Redwood Symphony: R. Strauss Dance of Seven Veils Concert

Double dose of piano artistry opens 2016 for Redwood Symphony Peninsula pianist Thomas Hansen will return to the Redwood Symphony spotlight on Feb. 20 to perform both Lutoslawski's Paganini Variations and Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 24 in C minor.

The concert will begin at 8 p.m. in the Main Theater of Cañada College, 4200 Farm Hill Blvd., Redwood City. Also featured in the program will be Chabrier's Suite Pastorale and Strauss's Dance of the Seven Veils. Maestro Eric Kujawsky will outline the unique nature of this concert, which spans the four corners of the orchestral repertoire, in his 7 p.m. pre-concert talk. He describes the Chabrier work as encapsulating late 19th Century France's poetic beauty and grace. But jumping ahead just a few decades, Dance of the Seven Veils, from the opera Salome, is a virtuoso amalgam of exoticism and eroticism. This work represented the height of avant-garde taste and dissonance at its premiere in 1905. As for Mozart's rarely performed Concerto No. 24, the key of C minor had a particularly tragic color and significance for the composer, Kujawsky adds. As the final piece, Polish composer Lutoslawski wrote his Paganini Variations for two pianos in the 1950s and years later orchestrated it into a display piece for a single piano and orchestra, which will feature soloist Hansen. Hansen began teaching himself piano at age 4. He received a Bachelor of Music degree from the New England Conservatory and a Master?s from the University of Michigan. He is on the faculties of Notre Dame de Namur University in Belmont and the Crestmont Conservatory of Music in San Mateo. Redwood Symphony, an all-volunteer orchestra, is dedicated to the performance of an ambitious, contemporary repertoire, as well as the great orchestral classics. The innovative programming and emphasis on education are two reasons why so many of the most talented musicians from throughout the San Francisco Bay Area volunteer their time to play, and why audiences and critics have been so enthusiastic about Redwood Symphony?s artistry.

Tickets from $10-$25 are available at RedwoodSymphony.org, and children under 18, accompanied by an adult, are admitted free. Parking at Cañada College is ample and free.