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Image courtesy of JoAnn Falletta<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n The Long Beach Symphony will conclude its 2016-17 Classical concert season on June 10 at 8:00PM at the Terrace Theater of the Long Beach Performing Arts Center with a homecoming performance by JoAnn Falletta, who served as the symphony\u2019s music director from 1989-2000.<\/p>\n Falletta sold out the Long Beach Performing Arts Center and heralded in an era of premiers, commissions and a celebration of living composers, according to the symphony. Her Saturday concert with Long Beach Symphony will be the first time she has led the orchestra since she left as music director in 2000. <\/p>\n Falletta will open with four movements from Shostakovich\u2019s The Gadfly Suite, arranged for the 1955 Soviet film The Gadfly and based on the novel of the same name by Ethel Lilian Voynich, featuring a violin solo to be delivered by the Symphony\u2019s Concertmaster, Roger Wilkie. Maestra Falletta will follow with her own compilation of Prokofiev\u2019s Suites 1-3 from Cinderella. <\/p>\n After intermission, she will be joined by guest pianist, George Li, a 21-year-old prodigy whose technique, distinctive tonal quality and exceptional musicality have earned him a Silver Medal at the 2015 International Tchaikovsky Competition and consistent critical acclaim, according to the symphony. Together, they will close the Symphony\u2019s season with Tchaikovsky\u2019s majestic Piano Concert No. 1 in B-flat minor.<\/p>\n As music director of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and the Virginia Symphony Orchestra, Falletta was described by The New York Times as \u201cone of the finest conductors of her generation.\u201d She has guest conducted over 100 orchestras in North America, and many of the most prominent orchestras in Europe, Asia, South America and Africa, according to the symphony.<\/p>\n Not to mention, Falletta is the recipient of 12 ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers) awards, has introduced over 500 works by American composers, including more than 110 world premieres. <\/p>\n \u201cLong Beach Symphony was the first regional orchestra to appoint a woman as its music director in 1989, and we are honored to welcome her back to lead our season finale,\u201d Kelly Lucera, the symphony\u2019s executive director, said in a statement.<\/p>\n A pre-concert talk by Maestra Falletta and music in the lobby by the Poly High School String Quartet \u2013 part of a longstanding program offering Long Beach students the ability to perform before Long Beach Symphony concerts, will take place at 7:00PM.<\/p>\n The symphony\u2019s 2017-18 Classical concert series will begin October 7 when Maestro Eckart Preu, the new music director, will take the podium, marking the beginning of a new era of orchestral music in Long Beach.<\/p>\n RELATED<\/small> <\/p>\n
\n\n\u00a0<\/div>\nFirst Long Beach Symphony Season Announced Under New Music Director<\/a><\/h2>\n<\/p><\/div>\n