bmartin@annapolissymphony.org

www.annapolissymphony.org

ANNAPOLIS, MD -- The Annapolis Symphony Orchestra will open its 48th season at Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts with Ebb and Flow, the first program in the 2008-2009 Lexus Classic Series, featuring internationally-acclaimed Italian pianist Fabio Bidini. The opening performances will take place on Friday and Saturday, September 26-27, 2008 at 8 pm. Starting his fourth season at the artistic helm of the ASO, Music Director José-Luis Novo will conduct Respighi’s Fountains of Rome, Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in F Minor featuring pianist Fabio Bidini as the soloist, and Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 6. Tickets are $34-$44 with special $10 seats available for students ages 8-25. Flexible subscription packages are also available for the whole season of concerts by the ASO through May 2009, from $96-$217. All ticket holders are invited to participate in ASO’s educational and entertaining Bank of America Pre-Concert Lecture Series for free, featuring pianist and musicologist Dr. Rachel Franklin at 6:45 pm before every Lexus Classic Series performance.

Maryland's capital city orchestra opens its 48th season under the leadership of José-Luis Novo, who was appointed ASO's sixth Music Director in March 2005 following a two-year national search. He states, “Starting off our 48th season to sounds inspired by water could not be more appropriate for a city like Annapolis. Respighi’s beautiful tone poem Fountains of Rome is a colorful example of how music can convey the subtlest nuances in describing not only aquatic effects but also the individual personalities of each of the four Roman fountains. Following Respighi’s work, we are delighted to introduce Italian pianist Fabio Bidini whose phenomenal talent will be put to the test in Chopin’s lyrical Second Piano Concerto. To complete an evening of unforgettable music we have chosen Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 6, and as I recall the great impact of our opening concerts two years ago when we performed the tenth symphony by the same composer, I know our ASO audience will be ignited by the rousing energy of the last movement of this lesser known symphony by the Russian master. This program will feature the ASO in top form and full of musical resources for a season that is going to demand—and we hope deliver—the best.” One of Spain’s most promising young conductors, José-Luis Novo also holds the position of Music Director and Conductor of the Binghamton Philharmonic. Prior to his appointments with the Annapolis and Binghamton orchestras, Mr. Novo held the positions of Assistant Conductor of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Music Director Emeritus Jesús López-Cobos, the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, Music Director of the Cincinnati Symphony Youth Orchestra, the Oxford (Ohio) Chamber Orchestra, and the Miami University Symphony Orchestra, Associate Conductor of the National Repertory Orchestra, Assistant Conductor of the National Youth Orchestra of Spain and of the Yale Symphony Orchestra. Since 1999, he has been a member of the conducting faculty at the Eastern Music Festival in Greensboro, North Carolina.

Fabio Bidini is one of the top-flight younger-generation pianists. At the age of five he was given his first piano lessons and just a half year later he played his first public concert. In the following years he won eleven of the most important Italian piano competitions. After winning top prizes in the most famous international piano competitions like Busoni, London, Pretoria and Köln, his sensational success at the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition opened the door to a constantly growing international career. Fabio Bidini now is recognized as the foremost young pianist to have emerged from Italy since the days of Michelangeli.

His outstanding piano playing that combines technical wizardry with poetic lyricism and his fascinating culture of the attack of the keyboard brought him to have a glowing London debut in the Barbican Center with the London Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Michael Tilson Thomas in 1992. Shortly after, he had his highly acclaimed North American debut with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra under Joel Levi.

Since then Fabio Bidini has been a frequent guest of the best orchestras worldwide (San Francisco Symphony, Dallas Symphony, Budapest Festival Orchestra, The Philharmonia Orchestra of London, BBC Orchestra Wales) playing in the world’s most famous halls (Carnegie Hall, Royal Festival Hall, Davies Hall, Rudolfinum, Auditorio Nacionál-Madrid, among others).

Fabio Bidini is also greatly in demand as a chamber music partner. He enjoyed artistic collaboration with the American String Quartet, the Janacek Quartet, the Brodsky Quartet, Eva Urbanova, Zoltan Kocsis, Dmitri Ashkenazy, Paula Robinson, Corey Cerovsek, Wendy Warner and Sabrina-Vivian Höpcker. With the latter he is forming a stable duo. With the publication of their fantastic debut CD of sonatas of Prokofiev and Richard Strauss in hand they laid the foundations for an extensive collaboration with True Sounds.

Single tickets to the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra Lexus Classic Series are $34-$44 for adults, and $10 for students ages 8 to 25, on sale August 22, 2008. Subscription packages are available immediately for the 2008-2009 season of concerts, including the Lexus Classic Series, Pops Series, and Family Concerts, with prices from $96 for three concerts up to full seven-concert packages from $217. FlexPass packages are also available, allowing music lovers to purchase three or four concerts at a discount but enjoying the flexibility to choose and attend concerts when it fits their schedule. For tickets, subscriptions, or further information, call the ASO Box Office at 410-263-0907 or visit and order online at www.annapolissymphony.org.

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Photos of José-Luis Novo and Fabio Bidini are available upon request.