17-year-old Ilyich Rivas Makes Conducting Debut with Baltimore Symphony, Oct. 14-16

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Prodigy Markus Groh performs Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 2

The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra performs Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 2 and Shostakovich’s First Symphony on Thursday, October 14, 2010 at 8 p.m. and Friday, October 15, 2010 at 8 p.m. at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall and Saturday, October 16, 2010 at 8 p.m. at the Music Center at Strathmore. Continuing this season’s focus on youth, 17-year-old BSO-Peabody Bruno Walter Assistant Conductor Ilyich Rivas makes his subscription concert debut with Shostakovich’s First Symphony, written when the composer was only 18. Joining Rivas is young German pianist Markus Groh, performing Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 2. The program also includes Brahms’ collegiately inspired Academic Festival Overture and Mahler’s Blumine in celebration of this season’s other theme: the life and music of Gustav Mahler.

BSO-Peabody Bruno Walter Assistant Conductor Ilyich Rivas makes his subscription concert debut conducting this ambitious program. Born in Venezuela in 1993 into a distinguished musical family, Mr. Rivas’ talent was evident at a young age. In 2009, he was selected to participate in the Cabrillo Festival Conductors Workshop in California, where he made a significant impression on both Marin Alsop and Gustav Meier. After an audition in front of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, he was awarded the position of BSO-Peabody Conducting Fellowship starting in September 2009. This two-year position permits him to study conducting at the Peabody Institute under Meier's guidance, and to work closely with Marin Alsop and the BSO.

The young pianist Markus Groh will perform Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 2 with the BSO. Groh’s repertoire includes all of Beethoven’s piano concertos that according to The Florida Times-Union, are “a perfect showcase for the German pianist's elegant but controlled power” and “effortless” technique. At just 22 years old, Beethoven brought the beginnings of his Piano Concerto No. 2 to Vienna in 1792 when he studied under Haydn. The Viennese aristocracy received Beethoven as the most popular pianist in Vienna and Mozart’s heir. Beethoven, while reminiscent of Mozart, displayed a new proto-Romantic style to break free of direct comparison to his predecessor.

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