Young pianists and Chilliwack Symphony Orchestra perform classics and new compositions, May 17 and 24

More than a dozen top piano students, plus Chilliwack virtuoso Clinton Giovanni Denoni, are set to perform as soloists

By Janet Smith

Clinton Giovanni Denoni

Music director Paula DeWit

Chilliwack Symphony Orchestra & Chorus presents Piano Extravaganza on May 15 at the Chilliwack Cultural Centre’s Hub Theatre and May 24 at downtown. Vancouver’s Christ Church Cathedral

TWO CONCERTS celebrate the piano talent being nurtured in this region, as well as the classical stars of tomorrow.

More than a dozen top piano students are set to perform as soloists with the Chilliwack Symphony Orchestra, in concerts featuring classical pieces alongside world premieres composed by some of the young pianists themselves.

At the first concert May 17 at the Chilliwack Cultural Centre, 15 prodigious pianists performing with the CSO under conductor Paula DeWit. The program spans Bach’s Piano Concerto No. 5 in F Minor and Debussy’s La fille aux cheveux de lin, Preludes Op. 1 No. 8, as well as the new compositions “Sea of Tranquility” by Kathleen Feenstra and “Converge” by student composer Vivian Kwok. Chilliwack piano virtuoso Clinton Giovanni Denoni, who has taught many prize-winning students, also performs.

The second concert, on May 24 in downtown Vancouver in Christ Church Cathedral, showcases 13 future Canadian concert pianists, including another world premiere by student composer Judah Williams. Guest maestro Ian Parker, the principal conductor of the VAM Symphony Orchestra, is on the podium. The program includes Chopin’s Ballade No.1 in G Minor, Op.23 and Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 21 in C Major, K. 467. Denoni performs the third movement of Grieg’s serene Concerto in A minor to conclude the concert.

Under the direction of Paula DeWit, the Chilliwack Symphony is a touring orchestra consisting of professional musicians and a chorus. It was created in 1999 to offer Chilliwack music lovers their own first-class symphony orchestra and chorus, and has gone on to become a hub for artistic life in the Fraser Valley and to travel the Lower Mainland in concerts like these.

 

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