Opening night honors go to Philharmonic Society volunteers

Young Chang

Tonight will be as much the audience’s night as it will be Russian

pianist Evgeny Kissin’s.

On stage, the 28-year-old former child prodigy will kick off the

2000-2001 Philharmonic Society season with pieces by Beethoven, Schumann

and Brahms at the Orange County Performing Arts Center.

In the audience, about 1,200 volunteers who have helped present the

Philharmonic Society’s music education programs throughout the year will

feel somewhat like proud parents. The concert is a salute to their

volunteer efforts, which serve about 250,000 children with 14 programs.

Leaders of the society had tried to book Kissin for three years. Known

to play as many 16 encores and more than 35 curtain calls, his career

went international at age 12 when he performed with the Moscow State

Philharmonic.

Dean Corey, executive director of the society, said Kissin may be the

greatest living romantic pianist today.

His repertoire includes Beethoven’s “Piano Sonata No. 17 in D minor,”

Schumann’s “Carnaval,” and the “Piano Sonata No. 3 in F minor” by Brahms.

“We try to bring in the outstanding artists of the world,” Corey said.

“We’re very fortunate to have him.”

Lora Hanel, president of the society’s 29 volunteer committees, feels

similarly about the docents being honored.

“They have given up a lot of their time and effort. As a volunteer,

you don’t have to do that,” she said. “A volunteer is a very special

person.”

Their work has yielded music education programs offered at more than

400 public and private schools throughout Orange County, youth concerts

at the Orange County Performing Arts Center and the Irvine Barclay

Theatre and programs organized with the Newport Arts Museum combining

arts and music.

Major fund-raisers throughout the year support the youth programs,

including transportation costs to bus children to cultural venues or to

bring programs to schools.

Volunteers last year raised around $400,000, which is about average,

Hanel said.

“They have proven that [the arts] are a major part of a child’s life,”

she said. “Music and math are very related. Children exposed to music do

better in their scholastics.”

This season’s Philharmonic Society highlights include the seven-week

Eclectic Orange Festival on Oct. 13, with performances of all types of

music, theater and dance by more than 60 international artists and

ensembles; an appearance by mezzo soprano Cecilia Bartoli on Feb. 26,

which Corey predicts will be the season’s most popular concert; and a

finale performance by the National Orchestra of Spain in the spring.

FYI

WHAT: Russian pianist Evgeny Kissin opens the Philharmonic Society of

Orange County’s 2000-2001 season

WHEN: 8 p.m. today

WHERE: Orange County Performing Arts Center, 600 Town Center Drive,

Costa Mesa

COST: $20-$45CALL: (949) 553-2422