All-Beethoven Concert Closes Avalon’s “Symphony By The Sea” Series

AVALON — Experience the power and majesty of Ludwig van Beethoven music as the Bay-Atlantic Symphony closes the 2010 “Symphony by the Sea” summer series of concerts sponsored by the Avalon Free Public Library on Saturday, August 28, at 7 p.m., at the Avalon Elementary School, 235 32nd St., Avalon, NJ.
            The second of this two-concert series, conducted by Bay-Atlantic Symphony Music Director Jed Gaylin, will be entitled “Rescues, Royals, and Renegades.” This all-Beethoven program will feature three of the composer’s most thrilling, popular works. 
            The exquisite artistry of Italian pianist Enrico Elisi will be featured in the royal and resplendent Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-flat major, Op. 73, “Emperor.” The last and most famous of Beethoven’s five piano concerti, it was dedicated to Archduke Rudolf, the composer’s pupil and patron.
            Opening the program will be the exciting Leonore Overture No. 3, Op. 72a, one of the four overtures Beethoven composed for his rescue opera Fidelio. The concert will conclude with the crisp, novel, and brilliant Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op. 36.
Tickets are free and available to the general public on Thursday, August 12 from the Avalon Free Public Library, 235 32nd St., Avalon.
Elisi enchanted area audiences with his appearance with the Bay-Atlantic Symphony at the 2008 Cape May Music Festival.
He performs regularly in Europe, America, and Asia and has had recent recital engagements in Germany, his native Italy, Taiwan, and China. As an active chamber musician, he has performed with principal players of several major American symphony orchestras, as well as with the Cerberus Trio at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. He has also performed at the Taos and Ravinia Music Festivals and is the founder of the Green Valley Chamber Music Festival, which he served as music director for three years. He also directed the Piano Institute of the Las Vegas Music Festival.
Elisi graduated from the Conservatory of Florence (Italy) and also the International Piano Academy of Imola, where he studied with Lazar Berman. He also worked extensively with Leon Fleisher at the Peabody Conservatory. He has garnered top awards at such diverse venues as the Venice Competition and the Oporto International Competition.
            A former faculty member of the University of Nevada at Las Vegas, he is currently on the piano faculty at the Pennsylvania State University.
A free lecture about the concert’s music, sponsored by the Avalon Free Public Library and the Bay-Atlantic Symphony, will take place on Wednesday, August 25, at 7 p.m., at the library. Entitled “The Layers of Beethoven,” it will deal with how the composer’s musical style developed and why. The presenter will be Paul M. Somers, the Symphony’s Adult Education Director, A composer, performer, and founder of Maurice River Music, Somers was for 25 years the harpsichordist for the Virtuoso Strings of New York, and was a reviewer for the Star-Ledger.
Gaylin, now entering his 14th season as Music Director of the Bay-Atlantic Symphony, is also the Principal Conductor of the Cape May Music Festival. He has been the Music Director of the Johns Hopkins Symphony Orchestra since 1993 and, since 2007, the Principal Guest Conductor of the National Film and Radio Philharmonic in Beijing, China.
A sought-after guest conductor, he has led orchestras including the Sibiu Philharmonic of Romania—where he served as Principal Guest Conductor, Shanghai (China) Conservatory Orchestra, Bucharest (Romania) Radio Orchestra, Academia del Gran Teatre del Liceu (Barcelona, Spain), Lodz and Pomorska (Poland) Philharmonics, Gnessin Institute Orchestra and Moscow Chamber Symphony (Russia), Orquesta Sinfonica de Guanajuato (Mexico), Orvieto Festival Orchestra (Italy), and the Naples Philharmonic (Florida). He also maintains a close association with Baltimore’s Opera Vivente and Johns Hopkins University, where he has served as Music Director of the Hopkins Symphony Orchestra since 1993.
In much demand throughout Europe, he has appeared with such orchestras as the Academia del Gran Teatre del Liceu of Barcelona, Spain, for repeat engagements, as well as the Bucharest (Romania) Radio Orchestra, Lodz (Poland) Philharmonic, and the Moscow (Russia) Chamber Symphony.
Now entering its 27th season of providing classical music concerts, the Bay-Atlantic Symphony performs concerts and educational programs in Cumberland, Atlantic, Gloucester, and Cape May counties. In addition to being the orchestra-in-residence of Avalon’s “Symphony by the Sea” series, it has been the orchestra-in-residence of the Cape May Music Festival since 2003. It is also the resident orchestra of the Guaracini Fine and Performing Arts Center at Cumberland County College, Stockton College Performing Arts Center, and Pfleeger Concert Hall at Rowan University. It has received worldwide exposure through its appearance on National Public Radio’s Weekend Edition. The Symphony will open its 2010-11 season with “Classical Mystery Tour”—a gala symphonic tribute to The Beatles—on Sunday, September 26, at 3 p.m., at the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa, in Atlantic City.
For more information on the “Symphony at the Sea” series, call the Avalon Free Public Library at (609) 967-7155 or visit the library’s website at www.avalonfreelibrary.org. For more information on the Bay-Atlantic Symphony, call (856) 451-1169 or visit the orchestra’s website, www.bayatlanticsymphony.org.