DEARBORN — The Dearborn Symphony is featuring international piano star Ivana Vidovic in her first performance in the United States at 8 p.m. Friday at Ford Community & Performing Arts Center.
“Beautiful musicality…power and passion…tender and controlled…” are just a few of the accolades used by critics to describe the prowess Vidovic.
Under the direction of Conductor Kypros Markou, the concert follows an insightful and humorous free preview of the evening’s music at 7 p.m. by James Walters, a musician and Dearborn music teacher.
Vidovic has performed as soloist in Europe with orchestras in Germany, Slovenia, London, and in her native Croatia, where she is a frequent soloist with the Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra. She has performed on tour in Brazil and twice in Argentina. Coming directly from Dubrovnik, Vidovic will perform Mozart’s “Rondo in A” and Turina’s “Rapsodia Sinfonica.”
The evening opens with Dvorak’s lively “Carnival Overture.” The music is punctuated by one poignant, haunting melody in the English horn and solo violin. Like much of Dvorak’s music, it abounds with dance rhythms and folk music influences from his native Bohemia, the rich heartland now known as the Czech Republic.
Dvorak wrote his own program note describing the story behind the music: “The wanderer reaches the city at nightfall, where a carnival of pleasure reigns supreme. On every side is heard the clangor of instruments, mingled with shouts of joy and the unrestrained hilarity of people giving vent to their feelings in the songs and dance tunes.”
The evening concludes with Brahms’ “3rd Symphony” — lyrical, flowing and filled with passion. Following its premiere in 1883, critic Eduard Hanslick hailed the piece as “artistically the most perfect…equal to the best of Brahms’s works…a feast for the music-lover and musician.”
The Symphony has partnered with Dearborn restaurants to offer a 20 percent diners’ discount for symphony ticket-holders on concert nights. Participating restaurants are Andiamo Dearborn, Crave, The Dearborn Inn, The Henry, La Pita, Kiernan’s & Silky’s, and Ollie’s Cuisine. Reservations are needed.
Tickets ranging from $30 to $15 in balcony, box and lower level are available by phoning the Dearborn Symphony at (313) 565-2424 or at the theater box office at (313) 943-2354.
Go to www.dearbornsymphony.org for more information. The Dearborn Symphony Endowment Fund is sponsoring this concert in part.