Press release
For immediate distribution

Louise Bessette and the Hartford Symphony Orchestra.

On Friday, January 31^st and Saturday, February 1^st, 2003 at 8 pm, pianist Louise Bessette and the Hartford Symphony Orchestra (Connecticut), conducted by Edward Cumming, will perform Stephen Montague's Concerto for Piano and Orchestra. This Concerto was commissioned by the BBC and the Orchestra of St. Johns, Smith Square, London, for the 1997 BBC Promenade Concerts. The first performance took place on August 12, 1997, at the Royal Albert Hall, London, by the Orchestra of St. Johns, Smith Square, John Lubbock, conductor, and Rolf Hind, piano.

“Concerto for Piano and Orchestra is for the traditional arrangement of soloist and orchestra, but is often anything but traditional. Although I have lived in Britain since 1974 my musical heroes have remained transatlantic: I admire Charles Ives's unapologetic juxtaposition of vernacular music and the avant-garde, Henry Cowell's irreverent use of fist, arm and elbow clusters on the keyboard, the propulsive energy of minimalism, and John Cage's radical dictum that 'all sound is music'. My work is the confluence and synthesis of these interests with my American roots.” - Stephen Montague

The program will be completed by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's sensuous Scheherazade. And, to begin the evening, Maurice Ravel's shimmering Suite from his ballet Mother Goose.

Hartford Symphony Orchestra

Mortensen Hall • The Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts
166 Capitol Avenue, Hartford
Box Office: 860.244.2999
hartfordsymphony.org

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