The Northwest Indiana Symphony Orchestra plans to serve up a Feb. 12 concert that is packed with bravado.
“Bing Bang Boom!” launches Valentine’s Day weekend with the help of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s soaring “1812 Overture.”
The Auditorium at Bethel Church in Crown Point will host the symphonic evening, which will feature guest pianist Wael Farouk, who has taken his talents on international touring that landed him in destinations that include England, Russia, Japan, Colombia and Italy.
At his 7:30 p.m. Crown Point appearance, Farouk — born in Cairo, Egypt — will perform Sergei Prokofiev’s adventuresome “Piano Concerto No. 1.”
The pianist noted that Prokofiev was a self-assured Russian composer.
“He was a very prominent young student,” Farouk said. “He knew how talented he was.”
Prokofiev debuted “Piano Concerto No. 1” in 1912 while studying at a St. Petersburg conservatory.
“It has majesty,” Farouk said of the piece. “It has very poetic moments. It is not easy to play.”
Still, Farouk said Prokofiev knew how to write for the keyboard: “He wrote five piano concertos.”
The imposing aura of Prokofiev will add to the bold nature of a concert being presented in a church auditorium that is more intimate than the 3,400-seat Star Plaza Theatre, where the Northwest Indiana Symphony Orchestra also performs.
A highlight of the Feb. 12 concert will be the grand sweep of Tchaikovsky’s “1812 Overture,” which — according to program notes from the orchestra — has a lengthy official title: “The Year 1812, a Festival Overture to Mark the Consecration of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior.” The cathedral was in Moscow.
“I did ‘1812’ in my very first concert at the Star Plaza, and we actually shook dust out of the rafters by the time we were finished,” Kirk Muspratt, the orchestra’s conductor and music director, said in a news release. “We all looked up, and we could see the little haze of dust coming down through the stage lights — really fun and mind blowing!”
The Northwest Indiana Symphony Chorus will contribute to the full-bodied presentation of the Tchaikovsky work.
“We’ll have the full chorus with ‘1812’ — something that is not always done, but the way that Tchaikovsky certainly wrote it,” Muspratt said.
As for Prokofiev’s concerto, its composer felt it ranked as his first fully mature work, according to information from the Northwest Indiana Symphony Orchestra.
Giving “Piano Concerto No. 1” his own distinct interpretation will be Farouk, who has appeared as a soloist with orchestras that include the Saint-Etienne National Orchestra, the North Czech Philharmonic Orchestra and the Manhattan Symphony.
Despite his success, Farouk thinks there are more musical directions in the piano to experience.
“There is a great deal to explore,” said the 34-year-old Farouk, a Chicago resident who is on the faculty of the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University. Farouk noted that Prokofiev, who died in 1953, had a Windy City connection: “He lived in Chicago for a while.”
Tchaikovsky, another famous Russian composer, will be well represented at the Feb. 12 concert. The orchestra will perform the composer’s “Pathetique” symphony, which Muspratt said is his favorite Tchaikovsky piece.
The orchestra’s performance will be preceded by a 6:15 p.m. pre-concert lecture by Muspratt that will center on the evening’s concert. Ticket holders can attend the lecture.
Bob Kostanczuk is a freelance writer.
‘Bing Bang Boom!’
Where: The Auditorium at Bethel Church, 10202 Broadway, Crown Point
When: 7:30 p.m. Feb. 12
Tickets: $29, $49, $69; student tickets are $10
Information: 219-836-0525, www.nisorchestra.org http://www.nisorchestra.org
