The Dearborn Symphony will present “Sweet Sound of Spring” at 8 p.m. Friday at the Ford Community and Performing Arts Center, 15801 Michigan Ave, Dearborn.
International oboe competition winner Nancy Ambrose King returns to Dearborn to perform David Mullikin’s “Concerto for Oboe.” The concert includes Franz Schubert’s warmhearted and tuneful “Rosamunde Overture,” Aaron Copland’s “Appalachian Spring,” the culmination to his Americana series, and Johann Strauss’ “Voices of Spring” waltz.
Ambrose King is the first prize winner of the Third New York International Competition for Solo Oboists held in 1995. She has appeared as soloist throughout the United States and abroad, including performances with the St. Petersburg (Russia) Philharmonic, and orchestras in Tokyo, Puerto Rico and England, among others. She has performed as recitalist in Weill Recital Hall and as soloist at Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall.
Her playing has been hailed by critics at the American Record Guide as “… full of character, …a fine exhibition of thoroughly musical oboe playing, …with a tone that surpasses that of most other American oboe soloists.” She received her doctor of musical arts, master of music, and performer’s certificate from the Eastman School of Music and is professor of oboe at the University of Michigan.
When she last performed with the Dearborn Symphony she dazzled the audience with an encore piece that featured circular oboe playing, the seemingly continuous playing without taking a breath.
To enrich the concert experience, the audience is invited to attend Jim Walters’ insightful and humorous preview of the evening’s music one hour before the concert, free with a concert ticket.
The Dearborn Symphony has partnered with local restaurants to offer a 20 percent diners’ discount for ticket holders on concert nights. Advance reservations are required at Andiamo Dearborn, La Pita, The Early American Room at the Dearborn Inn, Kiernan’s & Silky’s, Parisian Bistro, and The Grill at The Ritz-Carlton, Dearborn.
The concert and afterglow are made possible by the Women’s Association for the Dearborn Orchestral Society.
Tickets range from $15 to $30, with students admitted for $10. For tickets, call the symphony office at (313) 565-2424, go to www.dearbornsymphony.org or call the Ford Center box office at (313) 943-2354.