WASHINGTON, IL - The Heartland Festival Orchestra is back in a huge way. Its April 17 concert at Five Points Washington, 'The Emperor & The Italian' was one of the best live concerts it has ever performed, featuring well known classical pieces, expertly played, and an incredible soloist.
The soloist, pianist Christopher Taylor, played Beethoven's Emperor concerto from memory, without sheet music on the piano. He was a brilliant soloist, playing one of the most exciting classical pieces ever written. The standing ovation he received was well deserved.
The program included Mendelssohn's Italian Symphony, also an exciting and well known piece, and Rossini's Italian Girl Overture, equally well known and brilliant.
The orchestra was masked, but that didn't stop them from playing with great expertise. It was wonderful to hear the great sound of a live orchestra, after months of music on screens.
I attended the dress rehearsal for the March 20 Baroque concert, but it's in a far second place to an evening event, polished.
The COVID-19 pandemic thinned the audience, and to compensate there was no traditional program, and no after-concert refreshments. The orchestra, like all arts groups, has suffered financially, said Gary James, who chairs the board of directors of the not-for-profit organization. But that has not affected its artistry, which remains fabulous.
-- Elaine Hopkins
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