Julian Kuerti, the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra music director, tells Cara Lieurance that the piano concerto and ballet suite on the program at 7:30 pm on Saturday, Mar 29 are "iconic, colorful, moving, emotional works of these two Russian masters, and very much in the collective consciousness," said Kuerti in an interview with Classical WMUK's Cara Lieurance.
The program opens with Anna Clyne's "Masquerade," a lively piece commissioned for the BBC's Last Night of the Proms. "I was drawn to this piece… because the whole story of 'Romeo and Juliet' unfolds at this masked ball where Romeo and Juliet first encounter each other, and they fall in love," Kuerti explained.
Adding to the festive atmosphere, the first 80 attendees will receive masks. "So you'll be able to participate in your own masquerade," Kuerti says.
Renowned American pianist, Garrick Ohlsson will join the KSO to perform Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2. Kuerti recalls a memorable performance with his father and a near-collaboration with Ohlsson during his time with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, involving a search for a last-minute replacement for an under-the-weather Leon Fleisher.
The second half of the program will feature a unique suite of Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet. "This is a suite that I've created myself, which hopefully tells the story or shows a character arc of the love and the tragedy between these two star-crossed lovers," Kuerti says.
Tickets and more information are available at the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra website.
