Saturday, January 30, 2027 | 7:30pm
Umstattd Hall | Zimmermann Symphony Center
2331 17th St. NW
Canton, OH 44708
DESCRIPTION
Highlighting dramatic works rightfully enshrined in their popularity, music director finalist Jacob Joyce describes this concert as “exploring three different country-specific approaches to Romanticism.”
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s Ballade in A minor, Op. 33 opens the program, reflecting both his rising reputation and the influence of late-Romantic tradition in England. Commissioned at the recommendation of Edward Elgar, the work unfolds with a poetic structure, shaped in a way that feels like musical stanzas.
Featuring pianist Chaeyoung Park, Edvard Grieg’s Piano Concerto in A minor, remains one of the most recognizable and popular concertos in the repertoire. Ever the perfectionist, Grieg took 40 years and seven full revisions to be satisfied with his work, eventually completing the concerto weeks before his death in 1907. Drawing on Norwegian folk influences, the work pairs bold, declarative gestures with moments of lyric intimacy, creating a constant interplay between soloist and orchestra.
Johannes Brahms’ Symphony No. 4 closes the program with a work often seen as both a monumental culmination of the Romantic-era symphonic form as well as a bittersweet departure (as it was the last symphony the composer would write). Its final movement, a chaconne on a theme from a cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach, is one of the only symphonic movements to explore this unusual, incessant dance form. Perhaps the definitive composer of the German Romantic canon, Brahms’ work transforms earlier musical forms and German musical traditions into a profound, grandiose work.
PROGRAM
Ballade………………………………………………………………….Samuel Coleridge-Taylor
Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 16………………………………………….Edvard Grieg
Intermission
Symphony No. 4………………………………………………………………Johannes Brahms
TICKETS
$20 / $35 / $45 / $60 / $70
Includes fees. Additional $2 to mail tickets.
College Students (18+): FREE
Children 17 and under: FREE
Veterans, First Responders, Healthcare Workers, & Educators: 20% off
SNAP & Medicaid Recipients: 20% off
Groups of 10 or more: 20% off
Subscribers: additional tickets 20% off
*Must call to redeem discounted tickets
*Discounts do not apply to Economy section
Box Office: 330-452-2094
boxoffice@cantonsymphony.org
Hotel Accomodations
The Canton Symphony Orchestra is a proud partner of Embassy Suites by Hilton at the Akron-Canton Airport, who have offered CSO patrons an exclusive rate to book rooms attending our concerts from out of town. To take advantage of this special offer, please click the link below or the image above. The rate is $135/night!
7883 Freedom Ave NW, North Canton, OH 44720 | (330) 305-0500
ARTIST SPOTLIGHT
Chaeyoung Park, piano
Praised as a pianist who “does not play a single note without thought or feeling” (New York Concert Review), Chaeyoung Park has emerged as one of today’s most compelling young artists. Her repertoire spans from French Baroque works by Rameau to Beethoven sonatas and music by living composers including Unsuk Chin.
Winner of the 2022 Young Concert Artists Susan Wadsworth International Auditions, Park was also a finalist in the 2023 Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Master Competition and the 2021 Concours Musical International de Montréal. In 2019, she became the first female Korean pianist to win the Hilton Head International Piano Competition, which led to her Carnegie Hall solo debut and a performance of Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4 with the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra.
She has appeared at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, Bravo! Vail Music Festival, Tongyeong International Music Festival, Ravinia, Symphony Center’s Orchestra Hall, and in live-streamed concerts for The Gilmore Rising Stars series. This past season she performed as a concerto soloist with the Maryland Symphony, Eugene Symphony, Mobile Symphony, and Redlands Symphony, under conductors including Michael Stern, Scott Speck, and Elizabeth Schulze. Upcoming performances include concerto engagements with the Pensacola Symphony, Brevard Philharmonic, Knoxville Symphony, Carolina Philharmonic, and Kansas City Symphony, and recitals for the Steinway Societies of Western Pennsylvania and the Bay Area, Ridotto Recital Series, and Bravo! Vail. | LEARN MORE
Jacob Joyce, Conductor & Music Director Finalist
Currently serving as the Associate Conductor of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Jacob Joyce, age 33, is quickly gaining recognition as a dynamic and innovative presence on the podium. Joyce also serves as the Music Director of the Pittsburgh Youth Symphony Orchestra and previously served as the Resident Conductor of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra and the Assistant Conductor of the Fort Worth Symphony. He has made his debut with several American orchestras in past seasons, including the Detroit, St. Louis, Houston, Colorado, Kansas City, Nashville, Baltimore, and Florida symphonies. Joyce also has an active European career, conducting the London Symphony Orchestra, the NDR-Sinfonieorchester, the hr-Sinfonieorchester Frankfurt, the Orchestra Philharmonique Royal de Liège, and the Frankfurt Museumsorchester in recent seasons.
Joyce studied Orchestral Conducting with Hugh Wolff at the New England Conservatory, with additional study at Tanglewood and the Aspen Music Festival. In recognition of his work, Joyce was awarded the Robert Spano Conducting Prize at Aspen, was a semifinalist in the LSO Donatella Flick Conducting Competition and the Solti International Conducting Competition, and was awarded a Solti Career Assistance Award in 2020. Joyce graduated from Yale College in 2014, with a B.A. in Music and Economics. He is also an accomplished violinist, having performed with several orchestras across the United States, and is the host and creator of the podcast Attention to Detail: The Classical Music Listening Guide, which provides people of all backgrounds with basic techniques for listening to classical music. | LEARN MORE
Composer Spotlights