DuPage Symphony Orchestra opens its 2017-2018 concert season with “New Beginnings”

“Music is the sound of life,” said Carl Nielsen, the most famous Danish composer. The DuPage Symphony Orchestra reflects on these words by surrounding our community with the sound of life, or with music. Formed with enthusiastic and talented volunteer musicians, this orchestra is happy to start its 2017-2018 season with a concert program called “New Beginnings”. This concert will take place on Saturday, October 14 at 8 p.m. at the spectacular Wentz Concert Hall in Naperville.

The name of the 2017-2018 concert season is “Notable Pairings” as each concert will feature the music of two great composers whose compositions create a unique pair and complement each other. The season will also feature the collaboration of superb soloists and the DuPage Symphony Orchestra that consists of one hundred members.

Under the baton of Maestro Barbara Schubert this concert season will be unforgettable. As always, Maestro Schubert carefully chose every piece that is going to be performed and created an excellent repertoire. Maestro Schubert has been serving as Music Director and Conductor of the DuPage Symphony Orchestra for more than thirty years already and has put all her talent, skills, time and devotion to music to creating beautiful concert programs.

The “New Beginnings” concert is the first one of the five subscription concerts of the 2017-2018 season. It will feature talented pianist Daniel Hsu, famous for his expressive and charming piano playing technique and a serious attitude toward music that brought him multiple prizes and awards. He was recently named the First Prize winner at the 2015 Concert Artists Guild Victor Elmaleh Competition, won the bronze medal at the 9th Hamamatsu International Piano Competition in Japan, and got first prize at the San Jose International Piano Competition, Pacific Musical Society Piano Competition and San Francisco Chopin Competition. In 2016, Mr. Hsu was named a Gilmore Young Artist, and in 2017 he made his Carnegie Hall debut.

The DuPage Symphony Orchestra will be happy to join this fast-rising pianist in performing Beethoven’s Fourth Piano Concerto in G major. This great composition was written in 1806 and first played in March 1807. It was the last time that the composer was able to perform himself. After a few years, his increasing deafness made him stop his performer career. This unique piano concerto has that easy to remember rhythmic motif that sounds similar to a well-known motif from the Fifth Symphony, composed a few months later. However, the difference is pretty strong – in the piano concerto, it appears with gentle scoring in G Major, not in C minor, as it is in the symphony.

The DuPage Symphony Orchestra will pair Beethoven’s music with two beautiful compositions by Carl Nielsen, a great Danish composer who is considered to be the most famous Danish composer who has ever lived. His music is well known in his own country, but some musical critics believe that it is not enough recognized and performed around the world. Maestro Schubert made a great choice by introducing his compositions to the American audience and particularly to the residents of the Chicago suburbs.

At first, the orchestra will present Helios Overture that Nielsen composed in 1903, being inspired by his traveling over to Greece with his wife. It is said that on the score Nielsen wrote: “Silence and darkness, the sun rises with a joyous song of praise, it wanders its golden way and sinks quietly into the sea.” Each note and each sound will help the audience experience all the beauty of this world through the eyes of the composer.

If in his overture Nielsen was studying nature and the outside world surrounding us, in his Symphony No. 2 in B minor "The Four Temperaments" he chose to study human nature. Nielsen built this symphony on the subject of the four temperaments and demonstrated his interest in human personality. The symphony consists of four movements, or sections, and each section represents a set of moods typical for major human temperaments. With this unique composition consisting of contrasting and colorful sections, the DuPage Symphony Orchestra will conclude the evening.

If you want to attend this beautiful concert, please order your tickets at http://www.dupagesymphony.org/web/events.aspx?date=10%2f14%2f2017 and enjoy this unforgettable event!

Natalia Dagenhart

What: “New Beginnings” concert presented by the DuPage Symphony Orchestra

Where: Wentz Concert Hall, 171 E. Chicago Ave., Naperville, IL 60540

When: October 14, 2017 at 8:00 PM

Tickets: http://www.dupagesymphony.org/web/events.aspx?date=10%2f14%2f2017