FAMOUS RUSSIAN MUSIC OF THE ROMANTIC PERIOD AND
DYNAMIC YOUNG ARTIST TO HIGHLIGHT SYMPHONY SUNDAY CONCERT
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Portland, Ore. … Nineteen-year-old Orion Weiss, who in 1999 stepped in to replace André Watts at the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra with less than 24 hours notice, will join Associate Conductor Norman Leyden and the Oregon Symphony for "Russian Romantics." This Symphony Sunday concert will feature well-known works by great Russian composers Mussorgsky, Rachmaninoff and Borodin Sunday, March 3, at 3 p.m. in the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall. Weiss will perform Robert Schumann's Piano Concerto in A minor. Media support is provided by the Portland Tribune and KPAM.

Leyden will open the concert with his own orchestration of the famous Toccata and Fugue in D minor by J.S. Bach. The program also includes Mussorgsky's "Night on Bald Mountain;" the third movement of Rachmaninoff's Symphony No. 2, one of the most popular late Romantic symphonies; and Borodin's "Polovtsian Dances," the famous dances which entertained the captive prince in Borodin's most well-known opera, "Prince Igor."

Weiss will perform Schumann's lyric Piano Concerto in A minor, a work he recently performed at both the Colorado and Bellingham Music Festivals. The 1999 recipient of the prestigious Gilmore Young Artist Award, Weiss currently studies with Emanuel Ax at The Juilliard School in New York.

"Russian Romantics" is scheduled for Sunday, March 3, at 3 p.m. in the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall. General admission tickets are $22 for adults, $13 for students, seniors and children (12 and under) and may be purchased at the Oregon Symphony Ticket Office (923 S.W. Washington), Monday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. or charged by phone at 503-228-1353 or (800) 228-7343. Tickets also may be purchased at all Ticketmaster outlets (503-790-ARTS) or through Ticketmaster Online, via the Symphony's Web site at www.orsymphony.org. Service fees may apply.

Orion Weiss

Nineteen-year-old American pianist Orion Weiss has already established himself as an extraordinarily talented young pianist exhibiting great maturity and depth as well as remarkable technical skills. He has recently been chosen to be a member of Chamber Music Society Two at Lincoln Center beginning in fall 2002. In addition, he is the 2001 winner of the Mieczyslaw Munz Scholarship at Juilliard, and the 1999 recipient of the prestigious Gilmore Young Artist Award, an honor granted by the Irving S. Gilmore International Keyboard Festival to promising young American pianists.

This summer Mr. Weiss performed Schumann's Piano Concerto in A minor at the Colorado Music Festival with Robert Minczuk and at the Bellingham Music Festival with Michael Palmer. The 2001/02 season includes performances with the Oregon and Taipei Symphonies, the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra, and the Massapequa Philharmonic. In addition, he will perform recitals in St. Louis, Utica, Las Vegas, at the Southgate Keyboard Series in Joliet, and at the Kennedy Center's Millennium Stage.

Highlights of the 2000/01 season included performances of Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2 at the inaugural concert of Festival on the Green in Sonoma County with Jeffrey Kahane leading the Santa Rosa Symphony and Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 at the Colorado Springs Symphony with Lawrence Leighton Smith conducting. He also performed recitals in Sarasota, Memphis, at the Gilmore Keyboard Festival in Kalamazoo and on Ravinia's prestigious Rising Star Series in Chicago.

Mr. Weiss' exceptional skills as a performer and artist were clearly manifested in March 1999 when, with less than 24 hours notice, he stepped in to replace Andre Watts for a performance of Shostakovich's Piano Concerto No. 2 with the Baltimore Symphony conducted by Jeffrey Tate. He was immediately re-invited to perform the Tchaikovsky Concerto with the Baltimore Symphony in October 1999. In February of 1999 Mr. Weiss made his debut with the Cleveland Orchestra performing Liszt's Piano Concerto No. 1, led by Steven Smith.

Mr. Weiss has exhibited a keen interest in chamber music repertoire. In March 2001, he performed the last two movements of Brahms' F minor Quintet with Itzhak Perlman at Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall in a benefit for the Perlman Music Camp. He also performed there in 1998, as well as in the home of Lorin Maazel, playing Dvorak's Piano Quintet in A major with Itzhak Perlman and Pinchas Zukerman. Recital appearances have included performances in Cleveland, Ashland and at the "Musical Evenings" series of the New York Academy of Sciences.

Mr. Weiss has been awarded first prize at the Akron Youth Symphony, Cleveland Philharmonic, Music Academy of the West, Venitia Hall, and the Cleveland Institute of Music Concerto Competition. He was also awarded a scholarship at the Interlochen Arts Camp for four consecutive years and regularly attends the Sergei Babayan International Piano Academy in Cleveland, the Pianofest in the Hamptons and the Perlman Music Program founded by Itzhak and Toby Perlman. Two winters ago, Mr. Weiss joined select members of the Perlman Music Program in Israel where he took part in concerts and masterclasses in conjunction with Israeli students. He has also participated in master classes given by Claude Frank, Joseph Kalichstein, Louis Lortie and Eunice Podis.

A recent graduate of Hawken High School and a Lyndhurst, Ohio native, Mr. Weiss currently studies with Emanuel Ax at The Juilliard School in New York.