UMS Concert Program, July 21, 1985: Ann Arbor Summer '85 Festival -- World Youth Orchestra

Power Center For The Performing Arts Ann Arbor, Michigan

inn (ummer
Arbor
THE UNIVERSITY MUSICAL SOCIETY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
presents
World Youth Orchestra
National Music Camp, Interlochen, Michigan
HENRY CHARLES SMITH Music Director and Conductor
JOSE FEGHALI, Pianist
Sunday Evening, July 21, 1985, at 8:00
Power Center for the Performing Arts
Ann Arbor, Michigan
PROGRAM
Overture to Dichter und Bauer (Poet and Peasant)..............Franz von Suppe'
Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor, Op. 37................Ludwig van Beethoven
Allegro Largo Allegro
Jose' Feghali, Pianist
INTERMISSION
Symphony No. 4 in E minor. Op. 98.........................Johannes Brahms
Allegro ma non troppo Andante moderato Allegro giocoso Allegro energico e passionato
This program is made possible in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.
The World Youth Orchestra from the National Music Camp at Interlochen, Michigan, is aptly named: it consists of 130 young men and women selected from all over America and more than 20 foreign countries. Eighteen years of age or younger, they are selected to participate in the eightweek schedule of concerts during the summer at Interlochen. Since 1962 students from 41 countries have participated in this program. During these years they have played under guest conductors Maxim Shostakovich, Gunther Schuller, Paul Freeman, and A. Clyde Roller.
Henry Charles Smith, himself an alumnus of the National Music Camp, has been music direc?tor of the World Youth Orchestra for the past five years. He also holds two posts in Minnesota: music director of the Bach Society of Minnesota and resident conductor of the Minnesota Orchestra, with which he has conducted over 700 concerts. For 12 years Mr. Smith was solo trombonist with The Philadelphia Orchestra, and he has served on the faculties of the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia and Indiana University at Bloomington, Indiana.
Jose' Feghali possesses the gold medal of the 1985 Van Cliburn International Piano Competi?tion held recently in Fort Worth, Texas. Born in Rio de Janeiro and now living in London, the 24yearold Brazilian made his first public appearance at the age of five. He has given recitals in
Rio de Janeiro and London and has performed as soloist with the City of Birmingham Sym?phony and the Brazilian Symphony. Mr. Feghali studied at London's Royal Academy of Music, and his teachers include Christopher Elton and Maria Curcio. Prior to the Cliburn Competition, he was a winner of the Young Concert Artist Competition in London in 1984. As gold medalist of the 1985 Cliburn Competi?tion, Mr. Feghali will receive a debut recital in Carnegie Hall, concert tours in North America and Europe for the next thirty months, a recording contract, and a cash award of $12,000. In addition to the gold medal, Mr. Feghali shared the award for Best Performance of Chamber Music with Australian Kathryn Selby, for which they each received $1,000 for the best performance of a piano quintet by a semifinalist.
Jose Feghali's appearance this evening completes performances by the top winners of the Van Cliburn Competition in Ann Arbor's Summer Festival. Philippe Bianconi, silver medalist, and Barry Douglas, bronze medalist, gave recitals on July 2 and 9.
The Van Cliburn International Piano Competition was established to launch the careers of outstandingly gifted young pianists. Named after the Texas pianist who, in 1958, won a famous victory in the Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition in Moscow, the first competition was held in Fort Worth in 1962, and further competitions took place in 1966, 1969, 1973, 1977, and 1981. Mr. Cliburn continues to play a very active role in this quadrennial event, considered to be one of the five most important piano competitions in the world.
The first round of the 1985 Competition began May 18 with 36 competitors from around the world, chosen from videotaped auditions in which the contestants performed two halfhour pro?grams. Twelve semifinalists were selected May 22. Each semifinalist then performed a onehour solo recital and a piano quintet with the Tokyo String Quartet, and from this phase of the competi?tion six finalists were named on Tuesday, May 28. The six finalists each performed two concertos with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Stanislaw Skrowaczewski, and from these were announced the three winners on Sunday, June 2. The awards ceremony was hosted by F. Murray Abraham, a native of El Paso and the recent recipient of the Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of composer Antonio Salieri in the film Amadeus. After the announcement of the prizes, each of the medalists played a movement from the piano concerto he had played in the final phase of the competition. A television special about the Seventh Annual Van Cliburn Piano Competition, which included portions of the awards ceremony, was broadcast costtocoast during the following week on the PBS network.