Pianist Alexander Bernstein will be the featured guest at the Walla Walla Symphony's opening concert Oct. 13 in Cordiner Hall at Whitman College.
The concert highlights Chopin's piano concerto No. 2 in F minor, Schumann's Symphony No. 3 and Rossini's William Tell Overture.
Bernstein, a senior at Harvard University, is studying at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. The 20-year-old piano prodigy has been playing piano since age 7 while growing up in San Francisco. His family later moved to Walla Walla where he began a nine-year study with piano professor Debra Richter from Walla Walla College.
Bernstein made his symphony debut at age 10 with the Oregon East Symphony and continued guest performances with other symphonies before he was out of his teens.
Bernstein's style also seems to attract younger people to classical music because he is drawn to the newer music of such contemporary composers as Berio, Ligeti and Cage, said Michael Wenberg, CEO of the Walla Walla Symphony.
Bernstein has won numerous awards during the last decade.
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Mid-Columbia, Walla Walla Symphonies prepare to start new season
Mid-Columbia, Walla Walla Symphonies prepare to start new season
There will be plenty of beautiful music this fall when the Mid-Columbia Symphony and Walla Walla Symphony seasons get under way this month.
The Mid-Columbia Symphony will supply an evening of jazz as well as classical music starting at 8 p.m. Oct. 15 at the Three Rivers Convention Center in Kennewick.
Titled An American in Paris, the evening also includes guest pianist Jody Graves, who will perform Ravel's Piano Concerto in G Major .
Students win awards at Young Artists event
Students win awards at Young Artists event
Twenty-four students competed recently in the annual Young Artists Competition, sponsored by the Mid-Columbia Symphony.
Seven Tri-City music students were named winners of the competition.
The overall winners were Jessica Liu in the primary strings and Spencer Hoffner in the primary piano. They will perform with the Mid-Columbia Symphony at its spring concert in May.
Walla Walla Symphony concert planned Feb. 14
Walla Walla Symphony concert planned Feb. 14
An Evening of Cole Porter music, performed by the Walla Walla Symphony, starts at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 14 in Cordiner Hall on the Whitman College campus in Walla Walla.
The featured vocalist is Rocky Blumhagen, formerly of Walla Walla, who will sing a selection of Cole Porter tunes with the symphony.
Tickets are available at www.wwsymphony.org.
McKay to perform with Inland Northwest Orchestra
McKay to perform with Inland Northwest Orchestra
When Bill McKay sits down at the piano Oct. 29 to play Rhapsody in Blue with the Inland Northwest Orchestra, it will be a sort of reunion.
The orchestra's conductor Lee Friese was director of the Walla Walla Symphony 30 years ago when McKay was 16 years old and won that symphony's Young Artist Competition.
"I hadn't seen Lee since I won that contest, but I ran into him at the Scottish games in Athena, Ore., about four years ago and decided to reintroduce myself," McKay said.
Symphony to play humorous concert
Symphony to play humorous concert
Humor will be served up music style at the Jan. 29 concert performed by the Mid-Columbia Symphony in Kennewick.
If you see humor and classical music as a strange brew, then you've never seen Leonard Bernstein's Candide , which is included in the symphony's concert.
Also on the program will be Charles Ives' The Unanswered Question, The Country Band March and Dmitri Shostakovich's Symphony No. 5 .
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