Tehachapi Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Music Director David Newby performed Sunday with featured guest Steinway Piano Artist Dmitry Rachmanov.
Rachmanov performed Sergei Rachmaninoff’s three-movement masterpiece, “Piano Concerto No.1. in F-sharp Minor, Opus 18.” Rachmaninoff composed Piano Concerto No. 1 in 1891 while still in his teens and living in Russia.
Rachmaninoff, upon being asked about the thought process that went into his first piano concerto, said, “I am a Russian composer, and the land of my birth has inevitably influenced my temperamental outlook.”
Rachmanov gave a stunning performance of Rachmaninoff’s work on a nine-foot Steinway Piano. As a Steinway Artist, wherever Rachmanov performs, it will be on a Steinway piano. This nine-foot concert grand piano was delivered from the Steinway Co. in Los Angeles to the concert site at Country Oaks Baptist Church days earlier to acclimate to the climate before being played for the afternoon concert.
“The nine-foot length of this Steinway makes it truly a concert grand piano. Nine-foot instruments have a richness and depth unsurpassed for large concert hall performances,” Rachmanov said.
The orchestra performed their afternoon opening selection, George Whitefield Chadwick’s “Sinfonietta in D Major.”
The next Tehachapi Symphony Orchestra concert is scheduled for May 18. It’s a special moment for audience members as they will hear a concerto, selected and then performed by a future Young Artist Competition winner.
In addition the afternoon concert will feature “Ethel Smyth’s Overture To The Wreckers.” That afternoon performance will end with “Johannes Brahms Symphony No. 4 in E Minor.”
All concerts are free and take place at the Country Oaks Baptist Church on 20915 Schout Road, Tehachapi. Individual donations large and small keep the orchestra performing its public concerts each year and keep admission free.
This afternoon saw a much-appreciated $1,000 donation to the orchestra from the Bear Valley Springs Cultural Arts Association. Business and corporate sponsors are always appreciated. Contact tehachapiorchestra.com for details.