 Our 47th Season
As we begin our 47th season, we take pride in all that the Strings have accomplished. Over 450 unique works have been performed for over 100,000 persons. Under the direction of our leader, Dr. Allan Dennis, we will be revisiting many of these works this season, including Symphonies ot Mozart, Beethoven, and Brahms, beloved works of Bach, Concerti of Mozart, Brahms, Barber and the contemporary composer Stacy Garrop. We also welcome back some of our most notable soloists to join us in making this season special in every way. We are grateful for the support of the Highland Park Community Foundation, the Negaunee Foundation. the M.S. Bauer Foundation and the many individual contributors without whom we could not exist. The opening concert on October 19 will feature in his 5th appearance with the Strings, YANG LIU. Yang is a dynamic and internationally acclaimed violinist, bringing his passion for music to audiences across North and South America. Asia and beyond. He performs as soloist with many of the world's leading orchestras and shares the stage with his wife the pianist Olivia as the beloved duo "Yang and Olivia". Over the course of his career Mr. Liu has performed in more than 40 countries. A prizewinner of the Twelfth International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, Mr. Liu is also the 2023 American Prize winner in String Performance. Performing on a 1741 Guarneri violin loaned by the Stradivari Society, he will play the Concerto by Samuel Barber and the Strings will add the Suite No 2 by Bach and Beethoven's sparkling Symphony No. 1. For our "Holiday" concert on December 7, which will be devoted entirely to the music of Brahms, we are thrilled to welcome back violinist ILYA KALER. Described by Gramophone as a "magician, bewitching our ears", Mr. Kaler is the only violinist to win the Gold Medal at the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, the Sibelius Competition in Helsinki, and the Paganini Competition in Genoa. One of the most sought after teachers in the world, Kaler currently serves as the violin professor of the Cleveland Institute of Music. Joining Mr. Kaler will be his cellist son DANIEL. A top prizewinner at the Medici International Music competition, Bach International Music Competition and Ravel Competition, among others, Daniel recently joined the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. The father and son will perform the great Double Concerto of Brahms and the Strings will play his beloved Symphony No. 1. Our Gala Benefit Concert in the acoustically perfect Bennett Gordon Hall at Ravinia on February 1 brings back our dear friend and neighbor SUSAN MERDINGER, an internationally acclaimed Steinway Artist. She will be joined by pianist STEVEN GREENE, newly appointed Music Director and Organist at Highland Park Presbyterian Church. They first met at the Yale School of Music, where they were affectionately dubbed "the Dynamic Duo". Now celebrating their 40th anniversary as musical and life partners, the duo will perform the glorious Concerto for Two Pianos by Mozart. The Strings will add, in this all Mozart program, the Overture to the Marriage of Figaro and one of his last and greatest Symphonies, No. 40 in G minor. The final concert on May 17 will feature the rising star, CALLIA MURRAY, a 16 year old violist from Vernon Hills. She currently studies with Jonathan Brown at the Colburn Music Academy in Los Angeles. She previously studied with DESIREE RUHSTRAT who graciously agreed to join Callia in this concert. On the Program is the Brandenburg Concerto No. 6 by Bach, the Concerto for Violin and Viola by Max Bruch and Krakatoa: Concerto for Viola by Stacy Garrop. The Strings conclude the season wtth the magnificent Serenade tor Strings by Dvorak. Lawrence Block |
Dr. Allan Dennis Conductor        
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