'Ode to Joy' closes Lied's 25th season, Beethoven Festival

The Lied Center's resident orchestra and top choirs from across Nebraska will cap a spectacular season of classical music at the Lied Center for Performing Arts with Beethoven's Ninth Symphony.

Pianist Jon Nakamatsu also will join Lincoln's Symphony Orchestra to perform Beethoven's beloved "Emperor Concerto" in a concert at 7:30 p.m. April 25. Tickets are extremely limited. To inquire about availability, visit the Lied Center box office at 12th and R streets, or call 402-472-4747.

"To me, it seems so appropriate to celebrate the 25th anniversary of our Lied Center with two of Beethoven's greatest pieces of music: his last piano concerto, the 'Emperor,' and his last symphony, the 'Choral,' Symphony No. 9," said Edward Polochick, LSO's music director.

The "Ode to Joy" Beethoven Masterworks concert marks the eighth and final performance of the Lied Center's Beethoven Festival, a campuswide celebration of the legendary composer, in partnership with the Hixson-Lied College of Fine and Performing Arts and Lincoln's Symphony Orchestra. Beethoven's works were featured throughout the season's classical music concerts, which included performances by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Joshua Bell and premier pianist Jonathan Biss.

The concert also will highlight Nakamatsu, who came to international attention in 1997 when he was named Gold Medalist of the 10th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, the only American to achieve this distinction since 1981.

"Jon is a rare pianist who can play anything and one actually wants to hear him play everything because he has such a high level of talent and taste," said Ann Chang, artistic director of the Lied Center. "His impeccable artistry has kept him at the top of the list of highly desired pianists, long after he won the Van Cliburn competition."

Writer: Carrie Christensen, Lied Center for Performing Arts