Eastern Music Festival Presents Alexander Toradze, piano

This preview has been provided by the Eastern Music Festival.

Acclaimed pianist Alexander Toradze joins the Eastern Festival Orchestra and conductor Gerard Schwarz during their 51^st season. Toradze is universally recognized as a masterful virtuoso in the grand Romantic tradition. He maintains frequent appearances with the leading orchestras of North America, including the New York Philharmonic, Met Orchestra, Boston Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Montreal and Toronto Symphonies, and the National Symphony of Washington DC. Born in 1952 in Tbilisi, Georgia, Toradze graduated from the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow. In 1991, he was appointed as the Martin Endowed Chair Professor of Piano at Indiana University South Bend, where he has created a teaching environment unparalleled in its unique methods. Toradze will perform Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 3 in C major, op.26. Other pieces on the concert will include Canzonetta by David Schiff, Saxophone Concerto in E-flat major, op.109 featuring saxophonist Ben Robinette, and Symphony Suite in F-sharp minor, op.9 “Antar” by Rimsky-Korsakov. For tickets, call the Triad Stage box office at 336-272-0160.

Toradze will also coach a master class with EMF’s young artists on Friday, July 13^th at 4:00 pm. The class is open to the public and tickets can be purchased for $15 at the door.

The Eastern Music Festival’s mission is to promote musical enrichment, excellence, professional collaboration, innovation, and diversity through a nationally-recognized teaching program, music festival, concerts, and other programs which will enhance the quality of life, health, and vitality of our region. The Eastern Music Festival and School, founded in 1961 in Greensboro, North Carolina by Sheldon Morgenstern, is an internationally-renowned classical music festival and institute for young musicians that runs for five weeks each summer. The institute accepts students ages 14 through 22 from around the country and the world. The EMF faculty consists of world-class performing artists selected from top orchestras and music schools nationally and internationally.  Led by music director Gerard Schwarz, the Eastern Music Festival and School celebrates its 51^st season in 2012.