In honor of its 15th anniversary, the Midwest Philharmonic Orchestra decided to turn its annual spring concert into a special celebration with a guest soloist.
“It’s kind of rare that we would invite a guest like Nick (Huang) to play with us,” said Matthew Nowlan, marketing director of the Midwest Philharmonic Orchestra.
“This is one of the first times we’ve had a concert like this.”
Midwest Philharmonic Orchestra will perform its spring concert at 5 p.m. May 22 at the Hemmens Cultural Center in Elgin. Masks are required for all audience members.
“This concert is kind of like a celebration of MPO history so far. In just 15 years of operation, we’ve toured internationally in Europe, and we’ve performed on stage at Symphony Center in Chicago and Carnegie Hall in New York,” Nowlan said. “We’ve also received the American Prize for Orchestral Performance in 2019. So we’re kind of looking back on all these accomplishments that we’ve made so far.”
To mark the occasion, the orchestra will welcome back alum Nicholas Huang to perform Sergei Rachmaninoff’s “Piano Concerto No. 2? with the orchestra.
Huang has appeared in venues including the Pritzker Concert Hall in Chicago and New York’s Lincoln Center. A current undergraduate at Brown University, Huang is pursuing a double degree in biology and music. He is involved in many organizations and also performs as both a pianist and cellist in Brown’s chamber music and orchestra programs.
In addition to playing music, Huang is a composer. He studied under the late Dr. Bruce Berr and the Pulitzer-winning composer Eric Nathan. His compositions have been commissioned and performed by many preeminent musicians across the Eastern Seaboard. Huang plans to become a physician and explore the many interconnections between the arts and the sciences.
“We thought what better way to celebrate this occasion than to feature an amazingly talented musician on stage with the MPO,” Nowlan said. “He himself has a deep personal connection with the program. It’s great that we can welcome him back on stage. We’re really excited to have him back with us.”
Huang, who left the orchestra in 2019, now lives in Rhode Island while attending Brown. The Midwest Philharmonic was originally going to ask a local pianist to be the guest soloist but found it more meaningful to ask alum Huang, Nowlan said.
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“We thought it would be a really good opportunity to show the audience what kind of program that we have and what kind of musicians we grow,” he said. “I think Nick is a great example of that.”
In addition, the orchestra will perform Johannes Brahms’ “Symphony No. 2.”
“That’s one of the pieces that we’ve wanted to play for many years now,” Nowlan said. “Because the piece is really challenging, especially for the strings, because of everything we haven’t really been able to, but this year we have really talented students in our orchestra that have committed to playing that piece. So we said, ‘why not? Let’s add it to our celebration.’ The students have been working really hard on the piece. I’m definitely looking forward to that as well.”
The Midwest Philharmonic Orchestra is a symphony orchestra for advanced string, wind and percussion students. Ensembles of the orchestra include the Midwest String Orchestra, a preparatory orchestra for beginner and intermediate string students, and Core Members of the Midwest Philharmonic Orchestra, which is comprised of the most advanced students.
The concert is about an hour and a half, with an intermission. Nowlan said it would be good for children to attend.
“It would be great for them to see other students performing, especially such high level pieces like that,” he said. “I think it would be inspiring.”
The Midwest String Orchestra will perform Mark O’Connor’s “Appalachia Waltz” and Antonio Vivaldi’s “L’estro Armonico No. 3.”
“That piece actually features a solo violin,” Nowlan said. “One of our students will actually be playing that part.”
Core Members will perform Edward Elgar’s “Introduction and Allegro.”
“Which is a quite unique piece actually. It’s a string only piece, but it’s divided up into two sections,” Nowlan said. “There’s a quartet — two violins, viola and a cello in the middle, and they’re playing a solo — and around them we have a string orchestra … so that will be quite exciting. They’re sounding amazing right now.”
While this is the final concert of the season, Nowlan said there are a lot of exciting plans for next season. The orchestra will welcome cellist Brian Hoffman as its new executive director, and current Strings Advisor Eun Kim will become director of the Midwest String Orchestra.
“We’re looking forward to another 15 years of offering affordable, high-quality music education for as many students as possible in the Chicagoland suburbs, and to continue touring the world to share what we do here at MPO,” Nowlan said.
Midwest Philharmonic Orchestra Spring Concert
When: 5 p.m. May 22
Where: The Hemmens Cultural Center, 45 Symphony Way, Elgin
Tickets: $20-22 adult, $13-15 students and seniors, $5-7 children age 7 and younger
Information: 847-312-3690; midphil.org
Kathy Cichon is a freelance reporter for the Courier-News.