LSO To Present Rhapsody In Blue Featuring Aldo López-Gavilán
(LANCASTER, PA)—The Lancaster Symphony Orchestra (LSO), led by Music Director Michael Butterman, kicks off its 2023-2024 Season with a program featuring George Gershwin's famous Rhapsody in Blue on September 15 & 16 at the Gardner Theater within Lancaster Country Day School.
The LSO welcomes celebrated Cuban pianist and composer Aldo López-Gavilán, who will also perform his original composition titled Emporium. The concert's theme centers around rhythm in music and showcases how composers can combine different genres to expand the world of classical music. Michael Butterman describes, "100 years after Gershwin's landmark Rhapsody in Blue comes another exceptional pianist & composer who fuses the worlds of classical music and jazz in a way that is entirely unique. In this grand season opener, Aldo López-Gavilán lends his virtuosity and charisma to both Rhapsody in Blue and his own calling card—Emporium—which overflows with lyricism as well as the infectious rhythms of Afro-Cuban jazz."
Accompanying López-Gavilán's and Gershwin's virtuosic works for piano and orchestra, Maestro Butterman's program continues the theme with two more recent composers, featuring music by Jessie Montgomery and Alberto Ginastera. Both composers find ways to inject new and exciting rhythms and culture into their music.
The LSO's opening concert of its 77th season is a colorful, kinetic way to kick off the first weekend of its new residence within the beautiful Gardner Theatre. To further celebrate their inaugural season in a new home, the LSO invites all audience members to join them in the theatre's grand lobby after each performance for drinks, refreshments, silent auctions, and a chance to meet Michal Butterman, Aldo López-Gavilán, and the musicians of the Lancaster Symphony Orchestra.
Performances will occur on Friday, September 15, at 7:30 PM and Saturday, September 16, at 2:30 PM & 7:30 PM at the LSO's new home, the Gardner Theater within Lancaster Country Day School at 725 Hamilton Road, Lancaster. Free parking is available onsite. Tickets for this exciting concert, ranging from $39.00 to $99.00, can be purchased in advance by calling the LSO box office at 717-291-6440 or going online at www.lancastersymphony.org/rhapsody-in-blue.
Aldo López-Gavilán - Praised for his “dazzling technique and rhythmic fire” in the Seattle Times and dubbed a “formidable virtuoso” by The Times (London), Cuban pianist and composer Aldo López-Gavilán excels in both the classical and jazz worlds as a recitalist, concerto soloist, chamber-music collaborator, and performer of his own electrifying jazz compositions. He has appeared in such prestigious concert halls as the Amadeo Roldán (Cuba), Teresa Carreño (Venezuela), Bellas Artes (Mexico), Carnegie Hall and Jordan Hall (U.S.), Royal Festival Hall (U.K.), Nybrokajen 11 (Sweden), The Hall of Music (Russia), and Duc de Lombard et Petit Journal Montparnasse (France), as well as venues in Canada, Santo Domingo, Colombia, Spain, Greece, Hong Kong, Burkina Faso, Germany, and Austria.
López-Gavilán was born in Cuba to a family of internationally acclaimed classical musicians, his father a conductor and composer, his mother a concert pianist. At the age of five, he had written his first musical composition. His mother introduced the budding prodigy to the piano at the age of four, and he began formal piano studies at seven. His first international triumph came at the age of eleven when he won a Danny Kaye International Children’s Award, organized by UNICEF. He made his professional debut at age twelve with the Matanzas Symphony Orchestra and later went on to perform Prokofiev’s Third Piano Concerto with the National Symphonic Orchestra of Cuba. Parallel to his classical abilities, López-Gavilán developed remarkable skills in improvisation. He was invited to perform in the world-famous Havana Jazz Festival with the legendary Chucho Valdés, who called him “simply a genius, a star.”
Performance Dates and Times:
Friday, September 15, 2023, at 7:30 PM
Saturday, September 16, 2023, at 2:30 PM and 7:30 PM
*A free pre-concert lecture will begin 45-minutes before each performance time
Performance Location:
Gardner Theater within Lancaster Country Day School
725 Hamilton Road, Lancaster, PA 17603
Tickets:
Tickets for Rhapsody in Blue range in price from $39.00 – $99.00 and can be purchased in advance by calling the LSO box office at 717-291-6440 or online at www.lancastersymphony.org.
About the Lancaster Symphony Orchestra
The LSO is a non-profit organization governed by a board of community volunteers and managed by a professional staff. The LSO gratefully acknowledges support from Godfrey, Barley Snyder, Willow Valley, Hershey, Ephrata National Bank, Tiger's Eye, the Holiday Inn Lancaster, and UPMC, along with donations from hundreds of corporate and private benefactors which underwrite the Symphony's invaluable contribution to the quality of life in South-Central Pennsylvania. To learn more about the Lancaster Symphony Orchestra, please visit www.lancastersymphony.org.