Slovak conductor Juraj Valčuha appears with the Minnesota Orchestra for the third consecutive season as he leads concerts at Orchestra Hall on March 1, 2 and 3. The concerts open with Lyadov’s The Enchanted Lake and then feature Russian-born pianist Kirill Gerstein in Rachmaninoff’s Third Piano Concerto. Respighi’s powerful Fountains of Rome and Debussy’s evocative La Mer form the second half of the program.

The Minnesota Orchestra concerts are held at Orchestra Hall in downtown Minneapolis on Thursday, March 1, at 11 a.m., Friday, March 2, at 8 p.m., and Saturday, March 3, at 8 p.m., with ticket prices ranging from $25 to $96. More information is available at minnesotaorchestra.org and by phone at 612-371-5656. For further purchasing details, refer to the information section at the conclusion of this press release.

Juraj Valčuha, conductor

Juraj Valčuha was appointed music director of the Teatro di San Carlo in Naples, Italy, in 2016, and is first guest conductor of the Konzerthaus Orchester Berlin. From 2009 to 2016 he was the chief conductor of the RAI National Symphony Orchestra in Turin, Italy, with which he toured to music centers including the Vienna Musikverein and Berlin’s Philharmonie. He has conducted the Berlin Philharmonic, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Dresden Staatskapelle, Vienna Symphony, Munich Philharmonic, Amsterdam Concertgebouw Orchestra, Orchestre National de France, Orchestre de Paris and Philharmonia of London, as well as major American orchestras from coast to coast. More: jurajvalcuha.com.

Kirill Gerstein, piano

Berlin-based American pianist Kirill Gerstein’s 2017-18 season in North America includes debuts with the Pittsburgh and National symphonies, and returns to the major orchestras of Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, Indianapolis, Houston, Colorado and Oregon. Internationally, he performs with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra in Leipzig and on tour in Paris and Vienna, in addition to many other orchestras across Europe. Gerstein has been the recipient of numerous awards including the Gilmore Artist Award, an Avery Fisher Career Grant and First Prize in the Arthur Rubinstein Competition. In 2018 he releases a new recording of Gershwin’s Piano Concerto in F and Rhapsody in Blue with the St. Louis Symphony. More: cmartists.com, kirillgerstein.com.

Lakes, Fountains and the Sea
Lyadov loved writing about “the realm of the non-existing”—as he did in The Enchanted Lake:magical, misty, moonlit and shimmering.

Rachmaninoff’s Third Piano Concerto balances moments of song-like simplicity and thunderous virtuosity. The opening Allegro is subtle and soulful, while the latter movements offer catchy themes, ingenious variations and a feather-light waltz.

Respighi desired to make the fountains of Rome sing in his four-movement symphonic poem that ranges from plaintive and gentle to triumphant and bold. Each movement celebrates a particular fountain and its own unique environment, and each at a different moment of day from dawn to dusk.

Debussy’s classic oceanic portrait La Mer recreates the feeling of a visit to the sea. Two slower movements surround a scherzo as a kaleidoscopic stream of musical fragments eventually builds to a stormy, dissonant close.
Minnesota Orchestra Classical Concerts
DEBUSSY’S LA MER

Thursday, March 1, 2018, 11 a.m. (Coffee Concert) / Orchestra Hall
Friday, March 2, 2018, 8 p.m. / Orchestra Hall
Saturday, March 3, 2018, 8 p.m. / Orchestra Hall

Minnesota Orchestra
Juraj Valčuha, conductor
Kirill Gerstein, piano

LYADOV The Enchanted Lake
RACHMANINOFF Piano Concerto No. 3
RESPIGHI The Fountains of Rome
DEBUSSY La Mer

Tickets: $30 to $96
OH+ Events
Free Concert Preview with Phillip Gainsley in the Auditorium on Thursday, March 1, at 10:15 a.m., and in the Target Atrium on Friday, March 2, and Saturday, March 3, at 7:15 p.m.
TICKET PURCHASING INFORMATION



Individual tickets can be purchased online at minnesotaorchestra.org or by calling 612-371-5656 or 800-292-4141. Tickets can be purchased in person at the Orchestra Hall Stage Door, 1111 Nicollet Mall, Minneapolis (open Monday to Friday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.); at the Minnesota Orchestra Administrative Office, International Centre, 5th floor, 920 Second Avenue South, Minneapolis (open Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.); and at the Orchestra Hall Box Office, two hours before all ticketed performances. For more information, call 612-371-5656 or visit minnesotaorchestra.org. For groups of 10 or more, call 612-371-5662.

All programs, artists, dates, times and prices subject to change.

The Star Tribune is the Minnesota Orchestra’s media partner for the 2017-18 season.



This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a Minnesota State Arts Board Operating Support grant, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.