Details

The ESO casts its eyes to Vancouver, and in the spirit of good sportsmanship, celebrates the grace, beauty, power and thrill of athletic excellence with a rousing and playful concert of musical exuberance that will undoubtedly earn high marks for both technical merit as well as artistic expression!

Program to include:

Vangelis: Chariots of Fire
Williams: The Olympic Spirit
Waldteufel: The Skaters' Waltz
Beethoven: Symphony No. 5 (First Mvmt)
Mozetich: Postcards from the Sky

$69 Dress Circle (A)
$59 Terrace (B)
$51 Orchestra (C)
$38 Upper Circle (D)
$28 Gallery (E)
$20 Orchestra Front (F)
(click map for interactive version)

Tickets subject to applicable service charges.

Thank you to the generous supporters of this series: Bill & Mary Jo Robbins

Thank you to our performance sponsor:

Thank you to our media sponsor:

The next Robbins Lighter Classics performance is May 20, 2010.

Program Information

 

LAVALLÉE
O Canada (Arr Gilliland) (1’)*

ARNAUD
Bugler’s Dream (1’)*

WILLIAMS
Olympic Fanfare and Theme (4’)*

TORKE
Javelin (9’)*

WALDTEUFEL
Les patineurs, Opus 183 “Skater’s Waltz” (8’)*
 Lucas Waldin, conductor

MOZETICH
Postcards from the Sky (13’)*
 Lucas Waldin, conductor

WILLIAMS
Olympic Spirit (4’)*

INTERMISSION

ESTACIO
Powerplay Fanfare (1’)*
 John Estacio, conductor

GOULD
Interplay (13’)*
 Sarah Ho, piano

VANGELIS
Chariots of Fire: Suite for Piano and Orchestra (Arr Rose) (7’)*
 Sarah Ho, piano

BEETHOVEN
Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Opus 67: I. Allegro con brio (6’)*

ROZSA
Parade of the Charioteers (Ben Hur) (4’)*

*Indicates approximate performance duration

 

Artist Information

Sarah Ho, piano

Canadian pianist Sarah Ho has been consistently recognized as soloist and chamber musician in performances, festivals and competitions across Canada, the United States and in Europe. First prizes include the Chiang-Wen Yeh International Piano Competition, the Canadian Music Competition, and the Society of American Musicians Contest. Sarah has also been the recipient of top honours at the Dorothy Anderson International Piano Competition, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra Competition and the Ludmila Knezkova-Hussey International Piano Competition.

Sarah has appeared with orchestras in Canada such as the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, the National Arts Centre Orchestra, and the Kitchener-Waterloo Chamber Orchestra. She has performed in notable venues and summer festivals around the world, including the Schubert Theatre on Broadway in New York, the Kennedy Center, the Banff Festival for the Arts, the Internationale Meisterkurse Fur Musik-Zurich, the National Arts Centre Young Artists Programme, and the Schleswig-Holstein in Germany. She has also appeared in concert for the Alexandria recital series in Virginia, the Chaminade Music Club recital series of New York, the Silvermine recital series in Connecticut, the Edmonton Recital Society, and CBC radio’s Alberta in Concert, among others.

Sarah has studied under some of the most renowned pianists of our time. At Indiana University, she received her Bachelor's Degree with Distinction and was awarded a Performer's Certificate for outstanding musical performance, studying with Menahem Pressler. At Yale University, where she studied with Claude Frank, she received a Master's degree and an Artist Diploma. In Edmonton, she studied with Wolfram Linnebach and in addition, was also a student of Stephane Lemelin and Marek Jablonski.

Sarah’s musical studies were supported by several foundations in Canada including the Anne Burrows foundation for Young Musicians, the Edmonton Community Foundation (Winspear fund), and the Alberta Foundation for the Arts, which twice awarded her the Sir James Lougheed award of distinction. She gratefully acknowledges the support of these organizations.

She is currently on the piano faculty at the Alberta College Conservatory of music of Grant Macewan and also serves as an assistant artistic director of the Edmonton Recital Society: www.edmontonrecital.com

---

William Eddins, conductor

William Eddins is in his fifth season as Music Director of the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra. A native of Buffalo, New York, he currently resides in Minneapolis with his lovely wife Jen, a clarinetist, and their two boys Raef (AKA Raefster; Munchers) and Riley (AKA Squeaky; The Imp; Dr. No).

Bill has been playing piano since he was five when his parents bought a Wurlitzer Grand piano at a garage sale. He started conducting during his sophomore year at the Eastman School of Music, and most of the '80s were spent trying to decide whether to pursue a career in conducting or piano. The quandary was answered for him when he realized that the life of a poor, starving pianist was for the birds. In 1989 Bill decided to study conducting with Dan Lewis at the University of Southern California, from whence he managed to land assistant conductor posts with the Chicago Symphony and the Minnesota Orchestra in 1992.

Bill has many non-musical hobbies including: cooking, eating, discussing food, and planning dinner parties. He is also quite fond of biking, tennis, reading, and pinball. Unfortunately, due to pianistic paranoia his days in the martial arts are long over.

Bill is committed to bringing classical music to the greater public. He has started a podcast – Classical Connections – which is dedicated to exploring the history of classical music and highlights live chamber music performances in which Bill has taken part (check it out for yourself at Bill Eddins' website). He has also produced a solo piano CD – Bad Boys, Volume I – which features Beethoven's "Hammerklavier" Sonata and Albright's Nightmare Fantasy Rag. His latest recording, on the Naxos label, features American music for cello and orchestra.