YSO to open classical season with pianist Wu

Staff report

Youngstown

The Youngstown Symphony Orchestra will open its classical season with a concert at 8 p.m. Saturday with pianist Di Wu at Powers Auditorium. Wu made her professional debut at age 14 with the Beijing Philharmonic and has since appeared with the orchestras of Philadelphia, Cincinnati, New Jersey and Pittsburgh, and the National Symphony.

Internationally, she has performed throughout Europe and Asia.

Wu came to the United States in 1997 and has studied at the Manhattan School of Music, Curtis Institute of Music and the Julliard School.

A winner of many competitions, Wu was a finalist at the 2009 Cliburn International Piano Competition.

Her appearance at Powers on Saturday will continue a tradition established by the YSO to bring a Cliburn winner to perform with the orchestra each season.

The Youngstown Orchestra, under the direction of Randall Craig Fleischer, will present an all-Russian program featuring Wu in Rachmaninoff’s “Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini.”

Rachmaninoff, like many composers, was drawn to the final piece in Paganini’s collection of 24 caprices for solo violin. The Rhapsody premiered in 1934 with the composer as soloist, and it is one of the most popular in the repertoire.

Other selections on the program are Tchaikovsky’s Marche Slave and his Fifth Symphony. The concert is underwritten by the Jane F. Lamb Foundation.

The YSO will continue its Stained Glass Concert Series at 4 p.m. Sunday at St. Nicolas Roman Catholic Church, 764 Fifth Ave., Struthers. Admission is free.

Members of the community chorus, prepared by church music director Michael Moritz, will join the string orchestra under the direction of Randall Craig Fleischer. The group will perform excerpts from Brittan’s Simple Symphony, the Bach Third Orchestral Suite, Pachelbel Canon, Barber’s Adagio for Strings, Mozart’s Eine Kleine Nachtmusik and Tchaikovsky’s Serenade for Strings.