Press Releases

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

WHO: Benedetto Lupo with The Austin Symphony Orchestra
WHEN: November 18 & 19, 2005 - 8:00 p.m.
WHERE: Bass Concert Hall
TICKETS:$19 - $42
CONTACT: Don Hill, Director of Public Relations - 476-6064 x 213

VAN CLIBURN MEDALIST DEBUTS WITH AUSTIN SYMPHONY

Season Sponsor: JPMorgan Chase
Concert Sponsor: DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary US LLP and Silicon Laboratories
Media Sponsors: Time Warner Cable/News 8 Austin, Austin American-Statesman and KVET 98.1 FM

"Having heard (him) more than once, this listener throws up his hands at Lupo's superiority in every area - his mastery seems complete." - The Los Angeles Times

Austin audiences will continue to “Experience the Excellence” of the Austin Symphony’s 95th concert season on November 18 & 19. Maestro Peter Bay joins the ASO in welcoming pianist Benedetto Lupo to Bass Concert Hall for the third concert of the season. DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary and Silicon Laboratories proudly sponsor this concert.

PROGRAM
Grieg - Norwegian Dances, Op. 35
Schumann - Piano Concerto in a minor, Op. 54
Brahms - Symphony No. 3 in F, Op. 90

A pianist of elegance and intensity, Benedetto Lupo dazzles audiences throughout the United States and Europe. A native of Italy, Mr. Lupo has won many international competitions worldwide including the Bronze Medal in the Eighth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. He has performed in some of the US and Europe’s most prestigious halls and his critically acclaimed recordings are available on the Nuova Era and Arts labels. Mr. Lupo joins the Austin Symphony for a performance of Robert Schumann’s Piano Concerto in a minor, Op. 54.

Robert Schumann’s passion as a performer and composer was the piano. But at age 22, his performing career was ended due to an injury to his right hand. Permanently crippled, he focused on composing. At age 35, he completed his only piano concerto, which he described as “something between a symphony, a concerto and a grand sonata.” He felt he could not write a virtuoso concerto and needed to think of something different. Benedetto Lupo will present his deeply introspective and emotionally charged interpretation to Schumann’s work.

The second half of the concert will feature the Third Symphony of Johannes Brahms. Robert Schumann clearly saw Brahms as the successor to Beethoven when he remarked that the young Brahms was “a man singled out to make articulate an ideal way of the highest expression of our time.” In many respects, Brahms’ Symphony No. 3 is the odd man out of his symphonic cycle. It is the shortest and most intimate of the four, and alludes more personally to his life than the others do. This symphony appears to be an homage to his close friend Robert Schumann. Although the work was composed twenty-seven years after Schumann’s death, there are clear references to themes Schumann composed, especially in the symphony’s opening, which closely mirrors the beginning of his similarly numbered “Rhenish” Symphony.

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.

Performances for Benedetto Lupo with the Austin Symphony are November 18 & 19, 8:00 p.m. at Bass Concert Hall. Tickets range from $19 to $42. Student rush tickets are also available 20 minutes prior to performance for $5 cash and current student ID. Charge tickets online at www.austinsymphony.org where you will find interactive seating maps, 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).