BILLINGS – The Billings Symphony Orchestra & Chorale will perform Beethoven and Brahms with special guest Pianist Brian Ganz, Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at the Alberta Bair Theater.
This is the symphony’s final performance at the Alberta Bair Theater before the venue closes for a $12 million renovation.
Ganz is a graduate of the Peabody Conservatory of Music, and has been the artist in residence at St. Mary’s College of Maryland.
“We will expect a fantastic performance,” said Ignacio Barron, Billings Symphony executive director. “Plenty of contrast, emotion. He as a person is so extroverted, so clear and expressive. People used to say, ‘we play as we are.’ When he plays, you can see who he is as a person.”
This is the second time that Ganz has worked with the Billings Symphony, and it’s conductor Anne Harrigan.
“It’s always so easy working with her. She listens so beautifully,” Ganz said. “She knows the work like the back of her hand. She intuits what I’m doing, and listens so well that it actually fits together hand in glove with very little effort. I’m really excited to be working with her again.”
Symphony Conductor Anne Harrigan promises a night of beautiful music, and a warm send off for the Alberta Bair Theater’s renovation.
“The sound is going to be just phenomenal,” Harrigan said. “Anybody who wants to come and hear the symphony. We’re just going to celebrate the last show at the old Alberta Bair Theater before we go to our temporary home at Lincoln Center and then back here in a year.
