Philadelphia Orchestra: Roman Festivals December 2, 2010

For his Philadelphia Orchestra debut, Milan-born conductor Gianandrea Noseda, music director of the Teatro Regio in Turin, teams with American pianist Garrick Ohlsson for the bustling, unconventional Fifth Concerto of Prokofiev, which the composer initially dubbed "Music for Piano and Orchestra." Noseda's performances of the Beethoven symphonies with the BBC Philharmonic generated 1.4 million downloads in a special BBC Radio 3 trial offering called The Beethoven Experience. He opens the program with a tone poem composed during Sibelius's Swedish years and concludes with two beloved Respighi showpieces that use sheer sonic brilliance to pay homage to Italy's "Eternal City." The Fountains of Rome celebrates the waterworks that Respighi said represent "the very voice of the city"--from the pastoral Valle Giulia fountain to the resplendent Trevi Fountain at midday. The even more ambitious Roman Festivals traces a cycle of the city's religious and pagan feasts, culminating in the clangorous Festival of the Epiphany at the Piazza Navona.

Verizon Hall
Thursday, December 2nd: 8:00pm
Friday, December 3rd: 2:00pm
Saturday, December 4th 8:00pm

Official Website: http://www.kimmelcenter.org/events/index.php?id=3659