The Lied Center for Performing Arts’ 2014-2015 season will close with a 7:30 p.m. April 25 all-Beethoven concert.
The performance will include Beethoven’s “Emperor Concerto” (Piano Concerto No. 5) and “Ode to Joy” (Symphony No. 9). Lincoln’s Symphony Orchestra will play with pianist Jon Nakamatsu for the “Emperor Concerto,” and then with top choirs from across Nebraska for “Ode to Joy.”
“To me, it seems so appropriate to celebrate the 25th anniversary of our Lied Center with two of Beethoven’s greatest pieces of music: his last piano concerto, the ‘Emperor,’ and his last symphony, the ‘Choral,’ Symphony No. 9,” said Edward Polochick, music director for the orchestra.
Tickets are limited. For more information, visit the Lied Center box office or call 402-472-4747.
The “Ode to Joy” Beethoven Masterworks concert marks the eighth and final performance of the Lied Center’s Beethoven Festival. The festival is a campuswide celebration of the legendary composer, organized by the Lied, the Hixson-Lied College of Fine and Performing Arts and Lincoln’s Symphony Orchestra. Beethoven’s works were featured throughout the season’s classical music concerts, which included performances by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Joshua Bell and premier pianist Jonathan Biss.
The concert also will highlight Nakamatsu, who came to international attention in 1997 when he was named Gold Medalist of the 10th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, the only American to achieve this distinction since 1981.
“Jon is a rare pianist who can play anything and one actually wants to hear him play everything because he has such a high level of talent and taste,” said Ann Chang, artistic director of the Lied Center. “His impeccable artistry has kept him at the top of the list of highly desired pianists, long after he won the Van Cliburn competition.”
