Peoria Symphony to feature Andre Watts in concert

Billed as "the concert of the season," the Peoria Symphony Orchestra will host Andre Watts, the world-renowned pianist, as he performs Beethoven at 8 p.m. Saturday in the Peoria Civic Center Theatre.

Watts will play Beethoven's Piano Concerto 5, "Emperor," as part of the concert, the symphony's penultimate concert of the 2012-2013 season.

Tickets range from $36 to $76, or $21 for students, and can be purchased by calling (309) 671-1096, online at www.peoriasymphony.org, or at the Peoria Symphony box office, 101 State St., from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. through Friday or from noon to 3 p.m. on Saturday. Tickets will be available beginning at 7 p.m. at the Civic Center Theatre box office.

A pre-concert lecture will begin at 7 p.m. and a post-concert reception will be held in the theatre lobby immediately following the show.

Watts is considered one of the world's most celebrated pianists. According to his biography he entered the music scene in 1963 at the age of 16 when Leonard Bernstein chose him to make his debut with the New York Philharmonic in one of its Young People's Concerts, which was broadcast nationwide on CBS-TV. "Two weeks later, Bernstein asked him to substitute at the last minute for an ailing Glenn Gould to perform music by Franz Liszt with the Philharmonic, thus launching Watts' career," the bio said.

Watts has made frequent television appearances, performing with the New York Philharmonic, the Boston Symphony, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra, and the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. His 1976 New York recital aired on the program Live from Lincoln Center and was the first full-length recital broadcast in the history of television. His performance at the 38th Casals Festival in Puerto Rico was nominated for an Emmy Award in the category of Outstanding Individual Achievement in Cultural Programming.

In 1988 Watts received the Avery Fisher Prize, one of the top individual honors for an American classical musician.

Watts joined the Indiana University School of Music faculty in 2004. He continues to give numerous recitals and performs with the world's major orchestras and conductors, while making regular visits to the major summer music festivals, including Ravinia, Tanglewood, Saratoga, the Mann Music Center, Mostly Mozart, and the Hollywood Bowl.

The Peoria Symphony Orchestra's final concert of the season will be May 11 at Grace Presbyterian Church. Titled "Visions of Beauty" the concert will feature soprano Kara Shay Thomson singing Mozart concert arias and with the orchestra in Mahler's Symphony No. 4.

About the Author

Paul Gordon is the editor of The Peorian after spending 29 years of indentured servitude at the Peoria Journal Star. He’s an award-winning writer, raconteur and song-and-dance man. He also went to a high school whose team name is the Alices (that’s Vincennes Lincoln High School in Indiana; you can look it up).