Tribune-Herald
Tribune-Herald
Some of the world’s finest performers of classical music and dance have Hilo in their travel plans. They will be part of the Hawaii Concert Society’s 2012-2013 season.
The season, the society’s 51st, offers a variety of classical music experiences, including performances by a string quartet and a piano quintet, a Metropolitan Opera soprano who has been described as America’s foremost operatic ambassador, prize-winning piano soloists, and some of the finest practitioners of music of the Baroque period.
It also has an energetic modern dance group returning to Hilo after six years.
All will perform at the University of Hawaii at Hilo’s Performing Arts Center.
The first two concerts of the season — on Oct. 9 and Nov. 13 — feature award winners from the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition.
Haochen Zhang, first-prize winner of the most recent competition (2009), opens the season on Oct. 9. The youngest contestant at age 19, Zhang “demonstrated a musical maturity almost unimaginable in one so young,” wrote the music critic of the Dallas Morning News.
November’s concert will feature Hilo favorite Joyce Yang, who captured the silver medal at the 2005 Van Cliburn Competition and who has since graced two Hawaii Concert Society seasons as soloist. This time, Yang will perform as part of a piano quintet together with Honolulu’s Galliard String Quartet.
Perhaps the highlight of the season will be the March 12 performance by soprano Dawn Upshaw. In roles at Salzburg, Paris, Glyndebourne, at the Metropolitan Opera and elsewhere — and in recitals such as the one to take place in Hilo — Upshaw’s voice transfixes the listener with its power, clarity and pure beauty.
Another highlight, on Jan. 30, is sure to be Grammy-nominated guitarist/lutenist Richard Savino and his instrumental and vocal ensemble, El Mundo, performing soul-stirring music from the Spanish and Latin American Baroque.
And speaking of baroque, also on tap is one of the world’s premier early music ensembles, Musica Pacifica, which will close the season on April 25 with zesty music from the British Isles.
The 2012-13 season also includes a Feb. 28 date with the award-winning Afiara String Quartet, and a return performance on Feb. 10 by the exciting Giordano Jazz Dance Chicago, celebrating its 50th season and as always captivating audiences worldwide with dynamic performances and the diversity and wide appeal of its repertoire.
The season brochure, which provides additional information and which can be used to order season tickets (at a significantly lower price than either at the box office or at ticket outlets), has been mailed to past and present Concert Society members and season ticket-purchasers. It is also available at the East Hawaii Cultural Center, on the Internet at www.hawaiiconcertsociety.com, or by regular mail by phoning 959-4064.
The discount ticket offer for season tickets, or a custom-designed “mini-series” of at least four concerts, extends until the date of the first concert, Oct. 9.
The Hawaii Concert Society is supported by donations from it members and corporate sponsors, as well as the State Foundation on Culture and the Arts.