Honens and CPO present North American premiere of Mendelssohn's Third Piano Concerto

Honens International Piano Competition and the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra present North American Premiere of Mendelssohn’Äôs Third Piano Concerto

CALGARY, AB January 30, 2009 ’Äì Honens International Piano Competition and the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra celebrate Mendelssohn’Äôs 200^th birthday with the North American premiere of his Piano Concerto No. 3 in E minor. The concert takes place on Monday, May 11, 2009 at 7:30 p.m. at Jack Singer Concert Hall, EPCOR Centre for the Performing Arts (205 Eighth Avenue SE).

Left unfinished at the prolific composer’Äôs death in 1847, the score was completed and reconstructed by composer/conductor Marcello Bufalini for exclusive performance by Italian pianist Roberto Prosseda. Prosseda came across the incomplete manuscript at the Bodleian Library in Oxford in 2006 and urged Bufalini, a respected Mendelssohn scholar, to bring his considerable knowledge of the composer’Äôs style to the task of assembling a reconstruction from the sketches. The process involved deciphering the manuscript which consisted of the solo piano part and the piano sketch of the orchestra score; completing the orchestration, and writing the Finale based upon the autograph melodic sketches.

Julian Kuerti conducts the all-Mendelssohn program, which also includes the Hebrides Overture Op. 26 (Fingal’Äôs Cave) and Sinfonia for String Orchestra No. 10 in B minor. Roberto Prosseda will be joined by his wife Alessandra Maria Ammara (2000 Honens Laureate) to perform the Concerto for Two Pianos in E major.

Tickets are $28 to $85 and are available by calling (403) 571-0849 or online at cpo-live.com. For more information visit honens.com or cpo-live.com.

Honens Concerts Presenting Sponsor: TD Waterhouse

Calgary Philharmonic Season Sponsors: Calgary Herald and Nexen Inc.

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About Honens

Honens, Canada’Äôs leading presenter of music for piano, produces more than 100 concerts and events across Canada and internationally each year. The triennial Honens International Piano Competition, founded in 1992, is ranked among the world’Äôs greatest music competitions. It is unique in its mission to find the ’Äúcomplete artist’Äù ’Äì one who possesses technical mastery as well as expressiveness in a wide range of musical forms and style, and whose music-making possesses imagination, innovation and relevance in today’Äôs world. The sixth Honens Competition takes place in Calgary from October 22 to November 6, 2009.

About the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra

The Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra (CPO) was formed in 1955 through the amalgamation of the Calgary Symphony and the Alberta Philharmonic. Today the CPO is one of North America’Äôs finest and most versatile orchestras presenting world leading artists and a wonderful range of genres. The CPO’Äôs innovative style excites, entertains and inspires music lovers of all ages.