Juilliard Pianist Bo Hu is Soloist in Liszt Piano Concerto with the Juilliard Orchestra, Conducted by James DePreist, on Tuesday, February 17 at 8 PM in Avery Fisher Hall

Program Includes the World Premiere Performance of Bruce MacCombie's "Samsara Rounds"; Liszt's Piano Concerto No. 2 in A Major; and Shostakovich's Symphony No. 5 in D Minor, Op. 47

Conductor James DePreist leads the Juilliard Orchestra in the world premiere performance of a work by former Juilliard Dean, Bruce MacCombie, Samsara Rounds, commissioned by Juilliard with support from the Trust of Francis Goelet; Liszt's Concerto No. 2 in A Major for Piano and Orchestra with Juilliard pianist Bo Hu; and Shostakovich's Symphony No. 5 in D Minor, Op. 47 on Tuesday, February 17, 2009 at 8 PM in Avery Fisher Hall.

Tickets for Avery Fisher Hall concerts at $20 (orchestra level) and $10 (1^st tier and above) are available at the Avery Fisher Hall Box Office, through CenterCharge at (212) 721-6500, or purchased online at www.lincolncenter.org. FREE tickets for students and seniors are available at the Avery Fisher Hall Box Office; TDF is accepted.

On his inspiration for the new work, Samsara Rounds, Mr. MacCombie writes: "Samsara is a Buddhist concept having to do with our being ‘travelers on the wheel of life.' Samsara Rounds is a meditative work which opens with a quiet prologue and proceeds with a tune derived from a symmetrical scale embarking on a rather obsessive journey by making the rounds of the orchestra and highlighting various solo instruments and instrumental sections until gradually reaching a climactic point before dropping to a quiet epilogue. A portion of the prologue material and the tune appear in two earlier works, Reflections for string orchestra and Still Life for woodwind quintet, and it seemed natural that these elements should come together as components of a more expansive movement for full orchestra."
Mr. MacCombie was awarded one of the first Goddard Lieberson Fellowships by the American Academy of Arts and Letters (in 1979). His other awards have included the Sutherland Dows Fellowship, a Yale University Creative Research Grant, a Martha Baird Rockefeller travel grant to Warsaw, and an honorary doctor of fine arts in 1986 from the University of Massachusetts.

Franz Liszt began work on his Piano Concerto No. 2 in 1839, but didn't complete the score until 1849. The first performance of the concert took place on January 7, 1857 with pianist Hans Bronsart von Schellendorf and Liszt conducting, in Weimar.

Dmitri Shostakovich's Symphony No. 5 in D Minor, Op. 47 was composed between April and July 1937 and had its premiere in Leningrad with the Leningrad Philharmonic and conducted by Yevgeny Mravinsky on November 21, 1937.

James DePreist is Director of Conducting and Orchestral Studies at Juilliard and is Laureate Music Director of the Oregon Symphony. He served as Permanent Conductor of the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra from 2005 until 2008. As a guest conductor, Mr. DePreist has appeared with every major North American orchestra, and internationally, he has conducted in Amsterdam, Berlin, Budapest, Copenhagen, Helsinki, Manchester, Melbourne, Munich, Prague, Rome, Rotterdam, Seoul, Stockholm, Stuttgart, Sydney, Tel Aviv, Tokyo and Vienna. He made his London debut with the London Symphony at the Barbican Centre in April 2005. This season, James DePreist made an appearance with the Seoul Philharmonic in October. His upcoming engagements include the Oregon Symphony in April and the Seattle Symphony in May. Mr. DePreist appears regularly at the Aspen Music Festival, with the Boston Symphony at Tanglewood, The Philadelphia Orchestra at the Mann Music Center, and the Juilliard Orchestra at Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall. With more than 50 recordings to his credit, Mr. DePreist has a substantial discography. His varied recorded repertoire includes a celebrated Shostakovich series with the Helsinki Philharmonic and 15 recordings with the Oregon Symphony which have helped establish that orchestra as first rank. Mr. DePreist has been awarded 13 honorary doctorates and is the author of two books of poetry. He is an elected fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Royal Swedish Academy of Music, and is a recipient of the Insignia of Commander of the Order of the Lion of Finland, the Medal of the City of Québec and is an Officer of the Order of Cultural Merit of Monaco. In 2005, James DePreist was presented with the Presidential National Medal of Arts, the nation's highest honor for artistic excellence.

