Listen LIVE! To your Illinois Symphony Orchestra in Epic Ending with Classical Rockstar Cellist Joshua Roman
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Celebrate the close of our 30th season of acclaimed music-making with Torke's highly spirited Javelin and Dvořák's stunning Cello Concerto featuring the return of world-renowned cellist Joshua Roman. Béla Bartók's epic Concerto for Orchestra concludes this fantastic finale led by guest conductor Andrew Joon Choi!
Joshua Roman is an accomplished composer and curator whose performances embrace musical styles from Bach to Radiohead and is described as a “cellist of bold character and poetic grace” (The Plain Dealer). Mr. Roman was named a TED Senior Fellow in 2015 and is the inaugural Artist in Residence with the Las Vegas Philharmonic. We are excited to welcome Joshua Roman back to central Illinois to perform with your Illinois Symphony Orchestra. As “a masterful player who brings curiosity and electrical energy to every note” (The Plain Dealer) and whose “symphony debut…was so striking…that it left a listener eager for something more” (The San Fracisco Chronicler), the Epic Ending concert is something you won’t want to miss!
Listen LIVE! to your Illinois Symphony Orchestra on Friday, May 5, 2023 at 7:30 PM at the UIS Performing Arts Center in Springfield, Illinois and Saturday, May 6, 2023 at 7:30 PM at the Center for the Performing Arts at Illinois State University in Normal, Illinois. Join cellist Joshua Roman and guest conductor Andrew Joon Choi before the concert for Concert Comments at 6:30 PM in the concert hall.
Order your tickets and we’ll see you there! Tickets may be purchased in Springfield through the UIS Ticket Office at 217-206-6160 and in Normal through the ISU Center for the Performing Arts Ticket Office at 309-438-2535 or online at ilsymphony.org/epicending. Single ticket prices range from $5 for students (11 & under) to $63 for premium seating. Senior and group discounts are also available.
Epic Ending is sponsored by season sponsors The Landmark Automotive Group and Debra & Daniel Brownstone, M.D., concert sponsor Ken & Laura Berk, and guest artist sponsors Barbara & Charles Schweighauser and Trevor & Liz Orthmann.
Winner of the prestigious Neeme Järvi Prize at the 2018 Gstaad Music Festival & Academy, and 2nd prize winner of the National Radio Television Albania Conducting Competition 2019 and 3rd prize winner of the IONEL PERLEA International Opera Competition 2021, Andrew Joon Choi is a classically trained, Korean American Conductor based in Princeton, New Jersey.
He has conducted many orchestras throughout Europe including Sinfonieorchester Basel, Kammerorchester Basel, Basel Sinfonietta, Musikkollegium Winterthur, Gstaad Festival Orchestra, Sinfonieorchester Liechtenstein, ORF-Radio Symphonieorchester Wien, LEAD! Festival Orchestra, Janáček Philharmonisches Orchester, Josef Kajetán Tyl Theater, Filharmonie Hradec Králové, Staatstheater Cottbus, Das Kurpfälzische Kammerorchester - Mannheim, Südwestdeutsche Philharmonie, Pazadzjik Sinfonieorchester, and Russe Philharmonisches Orchester.
Until January of 2020, he was the Assistant Conductor of the Basel Sinfonietta, a renowned contemporary arts organization bringing modern classical music closer to the audience using innovative and provocative programming. It is also known as the only organization of its kind to perform contemporary classical music for full orchestra, every program of the season. In 2022 and beyond, he makes his U.S debut with the Illinois Symphony Orchestra as well as planned concerts with the Opéra Orchestre Montpellier, the Berner Symphonieorchester, and the National Radio Orchestra Tirana Albania.
The Illinois Symphony Orchestra is central Illinois’ largest professional orchestra serving over 35,000 patrons in the communities of Bloomington-Normal, Springfield and the surrounding region with symphony orchestra, chamber orchestra, and Concerts for Kids series in each community. In addition to concert performances, the Orchestra's music education and outreach programs serve pre-K and elementary schools through the Itsy Arts and Music Matters education programs and reach middle schools, high schools, universities, community organizations and senior centers through guest artist residencies and musician and ensemble performances. The ISO also has an active Around the Town Chamber Music Series and virtual Sunday at Six Recital Series. The Illinois Symphony Orchestra has a budget of approximately $1.3 million.
In July 2020, the ISO acquired the Sangamon Valley Youth Symphony (SVYS) organization that was started in the early 1970s by parents, music teachers and musicians to keep string programs and youth orchestra in Springfield and surrounding communities following the elimination of all school orchestra programs. Now, the Illinois Symphony Youth Orchestras (ISYO) programs consist of Starter and Junior Strings, Preparatory Orchestra, Concert Orchestra and Symphony Orchestra serving over 150 students. The ISO also has a partnership in education and community engagement (PEACE) with the UIS-School of Music and Illinois State University’s Wonsook Kim College of Fine Arts and School of Music.
Additional information about the Illinois Symphony Orchestra is available at www.ilsymphony.org.
The ISO is partially funded by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency.
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