Featured image for post: Thomas Pandolfi Returns to Perform With the Barton College/Wilson Symphony on Sunday, Nov. 19

Thomas Pandolfi Returns to Perform With the Barton College/Wilson Symphony on Sunday, Nov. 19

WILSON, N.C. — November 6, 2017 — Acclaimed American pianist Thomas Pandolfi returns to the Barton College stage to join the Barton College/Wilson Symphony Orchestra for its annual Fall Concert on Sunday, Nov. 19, at 3 p.m. in the Kennedy Family Theatre on campus. The orchestra, conducted by music director Mark N. Peterson, will feature Pandolfi performing Rachmaninoff’s beloved “Piano Concerto No. 2.”

“It’s great to have Thomas back at Barton for this concert,” said Peterson. “Many people will remember his two previous concerts here. His performances were magnificent, and the audiences loved his dynamic encores.”

The Orchestra’s performance selections also will include Edvard Grieg’s hauntingly beautiful “Peer Gynt Suite No.1.”

Pandolfi is an exciting virtuoso who, with each passing season, has become more and more sought after by audiences worldwide, and he has been showered with superlatives by critics for his passionate artistry and amazing technique. His orchestral appearances often feature not only the beloved masterpiece concerti by Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff and Liszt, but also the equally brilliant ones by Paderewski, Rubinstein, and Moszkowski. Additionally in the “Pops” genre, Thomas’ critically acclaimed performances of “Rhapsody in Blue” (Gershwin), “Concerto in F” (Gershwin), “Warsaw Concerto” (Addinsell), and the “James Bond Concerto” (Proctor) are immensely popular.

Pandolfi has collaborated with conductors such as Piotr Gajewski, Dimitru Goia, Sabin Pautza, Emil Seigbert Maxim, Peter Schmelzer, Mihail Agafita, Grigori Moseico, David Russell Hulme, Andreas Delfs, Elizabeth Schulze, Miriam Burns, Sebrina Alfonso, Nicholas Palmer, William Intrilligator, Kim Allen Kluge, Robert Hart Baker, Crafton Beck, Ray Fowler, Glenn Quader, Scott Wood, Lawrence Rapchak, Gordon Johnson, and Raffaele Ponti.

He has been a guest soloist with The National Philharmonic, Ohio Valley Symphony, North Charleston Pops, Cheyenne Symphony, Maryland Symphony, Alexandria Symphony, Symphonicity, Amadeus Orchestra, McLean Orchestra and Frederick Symphony, The Paducah Symphony, The Charlotte Symphony (Fla.), The Washington Metropolitan Philharmonic, The Amadeus Orchestra, The Tiraspol Philharmonic, The Alexandria Symphony, and The Maryland Symphony at The Garrett Lakes Arts Festival. Pandolfi also has served as Artist-in-Residence at The Black Rock Center for the Arts in Maryland.

His recital tours have taken him to more than 20 states across the United States, and his international concerts have carried him across the globe to China, Europe, and Canada.

An outstanding cross-over artist, Pandolfi’s virtuoso transcriptions of the music of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Marvin Hamlisch are in much demand. Last season, Pandolfi offered further such transcriptions in unique programs titled “Burt, Barry and Beyond” (the music of Burt Bacharach and Barry Manilow) and “Somewhere Tonight in America: A 20th Century Celebration,” including a magnificent transcription of Leonard Bernstein’s “West Side Story.” British composer Simon Proctor also wrote a “Sinatra Piano Concerto” for Pandolfi, which coincided with the 100th birthday celebration of Frank Sinatra, and a brand new “Andrew Lloyd Webber Concerto,” also for Pandolfi.

Following a violin concerto for Midori, and a saxophone concerto for Branford Marsalis, film and concert composers Kim Allen Kluge and Kathryn Vassar Kluge composed The American Piano Concerto for Pandolfi, which was an absolutely smashing success at its world premiere in May 2016, with Pandolfi as soloist, co-composer Kim Kluge on the podium, and The Alexandria Symphony.

A graduate of The Juilliard School, Pandolfi earned both his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees as a scholarship student. The proud father of a wonderful son and daughter, he makes his home in Washington, D.C.

Following the concert, the audience is cordially invited to meet the musicians at a reception, hosted by ARAMARK Higher Education, in the Bridgestone Americas Atrium of the Kennedy Family Theatre.

Admission for the spring orchestra performance will be $10 at the door or by season ticket. All students within the community will be admitted free of charge as well as faculty, staff, and students of Barton College.

For additional information, please contact Mark Peterson at 252-399-6535 or mpeterson@barton.edu.

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