GERSHWIN’S PIANO CONCERTO IN F MAJOR WITH SARA BUECHNER AND MAX BRAGADO-DARMAN CONDUCTING, MARCH 27, 28, AND 29, 2010

February 24, 2010, Monterey, California: Monterey Symphony music director Max Bragado-Darman will present George Gershwin’s popular Piano Concerto in F with internationally acclaimed pianist Sara Buechner making her local debut. Also on the program are Elgar’s Cockaigne Overture, the British master’s tribute to the City of London, Alberto Ginastera’s Estancia Suite, and Joaquin Turina’s Rapsodia sinfónica, also featuring Sara Buechner.

Concerts will take place in Salinas at Sherwood Hall, 940 N. Main Street, on Saturday, March 27 with the Stage Door Performance (Final Rehearsal) beginning at a new time 2:00 p.m. ($15) The Concert also begins at a new time 7:00 p.m.($39, $20). Student and Group rates are available. Contact Diane Cadei at 831-646-8511 or education@montereysymphony.org for more information.

Concerts will also take place in Carmel at Sunset Theater, 9^th and San Carlos Avenue, on Sunday, March 28 at 3:00 p.m. and Monday, March 29 at 8:00 p.m. ($67, $50, $37).

Single tickets for these concerts may be purchased by calling 831-646-8511 or save the $5.00 service fee by buying on line at: www.montereysymphony.org. The orchestra seating charts are published in real time. Patrons are encouraged to purchase tickets in advance because of the likelihood of sold out performances.

The Friends of the Monterey Symphony will hold a concert preview luncheon on Friday, March 26 at the Lodge at Pebble Beach. Guest soloist Sara Buechner will be the featured speaker. The cost of the luncheon is $45 per person and reservations need to be made by Tuesday, March. For additional information, call 831-646-8511. Register on line at montereysymphony.org.

Sara Davis Buechner is a classical concert pianist of noteworthy accomplishment, virtuosic mastery, artistic sensitivity and extraordinary versatility. A major prizewinner of many of the world's most prestigious international piano competitions -- Reine Elisabeth of Belgium, Leeds, Salzburg, Sydney and Vienna -- she established her career by winning the Gold Medal of the 1984 Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition in Salt Lake City, Utah, and as a Bronze Medalist of the 1986 Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition in Moscow.

Her musical art was molded by some of the most formidable keyboard virtuosos of the Twentieth Century including legendary keyboard masters Byron Janis and Rudolf Firkusny at the Juilliard School. Ms. Buechner has inherited, and proudly continues, their pianistic mantle.

With an active repertoire of over 100 piano concertos ranging from A (Albeniz) to Z (Zimbalist), she has appeared as soloist with North America's most prominent orchestras: the New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Saint Louis and San Francisco Symphony Orchestras; the Vancouver, Victoria, Edmonton and Calgary Symphony Orchestras; and abroad with the Japan Philharmonic, City of Birmingham (U.K.) Symphony Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic, Kuopio (Finland) Philharmonic, Slovak Philharmonic, and the Orquesta Sinfónica de Castilla y León (Spain). She was a featured artist at the "Piano 2000" Gala Concerts in the Kennedy Center with the National Symphony, and has performed solo recitals at Lincoln Center's "Mostly Mozart" Festival. In addition to her frequent North American concert appearances and radio broadcasts, she tours widely throughout the Far East on a yearly basis.

Growing in popularity in Canada, Sara has also recently performed with the CBC Radio Orchestra, Orchestra London, the Montreal Chamber Orchestra, Hamilton Philharmonic and McGill Chamber Orchestra, and has played recitals from the Canadian Atlantic to the Pacific. She was recently the subject of a feature profile in MacLeans, Canada's national news magazine.

