NEC Symphony + Paul Biss: Zwilich, Rachmaninoff, Dvořák
Paul Biss leads the NEC Symphony in a program of Zwilich, Rachmaninoff, and Dvořák. The soloist for tonight's performance of the Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 2 in C Minor, op. 18 will be Seongwoo Moon '25 MM, winner of the NEC Concerto Competition.
This is an in-person event with a private stream available to the NEC community here: https://necmusic.edu/live.
Ellen Taaffe Zwilich | Jubilation (1996)
Program note
Jubilation was commissioned by the University of Georgia for the occasion of the opening of the Performing and Visual Arts Center at the University of Georgia. The commissioning of new music to inaugurate a new edifice is an ancient and, for me, a very meaningful tradition. One easily imagines other Athenians of another time and place marking the opening of their Parthenon with music celebrating the occasion. Certainly, buildings from the Cathedral in Florence, Italy, to our own Carnegie Hall began their public lives with special music filling the new spaces. So I considered it a great honor as well as a great pleasure to play the privileged role of writing music for the opening of this new Performing and Visual Arts Center at the University of Georgia in Athens. But concert halls exist for the music that draws us together in a community of performers and listeners, and therefore Jubilation celebrates the opening of the new concert hall by celebrating the orchestra. Though short, the piece is almost a concerto for orchestra, emphasizing its vibrant colors and contrasts, the virtuosity of its players, and the orchestra's almost unparalleled ability to give voice to musical drama.
-Ellen Taaffe ZwilichSergei Rachmaninoff | Piano Concerto No. 2 in C Minor, op. 18
Moderato
Adagio sostenuto - Più animato - Tempo I
Allegro scherzandoSeongwoo Moon
Born in Korea, Seongwoo Moon began his musical studies at the age of five and made his orchestral debut when he was twelve, performing the Chopin Piano Concerto No. 1 with the Pohang Philharmonic Orchestra. Most recently, he was the winner of the New England Conservatory Concerto Competition (2023), the Taipei International Maestro Piano Festival's Promising Star Competition (2020), and third prize at the Hilton Head International Piano Competition (2022). He was the second prize-winner at the Singapore Youth International Piano Competition (2019) and a semi-finalist at the Seoul International Music Competition (2021).
In addition to numerous recitals and concerts in Seoul, Seongwoo has appeared at many professional venues including Lotte Concert Hall, Kumho Art Hall Yonsei, Sejong Arts Center Chamber Hall, Seongnam Art Center, Youngsan Art Hall, and The House Concert. He has also performed in Korea with leading orchestras such as Seongnam Philharmonic Orchestra, Gyeongbuk Philharmonic Orchestra, New World Philharmonic Orchestra, Seocho Philharmonic Orchestra, and SNUtuosi ensemble.Seongwoo has participated in master classes with Robert McDonald, Julian Martin, Boris Slutsky, Philip Jenkins, Pascal Roge, Rudolf Meister, Nelson Delle-Vigne Fabbri, and Soojung Shin
Seongwoo is currently pursuing the Master of Music degree at New England Conservatory under the tutelage of MinSoo Sohn. He studied previously at Seoul Arts High School with Seunghye Choi, and with Heesung Joo at the Seoul National University, receiving a scholarship from the Samick Cultural Foundation and the Oh Jung-Joo Scholarship awarded to a gifted pianist at the Seoul National University.Artists- Seongwoo Moon '25 MM, piano
INTERMISSION
Antonín Dvořák | Symphony No. 8 in G Major, op. 88
Allegro con brio
Adagio
Allegretto grazioso - Molto vivace
Allegro ma non troppoNEC Symphony
First Violin
Jeremiah Jung
Sofia Skoldberg
Yirou Zhang
Ryan Tully
Emma Servadio
Ravani Loushy Kay
Ashley Tsai
Abby Reed
Ian Johnson
Joanna Peters
Lauren Ahn
Tzu-Ya Huang
Second Violin
Kearston Gonzales
Yeji Hwang
Aidan Daniels
Audrey Weizer
Joseph Zamoyta
Maxwell Fairman
Kevin Kang
Minkyung Kang
Ava Kenney
Isabella Sun
William Kinney
Eleanor Markey
Tara Hagle
Viola
Harry Graham
Nina Dawallu
Dylan Cohen
John Turner
Haobo Bi
Jiashu Yin
Yu-Heng Wang
QingHong He
Rita Hughes Söderbaum
Jessi Kaufman
Leilani Wiswarkarma
Pharida Tangtongchit
Cello
Phoebe Chen
Nahar Eliaz
Ari Freed
Zanipolo Lewis
Mina Kim
Ching-yu Tseng
Angela Sun
Yue Mao
Li-An Yu
Yuxin Du
Alex Aranzabal
Eric Schindler
Bass
Isabel Atkinson
Dennis McIntyre
Lawrence Hall
Brian Choy
Flute
Sadie Goodman §
Amelia Kazazian ‡
JouYing Ting
Nina Tsai *
Piccolo
Anna Ridenour *
Nina Tsai §
Oboe
Yuhsi Chang ‡
Rebecca Mack *
Victoria Solis Alvarado §
English horn
Rebecca Mack §
Victoria Solis Alvarado *
Clarinet
Evan Chu *
Cole Turkel §
Adlemi A. Zambrano ‡
Bass Clarinet
Cole Turkel
Bassoon
Daniel Arakaki
Yerin Choi *
Zilong Huang ‡
Carson Meritt §
Contrabassoon
Daniel Arakaki
French horn
Elijah Barclift ‡
Mattias Bengtsson §
Mauricio Martinez
Xiaoran Xu *
Trumpet
Maxwell DeForest *
Sebastián Haros §
Alexandra Richmond ‡
Trombone
Becca Bertekap ‡
Devin Drinan §
Allie Klaire Ledbetter *
Bass Trombone
Jason Sato *‡
Shin Tanaka §
Tuba
Hayden Silvester
Timpani
Doyeon Kim §
Mark Larrivee ‡
Rohan Zakharia *
Percussion
Isabella Butler
Doyeon Kim *
Mark Larrivee
Rohan Zakharia ‡
Mingcheng Zhou
Principal players
* Zwilich
‡ Rachmaninoff
§ Dvořák