Concert II - Fairy Tales

 FEBRUARY 25, 2023 (8:00PM)

FEBRUARY 26, 2023 (3:00 PM)

Julia Perry, Short Work for Orchestra

Edvard Grieg, Piano Concerto

Maurice Ravel, Ma mère l’oye (Mother Goose) Ballet

Ravel’s Mother Goose began its life as a group of piano miniatures, which later were brilliantly orchestrated, and then finally expanded into the ballet score that we will present to you. It is a magical score filled with wonder on every page, and finishes with one of the most-profound climaxes of the 20th century. Grieg’s Piano Concerto was to prove highly influential to impressionists such as Ravel, and its second movement is a heartfelt response to the birth of his daughter. I’m especially excited to present the work of Julia Perry, an African-American woman living in the mid-20th century, whose brilliantly-crafted music is a unique expression of neoclassical sensibilities distilled through the challenges she faced as a female composer of color in the United States.

   ELIZABETH DORMAN 

 Praised by the San Francisco Chronicle for her “elegance and verve,” pianist Elizabeth Dorman enjoys performing music both new and old as a soloist and chamber musician. A finalist of the 2018 Leipzig International Bach Competition, Elizabeth has been widely recognized as a leading performer for her inquisitive interpretations of Bach’s music on the modern piano. Elizabeth has appeared as soloist with orchestras including the Louisville Orchestra, the Leipzig Mendelssohn Chamber Orchestra, the Santa Rosa Symphony, Symphony Parnassus, and as a keyboardist at the San Francisco Symphony. She has been presented at the Kennedy Center, Davies Symphony Hall, Herbst Theater, Merkin Hall, Carnegie’s Weill Hall, Leipzig’s Hochschule für Musik, and her live solo performances have been nationally broadcast on NPR and public radio.