Pines of Rome dazzle with imagery. Elmar Oliveira and Nathaniel Rosen, both winners of the acclaimed Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, reunite for a rare performance of the Brahms Double Concerto. What a unique and splendorous treat, indeed!

· Elmar Oliveira Biography http://www.montereysymphony.org/?attachment_id=5533

· Nathaniel Rosen Biography http://www.montereysymphony.org/?attachment_id=5538

· Max Bragado-Darman, conductor

· Elmar Oliveira, violin
· Nathaniel Rosen, cello
· Concert Program:
Johannes Brahms, Double Concerto, A Minor, Op. 102
Franz Liszt, Les Preludes
Ottorino Resphighi, Pines of Rome
Contact Sato Terian at 831-646-8511 or ticketing ( @ ) montereysymphony dot org to purchase tickets or for more information regarding discounted group and military rates dot

The mission of the Monterey Symphony is to engage, educate and excite our community through the performance and continual discovery of symphonic music. The Monterey Symphony, under the artistic leadership of Music Director & Conductor Max Bragado-Darman, is the only fully professional, full-season orchestra serving the communities of the Monterey Bay, Salinas, Salinas Valley, Big Sur, and San Benito County. It provides triple performances of a six-concert subscription series at Carmel's Sunset Theater and Salinas's Performing Arts Center of the Steinbeck Institute of Art and Culture (formerly Sherwood Hall), as well as youth activities program, including visits to classrooms by musicians, culminating in full-orchestra concerts for schoolchildren.

The Monterey Symphony is a nonprofit, public benefit corporation, supported in part through the fundraising efforts of the Friends of the Monterey Symphony, and through grants from The James Irvine Foundation, The David and Lucile Packard Foundation, The Harden Foundation, The Robert and Virginia Stanton Fund at the Community Foundation for Monterey County, The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, The Monterey Peninsula Foundation, The National Endowment for the Arts, The Arts Council, The STAR Foundation, The Hind Foundation, Upjohn California Fund, and many other generous foundations and individual donors.

For additional information, please call 831-646-8511 or visit our web site: www.montereysymphony.org.

Contact: Michelle Lange, Director of Patron Engagement
831-645-1131 or mlange ( @ ) montereysymphony dot org

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