BAH BAH BAH BAAAAAH! Four of the most recognized notes in all of music history will be heard in June as Music at Penn’s Woods celebrates “Classics at the Cinema” when the festival orchestra performs Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 as the closing work of the summer. This year’s festival, under the direction of Maestro Gerardo Edelstein, will take place from June 13 to 26. Tickets are on sale now, by telephone at 800-ARTS-TIX online, or at the Eisenhower Auditorium and Penn State Downtown Theatre Center box offices.
This summer, the professional musicians of the orchestral and chamber music festival explore the musical scores of some award-winning films, including “Immortal Beloved” (Beethoven’s “Symphony No. 5”), “Center Stage and Rhapsody” (Rachmaninov’s “Piano Concerto No. 2”), and “Schindler’s List,” as well as “Music for the Movies” composed by Aaron Copland.
The festival includes two chamber music and two Festival Orchestra concerts. All take place in Esber Recital Hall, Music Building I, on the Penn State University Park campus.
— Chamber music at 3 p.m. on Sunday, June 13, featuring Max Zorin, violin; Camerata Amistad; Rob Nairn Duo; and Tony Costa Quartet.
— Chamber music at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, June 17, featuring the Lyon Ensemble; Easterly Chamber Players; Penn State Graduate String Quartet; Tim Hurtz, oboe; and Penn State alumnus William Neil, organ.
— Festival Orchestra at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, June 19, featuring opera arias sung by Penn State alumna Sasha Piastro, soprano; three pieces from “Schindler’s List” with James Lyon, violin; and Dvorak’s “Symphony No. 8 in G major, Op. 88.”
— Festival Orchestra at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, June 26, featuring “Music for the Movies” by Copland; Rachmaninov’s “Concerto No. 2 for Piano and Orchestra” with Svetlana Rodionova, piano; and “Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67.”
Reserved seating, season and single concert tickets are available. The season package, which includes all four concerts, is $75 per adult and $38 per student. A ticket to a single Festival Orchestra event costs $28 per adult and $15 per student. Tickets to a single Chamber concert cost $18 per adult and $8 per student.
For more information including concert repertoire, visit online.
