Pensacola Symphony Presents Mozart And Tchaikovsky

The Pensacola Symphony Orchestra will present Mozart and Tchaikovsky Saturday, March 3 at 8 P.M. at the Saenger Theatre. Scott Sandmeier, an American conductor with an extensive European career, will make his Pensacola debut as the guest conductor. The program includes Mozart's Piano Concerto No 23, Strauss' Fledermaus Overture and Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 4.

The works on this program have delighted audiences around the world for centuries and are close to the heart of all music lovers. Guest pianist is Ilya Itin.

A native of Los Angeles, Scott Sandmeier is currently the artistic director of a chamber orchestra and summer festival in the southwest of France near Bordeaux and is on the faculty of the Eastern Music Festival in North Carolina. Sandmeier studied at the California Institute of the Arts, The Julliard School and the Paris Conservatory, where he was awarded a first prize in conducting. He has conducted many of the major French orchestras and has participated in festivals at Tanglewood, Aspen, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic Institute, as well as in master classes with Leonard Bernstein and Pierre Boulez.

Pianist Ilya Itin has been praised for his rare and exciting artistry and superb technique. Born in Russia, Itin has lived in the United States since 1990. Prior to entering the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory, he studied at the Sverdlovsk Music Conservatory. In the last Leeds International Piano Competition, Itin won by a unanimous decision from the jury, sweeping all the awards and winning the votes of the BBC audience. Itin has performed in the Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, the Severance Hall, and with many orchestras throughout the United States, the United Kingdom and Europe.

Masterworks Series sponsor is Whitney Bank. Media sponsors are Cox Communications, WEAR ABC3, Pensacola Magazine and The Real Yellow Pages® from BellSouth. Official sponsors are Centennial Imports and Residence Inn-Downtown. -- www.pensacolasymphony.com