The University Orchestra will present a concert on Tuesday, November 18, on the Main Stage at the Staller Center at 8 pm. The performance includes Dvorak’s Slavonic Dance No. 1, Respighi’s Ancient Airs and Dances (Suite No. 1), Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 and Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2. Pianist Kevin Song, winner of the 2014 Stony Brook University Undergraduate Concerto Competition, is the featured soloist.
The University Orchestra, conducted by Susan Deaver, is a 70-member, all-student ensemble of undergraduate students from Stony Brook University. The University Orchestra presents a series of concerts each year at Staller Center, including the annual Messiah Sing-Along and the annual Family Concert. Deaver, music director of the University Orchestra, has conducted orchestras in the United States, Europe and Asia and is a member of the music faculty at Stony Brook University. She is also music director and conductor of the North Shore Symphony Orchestra, principal guest conductor of Long Island Youth Orchestra and on the faculty of Manhattan School of Music’s Precollege Division.
General admission tickets are $10; student/senior tickets are $5,. For tickets, visit the Staller Center Box Office or call (631) 632-ARTS. For more information about the University Orchestra contact the Stony Brook Department of Music at (631) 632-7330 or visit the department website.
About Pianist Kevin Song, Winner of the 2014 Undergraduate Concerto Competition
Kevin Song is a fifth-year undergraduate music major at Stony Brook University. Originally on the pre-medical track, Kevin switched to music halfway through his college career to pursue his passion for piano performance. He began learning how to play piano at the age of five and continued playing through his teenage years under the guidance of his private teacher Shou-Ping Chiu. At the age of 15, Kevin won two consecutive piano competitions hosted by the New York State Music Teachers Association. A year later, he was one of 12 young pianists with perfect NYSSMA scores chosen to play at the NYSSMA 2009 Piano Showcase Recital held during the All-State Festival at Rochester. In 2010, Kevin became one of the winners of the annual National Young Musicians Showcase Competition and as a result performed in the Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall. Around this time he played in several events offered by his high school, the most noteworthy of which was when he played as a guest pianist with the Metropolitan Youth Orchestra once again at Carnegie Hall. Kevin first entered Stony Brook University as a biology major and music minor, and shortly afterward began studying piano with his current instructor Pablo Lavandera. Since then he has received the Best Undergraduate Pianist award from the piano faculty in 2013, and during that year he decided to major in music. Kevin plans on continuing his education in piano performance at graduate school starting the fall of next year.
The University Orchestra, in conjunction with the Department of Music, sponsors the annual Undergraduate Concerto Competition. The Orchestra rehearses weekly on Tuesday evenings and holds auditions at the beginning of each semester.
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