Rachmaninoff’s 3rd Piano Concerto

ARTIST UPDATE:
Rach 3 now featuring Opus 3 Artist, Drew Petersen

Join us for a concert that celebrates extraordinary creative forces joining together. Of all the great piano concertos ever written, Rachmaninoff’s 3rd tops the list. Acclaimed young American pianist Drew Petersen is a sought-after soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician. He has been praised for his commanding and poetic performances of repertoire ranging from Bach to Zaimont. He is the recipient of the 2018 Avery Fisher Career Grant and winner of the 2017 American Pianists Awards and Christel DeHaan Classical Fellowship.

Petersen makes his Charleston Symphony debut to perform Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3 under the baton of Wolff, a French-born American conductor with extensive global experience.

Referred to as “Rach 3,” this stands as one of the most demanding piano concertos for soloists — unsurprisingly, since the composer himself was a distinguished pianist— and a favorite among audiences for its memorable melodies and lush Romantic sound. Likewise, Symphonic Dances exudes similar qualities with its sweeping themes and, as its name implies, dances that meander throughout the orchestra. As in several of his compositions, Rachmaninoff weaves in the Dies irae (Day of Wrath) motif from the Requiem Mass in his Symphonic Dances. Written in 1940, when the composer was living in the U.S., it would be the final major orchestral work of Rachmaninoff’s life.

MORE ON THE MUSIC & ARTISTS:

• Trevor Weston’s Subwaves, which has been deemed “a musical tribute to the NYC subway,” premiered in May 2023 at David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center in NYC. The piece was commissioned as part of Composing Inclusion, a partnership of the Juilliard Preparatory Division, New York Philharmonic, and American Composers Forum (ACF), with funding from the Sphinx Venture Fund.
• Petersen was presented at Carnegie Hall at age 5 and New York Magazine prominently featured Petersen in an article about child prodigies.
• Hugh Wolff has been influenced and taught by many of the orchestral world’s top names: he was assistant to Mstislav Rostropovich at the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, D.C.; he studied piano with Leon Fleisher; learned composition from famous French composer Olivier Messiaen; and studied conducting with legendary conductor Charles Bruck.

Please note: Thursday’s performance is part of the Masterworks Friday package and Friday’s performance is part of the Masterworks Saturday package.

PROGRAM

Trevor Weston
Subwaves

Sergei Rachmaninoff
Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor, Op. 30

Sergei Rachmaninoff
Symphonic Dances, Op. 45

ARTISTS

Hugh Wolff, conductor
Drew Petersen, piano