APRIL MAINSTAGE
Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3, the ‘Eroica’—a work revolutionary in scale, scope, and substance. For the eminent musicologist Paul Henry Lang, “The ‘Eroica’ is the greatest single step made by an individual composer in the history of the symphony and the history of music in general.”
Guest conductor Andrew Grams brings this titanic work to the stage, plus 17th International Fryderyk Chopin Competition medalist Kate Liu makes her Ann Arbor debut with the soaring lyricism of Chopin’s F minor Piano Concerto. The product of the composer’s impassioned pursuit of the Polish soprano Konstancja Gładkowska, the concerto’s inexpressibly gorgeous second movement is conceived as a “piano aria,” framed by the virtuosic outer movements that characterize the composer’s peerless command of his instrument.
Saturday, April 5, 2025 | 8 PM | Michigan Theater (603 E Liberty St, Ann Arbor, MI 48104)
Pre-concert talk at 7 PM (sponsored by Exchange Capital Management)
Kate Liu, piano
Andrew Grams, guest conductor
Louise Farrenc Overture No. 2
Fryderyk Chopin Piano Concerto No. 2
Ludwig van Beethoven Symphony No. 3
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Kate Liu, piano
Pianist Kate Liu gained international acclaim after winning the Bronze Medal and Best Mazurka Prize at the 17th International Fryderyk Chopin Competition in Warsaw, Poland. She was also awarded the audience favorite prize voted by the Polish public on the Polish National Radio.
As a soloist, Kate has performed in many important venues, such as the Seoul Arts Center, Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre, Carnegie’s Weill Hall, Severance Hall in Cleveland, La Maison Symphonique de Montréal, Warsaw National Philharmonic, Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., Shanghai Concert Hall, Osaka Symphony Hall, Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra Hall, Phillip’s Collection, and others. She has collaborated with orchestras including the Cleveland Orchestra, Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, Polish Radio Orchestra, Poznan Philharmonic, Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra, Daegu Symphony Orchestra, Rochester Philharmonic, Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra, and Evanston Symphony Orchestra. Her debut album of works by Chopin was released on the Fryderyk Chopin Institute label in 2016.
Born in Singapore, Kate began playing the piano when she was four years old and moved to the United States when she was eight. Her private studies then were at the Music Institute of Chicago with Emilio del Rosario, Micah Yui and Alan Chow. Early on in her career, she won 1st Prizes at the Third Asia-Pacific International Chopin Competition and the New York International Piano Competition. She received a Bachelor’s degree from the Curtis Institute of Music studying with Robert McDonald, as well as a Master’s and Artist Diploma degree from The Juilliard School under the tutelage of Robert McDonald and Yoheved Kaplinsky.
Andrew Grams, Guest Conductor
With a unique combination of intensity, enthusiasm and technical clarity, American conductor Andrew Grams has steadily built a reputation for his dynamic concerts, ability to connect with audiences, and long-term orchestra building. He’s the winner of 2015 Conductor of the Year from the Illinois Council of Orchestras and has led orchestras throughout the United States including the Chicago Symphony, Detroit Symphony, National Symphony Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony, Cincinnati Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, Dallas Symphony, and the Houston Symphony.