Ms. Buechner's recording of piano music by George Gershwin was selected as a Recording of the Month by Stereophile magazine; her 1997 world première recording of the Busoni version of Bach's "Goldberg" Variations was profiled in the Arts & Leisure section of the New York Times; and her recording of Hollywood piano concertos by Bernard Herrmann and Franz Waxman won Germany's Deutsches Schauplatten Preis for best soundtrack. Pro Piano has released her CD of the complete piano music of Stephen Foster, and her fourth recording for Koch International was recently released featuring piano music by Rudolf Friml. Ongoing projects for Koch include a multi-volume Bach-Busoni retrospective and piano music of Dana Suesse. Ms. Buechner's extensive discography also includes more than ten disks for the Yamaha Disklavier and Piano Soft systems.

Ms. Buechner appears regularly with the Film Society of Lincoln Center, as one of the few pianists to perform piano scores to silent movies -- notably the 150-minute long restored version of Ben-Hur (1925) and the Danish classic Master of the House (1925). Ms. Buechner has also collaborated on dance projects with performance artist Nori Nke Aka, mime/mask-maker Yayoi Hirano and choreographer Neta Pulvermacher; and toured internationally with the Mark Morris Dance Group.

In 2003, Ms. Buechner joined the eminent Piano Faculty of the University of British Columbia - Vancouver, where she is now Associate Professor of Piano, Piano Literature and Chamber Music. She is a former faculty member of New York University, and has presented lectures and masterclasses worldwide, including those at the Royal Academy in London, Indiana University, National Taiwan Normal University, The Juilliard School, Senzoku Conservatory and Kobe-Yamate Gakuen of Japan. Ms. Buechner is a proud Yamaha artist; she speaks and reads Japanese and is an Honorary Member of the Hanshin Tigers Baseball Team of Osaka.

These performances herald the first occasion that the Monterey Symphony has performed Elgar’s Cockaigne Overture and Turina’s Rapsodia sinfónica. Gershwin’s popular Concerto in F Major hasn’t been performed here since February 1989 when pianist Loren Hollander collaborated with Clark Suttle. Max Bragado-Darman performed Ginastera’s Estancia Ballet Suite with the Monterey Symphony to a standing ovation at our Summer Festival Concerts in August 2006.

The Monterey Symphony, under the artistic leadership of Max Bragado-Darman, is the only fully-professional orchestra serving the communities of the Monterey Bay, Salinas, Salinas Valley, Big Sur, and San Benito County. It provides triple performances of a seven-concert subscription series at Carmel’s Sunset Theater and Salinas’ Sherwood Hall, annual holiday concerts, and an extensive youth activities program, including more than 200 visits to classrooms by musicians, which culminates in concerts by the full orchestra for school children.

The Monterey Symphony is a nonprofit, public benefit corporation, supported, in part, through the fundraising efforts of the Friends of the Monterey Symphony; and grants from The James Irvine Foundation, The David and Lucile Packard Foundation, The Harden Foundation, The Robert and Virginia Stanton Fund at the Community Foundation for Monterey County, The William and Flora Hewlitt Foundation, The Monterey Peninsula Foundation, The Chapman Foundation, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Upjohn California Fund, and many other generous foundations and individual donors.

For additional information, please call 831-646-8511 or visit our web site:

www.montereysymphony.org.

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MONTEREY SYMPHONY 64^th SUBSCRIPTION SEASON 2009-2010

Max Bragado-Darman, conductor

Sara Buechner, piano

Saturday, March 27, 2010, 7:00 p.m. Sherwood Hall, Salinas

Sunday, March 28, 2010, 3:00 p.m. Sunset Theater, Carmel

Monday, March 29, 2010, 8:00 p.m. Sunset Theater, Carmel

PROGRAM

Edward Elgar (1857-1934)                                    Cockaigne Overture, "In London Town" Op.40

George Gershwin (1893-1937)                            Piano Concerto in F major

 I. Allegro

II. Andante con moto

III. Allegro con brio

Joaquin Turina (1882-1949)                                  Rapsodia sinfónica for Piano and Orchestra, Op.66

Alberto Ginastera (1916-1983)                             Estancia Ballet Suite

 I. The Land Workers

II. Wheat Dance

III. The Cattlemen

IV. Malambo

This program will be broadcast on KUSP 88.9 FM on Friday, April 16, 2010, 8:00 p.m.