Bienen Ensembles

Northwestern University Symphony Orchestra

Saturday, December 7, 2024 at 7:30pm CST

Pick-Staiger Concert Hall

Donald Schleicher, conductor; Natalia Warthen, saxophone (Northwestern Concerto Competition winner)

The Northwestern University Symphony Orchestra's second performance of the season opens with the Overture to Carl Maria von Weber's Oberon, the opera which may have inspired Felix Mendelssohn in his own overture to A Midsummer Night's Dream. Concerto Competition winner Natalia Warthen is the featured soloist in Paul Creston's Concerto for Alto Saxophone. Creston served as accompanist to saxophonist Cecil Leeson during the 1930s, and dedicated the virtuosic showcase to him. Rounding out the program is Sergei Prokofiev's Fifth Symphony, a work the composer himself described as "a symphony on the greatness of the human soul." The symphony was premiered in Moscow in January 1945, only days after news arrived of a Soviet victory over the Germany army on the Vistula River.

Carl Maria von Weber, Oberon Overture
Paul Creston, Concerto for Alto Saxophone, Op. 26
Sergei Prokofiev, Symphony No. 5 in B-flat Major, Op. 100

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Tickets are $8 for the general public and $5 for students with valid ID.

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Pick-Staiger Concert Hall

Address

50 Arts Cir Dr
Evanston, IL 60208
United States

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About

Pick-Staiger is a 972-seat hall located in the Arts Circle on the Evanston campus of Northwestern University. The main lobby entrance for concerts is on the west side of the building (revolving and regular doors). Since its inception in 1975, the hall has functioned as both a classroom and performance facility for Bienen School of Music performing ensembles, faculty recitals, festivals, and professional guest artists.