Thrill to award-winning movie music during The Ultimate Oscars with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra in the final concert of the 2015-2016 Scottish Rite Cathedral Series season on Saturday, April 9 at 8 p.m.
Assistant Conductor Andrés Franco will lead the orchestra in a celebration of 50 years of Oscar-winning scores. From John Williams to John Barry, audiences will enjoy unforgettable music from films like “Lord of the Rings,” “Schindler’s List,” “The Godfather,” “Star Wars” and more!
Please note that film clips are not included in this performance.
The concert begins at 8 p.m. on Saturday, April 9. Tickets to The Ultimate Oscars are on sale now and range from $16 to $59. The Scottish Rite Cathedral Series concerts feature a buy-one-adult-ticket, get-one-child-ticket-free offer (phone or in person orders only), making them an affordable evening for the whole family. Tickets are available at the Heinz Hall box office, online at pittsburghsymphony.org/src or by phone at 412-392-4900.
The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra portable box office will be at the Scottish Rite Cathedral on Thursday, March 31. Anyone who buys a ticket from the portable box office will receive 20% off and will be eligible for the buy-one-get-one offer. Subscriptions to the 2016-2017 season of the Scottish Rite Cathedral Series will be sold on March 31 and April 9 for those who wish to renew or purchase in person.
The Scottish Rite Cathedral will offer a pre-concert buffet dinner before each Pittsburgh Symphony concert from 6 to 7 p.m. The cost is $22 per person and reservations are required. Call 724-654-6683 (choose option 3 then option 2) or email info@cathedralnewcastle.com for reservations or more information.
Radio station WQED-FM 89.3 and WQEJ-FM 89.7 is the official voice of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra.
About the Artists
Recently named music director of Tulsa’s Signature Symphony at TCC and assistant conductor of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, ANDRÉS FRANCO has established himself as a conductor to watch. Currently in his fifth season as principal conductor of the multimedia project Caminos del Inka and his third season as artistic director of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra’s Summer Festival, “Concerts in the Garden,” he received a rave review for his recent subscription debut with that orchestra from Scott Cantrell in the Dallas Morning News: “Mr. Franco got a degree of finesse and expressive sophistication I’d never heard from the orchestra.”
A frequent guest conductor in the U.S., Europe and South America, Franco has appeared with the Elgin, El Paso, Eugene, Lake Forest, Mississippi, Springfield and Stockton symphony orchestras, the Orquesta Sinfónica de Castilla y León/Spain and the National Symphony Orchestra of Peru, as well as with the National Symphony, Bogota Philharmonic, Medellin Philharmonic and EAFIT Symphony Orchestra in Colombia. Festival appearances include the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, the Oregon Bach Festival and the Wintergreen Music Festival in Virginia. Franco formerly served as music director of the Philharmonia of Kansas City (2004-2010), associate and resident conductor of the Fort Worth Symphony (2009-2014), and Leonard Slatkin’s assistant conductor during the 14th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition (2013).
A native of Colombia, Franco is dedicated to preserving and performing the music of the Americas. As principal conductor of Caminos del Inka, he has led many performances of Latin American music by composers of our time, such as Jimmy López, Diego Luzuriaga and the popular Argentine composer Astor Piazzolla.
Born into a musical family, Franco began piano studies with his father, Jorge Franco. An accomplished pianist, he studied with Van Cliburn Gold Medalist Jose Feghali and attended piano workshops with Rudolph Buchbinder in Switzerland and Lev Naumov in France. He studied conducting with Marin Alsop, Miguel Harth-Bedoya, Kurt Masur, Gustav Meier, Helmut Rilling, Gerard Schwarz and Leonard Slatkin.
Franco holds a bachelor’s degree in piano performance from the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana in Bogotá, Colombia, as well as Master of Music degrees in piano performance and conducting from Texas Christian University.
Franco is married to Victoria Luperi, principal clarinetist in the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra.
MARK HUGGINS was named associate concertmaster of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra in 1987. He is a frequent soloist in the Pittsburgh Symphony’s BNY Mellon Grand Classics, PNC Pops and education concerts. In addition, he is actively involved in the Orchestra’s Community Outreach program, performing chamber music concerts in outlying communities. Before coming to Pittsburgh, he was a member of the Cologne Radio Symphony Orchestra from 1981 to 1987 and was active as a soloist and in chamber music throughout Europe and in Japan. He frequently toured Europe with the Chamber Music group Ensemble Klassik. From 1979 to 1981, he taught violin at the Conservatoire de Musique de Genève and performed with the Trio de Genève in Switzerland and France. In 1981, he made his recital debut in London’s Wigmore Hall.
In the United States, he has participated in the Aspen Music Festival, Music Academy of the West, Cleveland Chamber Music Seminar and the Marlboro Music Festival. A native of Palo Alto, California, Huggins began his violin studies at age 7 with Jenny Rudin, and made his first public performance there at age 10. He studied further with Zvi Zeitlin, Dorothy Delay and Donald Weilerstein. He graduated from the Eastman School of Music with a performer’s certificate. While a student at Eastman, he won the Concerto Competition.
In Pittsburgh, he has been a member of the Carnegie Mellon Trio with Harry Franklin and Anne Martindale Williams, and has taught violin as a member of the Duquesne University faculty. Currently, he teaches privately.
The PITTSBURGH SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA, celebrating its 120th anniversary during the 2015-2016 season, is credited with a rich history of the world’s finest conductors and musicians, and a strong commitment to the Pittsburgh region and its citizens. Past music directors have included Fritz Reiner (1938-1948), William Steinberg (1952-1976), Andre Previn (1976-1984), Lorin Maazel (1984-1996) and Mariss Jansons (1995-2004). This tradition of outstanding international music directors was furthered in fall 2008, when Austrian conductor Manfred Honeck became music director of the Pittsburgh Symphony. The orchestra has been at the forefront of championing new American works, and gave the first performance of Leonard Bernstein’s Symphony No. 1 “Jeremiah” in 1944 and John Adams’ Short Ride in a Fast Machine in 1986. The Pittsburgh Symphony has a long and illustrious history in the areas of recordings and radio concerts. As early as 1936, the Pittsburgh Symphony broadcast on the airwaves coast-to-coast and in the late 1970s it made the ground breaking PBS series “Previn and the Pittsburgh.” The orchestra has received increased national attention since 1982 through network radio broadcasts on Public Radio International, produced by Classical WQED-FM 89.3, made possible by the musicians of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. With a long and distinguished history of touring both domestically and overseas since 1900—including 36 international tours to Europe, the Far East and South America—the Pittsburgh Symphony continues to be critically acclaimed as one of the world’s greatest orchestras.
Editors please note:
Saturday, April 9, 8 p.m.
Scottish Rite Cathedral, New Castle
PITTSBURGH SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA: THE ULTIMATE OSCARS
ANDRÉS FRANCO, conductor
MARK HUGGINS, violin
Alfred Newman (arranged Jovic):
20th Century Fox Fanfare
Jeff Tyzik:
The Big Movie Suite
Nino Rota:
Waltz from The Godfather
Richard Rodgers:
Selections from Oklahoma
John Williams:
“Adventures on Earth” from E. T. (The Extra-Terrestrial)
Vangelis (arranged Raine):
Theme from Chariots of Fire
John Barry (orchestrated Raine):
Theme from Out of Africa
John Williams:
Theme from Schindler’s List
Mr. Huggins
Howard Shore (arranged Whitney):
“The Fellowship of the Ring” Symphonic Suite from The Lord of the Rings
James Horner (edited Redford):
Suite from Titanic
John Williams:
“Main Title” from Star Wars