In honor of the
250th anniversary of
Beethoven’s birth,
The Florida Orchestra
is partnering
with Florida colleges
and universities to
co-commission five
short fanfares inspired
by Beethoven.
The works, which
premiere at the start
of select Tampa Bay
Times Masterworks concerts, reflect the enduring
influence of Beethoven and promote music as a living
art form.
The fourth one in the series is Bonn Chance by
Benjamin Whiting, visiting instructor of composition
and electronic music at the University of South
Florida in Tampa. It opens the Rachmaninoff Piano
Concerto No. 3 concert March 6-8.
THE FLORIDA ORCHESTRA | 2019-2020
From the composer:
“Bonn Chance is a piece that heralds the 250th anniversary
of Beethoven’s birth in Bonn, capital of
the Electorate of Cologne (present day Germany).
Woven between frenetic fanfares is an intricate tapestry
of deconstructed rhythmic and melodic motifs
of select works from the celebrated composer’s
oeuvre. These fragments move in and out of focus,
as if one could travel back in time and peer into
Beethoven’s mind as he was brainstorming these
musical ideas.”
This the fourth year in a row that TFO has featured
Florida composers – a passion of Music Director Michael
Francis – including an annual Student Composer
Competition, the winner of which is featured
on the final Masterworks concert of the season.
For information on all five fanfares, visit the TFO
Blog at FloridaOrchestra.org/blog.
Blessed with “poetic
and sensitive pianism”
(Washington
Post) and a “wondrous
sense of color”
(San Francisco Classical
Voice), Grammynominated
pianist
Joyce Yang captivates
audiences with
her virtuosity, lyricism,
and interpretive
sensitivity.
Yang first came to
international attention in 2005 when she won the
silver medal at the 12th Van Cliburn International
Piano Competition. The youngest contestant at 19
years old, she took home two additional awards:
Best Performance of Chamber Music (with the
Takàcs Quartet), and Best Performance of a New
Work. In 2006, Yang made her celebrated New York
Philharmonic debut alongside Lorin Maazel at Avery
Fisher Hall.
In the last decade, Yang has blossomed into an “astonishing
artist” (Neue Zürcher Zeitung), showcasing
her colorful musical personality in solo recitals
and collaborations with the world’s top orchestras
and chamber musicians through more than 1,000
debuts and re-engagements. She received the
2010 Avery Fisher Career Grant and earned her first
Grammy nomination for her recording of Franck,
Kurtág, Previn and Schumann with violinist Augustin
Hadelich.
Born in Seoul, South Korea, Yang received her first
piano lesson at the age of four. She entered the
School of Music at the Korea National University of
Arts and went on to make a number of concerto and
recital appearances in Seoul and Daejeon. In 1997,
Yang moved to the United States to begin studies at
the pre-college division of The Juilliard School with
Dr. Yoheved Kaplinsky. She graduated from Juilliard
with the special honor of receiving the school’s 2010
Arthur Rubinstein Prize, and in 2011 she won its 30th
Annual William A. Petschek Piano Recital Award.
JOYCE YANG
Piano
Florida composers show Beethoven’s influence
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/blog