Winter Concert

Tuesday, February 12, 7:30 pm
Community Arts Center, Williamsport

Conducted by Gerardo Edelstein. Liszt: Piano Concerto featuring 2007 Cleveland Piano International Competition finalist Ran Dank; Rachmaninoff: Second Symphony; Rossini: Overture from L'italiana in Algeri. Pre-Concert Talk with Dr. Gary Boerckel, 7:00 pm in CAC Capitol Lounge. Sponsor: Hudock Moyer Wealth Management. Guest Artist Sponsor: Susquehanna Bank. Tickets can be ordered at the CAC box office by phone (570-326-2424 / 800-432-9382) or online through the CAC.

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LISZT LIVES! The nation of Hungary has given us goulash, the Rubik’s Cube, and one of the greatest pianists in history, Franz Liszt. He has been gone many years, but his legacy is a touchstone to serious musicians as well as artists and novelists. Many “baby boomers” know Liszt’s music as the sound tracks for classic cartoons (Bugs Bunny, Tom & Jerry, Woody Woodpecker) and through Roger Daltrey’s portrayal in Lisztomania, the (highly fictionalized) Ken Russell film scored by keyboard marvel Rick Wakeman.

More importantly, Liszt (1811-86) redefined piano playing itself, and his influence continues to resonate through his compositions and his accomplishments as a teacher. He invented the symphonic poem, as well as the modern solo piano recital, in which his virtuosity won him approval by composers and performers alike.

On Tuesday, February 12, Liszt’s First Piano Concerto in E Flat Major will come alive at the Community Arts Center with the WSO and guest pianist, Ran Dank.

Liszt’s First Piano Concerto is now standard repertoire, but it was almost banned after its 1855 debut (with Hector Berlioz conducting). Liszt orchestrated the Concerto with “trivial instruments” like the triangle, which was daring at the time. He allegedly wrote this note in the score: “’Das versteht Ihr alle nicht’ (‘This none of you understands’).” The Concerto (thought to be inspired by the 1830 July Revolution in Paris) is still a challenging work, and Ran Dank said he looks forward to performing it with the WSO.

Called “a giant of the piano” in Finland’s prominent newspaper, Sanomat, Dank has won virtually every major prize available for a young musician in his native Israel. He has competed successfully at piano competitions around the world. In 2007, he was recipient of the Arthur Rubinstein Prize and finalist in the prestigious Cleveland International Piano Competition—which introduced him to the WSO.

Born in 1982, Dank has given recitals and appeared as a soloist with orchestras in America, Israel, Russia, and throughout Europe. He has taken part in festivals such as the Chopin Festival and Zelazowa Wola (both in Warsaw), performing programs by Chopin and Liszt. At the Israel Festival, Dank performed a complete cycle of Scriabin Sonatas.

Beginning piano at age seven, Dank went on to study at the Givaataim Conservatory and at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance. From 2000-03, he served in a “special musician” status for the Israeli Defense Force.

In 2005, Dank received his B.A. in music at the Tel Aviv Rubin Academy of Music, and his M.M. degree at the Juilliard School in New York with Professors Joseph Kalichstein and (the renowned) Emmanuel Ax. Still at Juilliard, Dank is working on his Artist Diploma degree under Ax and Professor Robert McDonald.

The Winter Concert will mark the second appearance of a pianist from the Cleveland Piano Competition. WSO followers will recall the “rave reviews” for the 2006 concert with pianist Chu-Fang Huang (performing Rachmaninoff’s Second Piano Concerto).

The Winter Concert will be conducted by Maestro Gerardo Edelstein. A native of Argentina, he has conducted orchestras and choirs around the world. He graduated with high honors from the National Conservatory of Music in Buenos Aires in Piano, and from the J. J. Castro Conservatory of La Lucila in Choral Conducting. He continued his music education in Israel at the Jerusalem Rubin Academy of Music, where he won the Leonard Bernstein Conducting Scholarship. In the United States, he received a master’s degree in orchestral conducting from the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University. In Israel, as principal conductor of the Jerusalem Oratorio Choir and Orchestra, he appeared on radio and television and toured the country.

In the United States, Edelstein served for three seasons as assistant conductor, associate conductor, and music advisor for the Richmond Symphony in Virginia. Under his leadership, the symphony won first prize in 2000 for innovative music programming, awarded by the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP). He was also music director and conductor of the Penn’s Woods Summer Music Festival (State College, PA), for two seasons. Edelstein guest-conducted the Houston Ballet in full performances of Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker, and, in summer 2004, he conducted for the first international orchestra festival in Dublin, Ireland.

Committed to the education of young musicians, Edelstein is director of orchestral studies and music director of the Philharmonic and Chamber Orchestras at Pennsylvania State University.

The WSO Winter Concert will also feature Rachmaninoff’s Second Symphony and a short piece by Rossini: The Overture from L’italiana in Algeri (the Italian Girl in Algiers).