Rising Young Piano Superstar George Li Performs Grieg
Conductor and music director Michael Stern and the Kansas City Symphony welcomes young Chinese American piano virtuoso George Li for a stirring program of Michael Kurth, Grieg and Beethoven. Kurth's witty and imaginative 'A Thousand Words' kicks off the evening with its commencing aural painting of a slow, shimmering sunrise, complex Latin-tinged rhythmic patterns and joyful lyricism.
Avery Fisher Career Grant winner Li will then join proceedings for Grieg's Piano Concerto, displaying his dynamic key touch, dazzling intuition, advanced emotional depth and polished pianism during its firework-like melodic passages and anthemic outer movements. The evening concludes with Beethoven's instantly recognisable Seventh Symphony, a towering four-movement work filled with rich orchestral color and gravitas that climaxes in an unrestrained and frenzied outburst of joy. It may be familiar thanks to its generous use in film and TV, particularly as part of the soundtrack to Colin Firth-led feature film The King's Speech.
