MW4 Saturday, February 14, 2009
8:00PM Thomas Wolfe Auditorium

David Diamond
Music for Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet
                  
Frederic Chopin
Piano Concerto No. 2 in F minor
     Angela Cheng, piano

George Gershwin
Lullaby

Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Romeo and Juliet

February is an easy target for music of romance, and the ASO will deliver with a concert of first loves.  The most famous pair of first loves, Romeo and Juliet, frame our concert with two very different but intriguing takes on the Shakespearean tale.  American composer David Diamond created a touching score for his take on the star-crossed pair, while Tchaikovsky’s version is loaded with passion, anguish, sensuality, and a fierce sonic sword battle.  Rubenstein-competition winner Angela Cheng will grace our stage with the virtuosic Second Piano Concerto of Chopin, and in another take on “first loves,” we will perform George Gershwin’s gentle and bluesy Lullaby.