Bruce MacCombie served as Dean and Provost of Juilliard from 1986 to 1992. Born in Providence, Rhode Island, Mr. MacCombie first studied composition with Philip Bezanson at the University of Massachusetts, where he earned a B.A. and an M.M. He also studied with Wolfgang Fortner at the Freiburg Conservatory, and he holds a Ph.D. in music from the University of Iowa. In 1975, after four years in Europe, he was appointed to the music theory faculty at Yale University and one year later, was appointed to the Yale School of Music composition faculty. While at Yale, he taught various seminars relating to 20^th century music literature. His works have been commissioned by organizations such as the Brooklyn Philharmonic, the Seattle Symphony, the 21^st Century Consort, the Jerome Foundation, and the International Guitar Foundation. Performances of his works have been given at Carnegie Hall, the Seattle Opera House, the Kennedy Center, the Warsaw Autumn Festival, the Hong Kong Arts Festival, Alice Tully Hall, the Hirshhorn Museum, the Royal Academy of Music, and other venues and festivals throughout the U.S., Europe, and Asia. From 1980-1986, Mr. MacCombie served as Director of Publications for G. Schirmer and Associated Music Publishers and from 1992-2001 as Dean of the College of Fine Arts at Boston University. During the 2001-02 season, he was Executive Director of Jazz at Lincoln Center, and in the summer of 2002, he was appointed Associate Dean of the College of Humanities and Fine Arts at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, where he currently serves as Professor of Music.

Born in China, Bo Hu is a second year undergraduate pianist studying with Matti Raekallio at Juilliard. He began his professional piano training at the age of nine with his very first piano recital. Mr. Hu studied at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing under professor Jin Zhang, whose former students also include pianist Lang Lang. Mr. Hu was the recipient of a full scholarship with Yamaha. He was the winner of several competitions, including the Asian Artist Concerto Competition, MTNA, and the Seiler and Theodor Leschetizky International Piano Competition. As a young musician, he performed in many concerts, including a performance of Chopin's Piano Concerto No. 2 with the Copenhagen Orchestra at the age of 12 and has given many recitals throughout China, Taiwan, Germany, France, and Denmark. In 2007, he performed Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 4 with conductor Osmo Vanska and the Minnesota Orchestra.

The Juilliard Orchestra will participate in Alice Tully Hall Opening Nights Festival on Sunday, February 22 at 5 PM led by conductor David Robertson. The Juilliard Orchestra joins the Emerson String Quartet, Jordi Savall, Leon Fleisher and the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center for this gala concert opening night concert. For more information, visit www.lincolncenter.org.

The Juilliard Orchestra returns later that week on Thursday, February 26 at 8 PM for a performance of Messiaen's Des canyon aux étoiles with David Robertson conducting. LIMITED FREE tickets will be available beginning February 12 at the Janet and Leonard Kramer Box Office at Juilliard (155 West 65^th Street). For further information, call (212) 796-7406 or visit www.juilliard.edu or www.lincolncenter.org.

FOR LISTINGS:

Tuesday, February 17, 2009, 8 PM, Avery Fisher Hall

The Juilliard Orchestra

James DePreist, Conductor

Bo Hu, Pianist

Bruce MacCombie - Samsara Rounds

Liszt - Concerto No. 2 in A Major for Piano and Orchestra, S. 125

Shostakovich - Symphony No. 5 in D Minor, Op. 47

FREE tickets for students and seniors are available at the Avery Fisher Hall Box Office; TDF is accepted.

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