Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2

Featuring ECU Piano Competition Winner Benjamin Luo The emotional aesthetic in music reaches far beyond its origins in Beethoven and the early Romantic period. Indeed, composers have continued to embrace it, even in the midst of more technical, detached musical languages of the 20th century. One of the most beloved masterpieces of all time, the Piano Concerto No. 2 by late Romantic Russian composer Sergei Rachmaninoff, is filled with lush harmonies and sweeping, unforgettable melodies, some of which have been appropriated into popular songs made famous by Frank Sinatra, Eric Carmen and others. Florence Price’s Symphony No. 1, the first orchestral work by an African American woman to be performed by a major U.S. orchestra, exemplifies the early 20th-century American Neo-Romantic style, infusing European traditions with native hymn tunes, spirituals and dances. A world-premiere piece by Pawleys Island native and Long Bay Youth Symphony alumnus Joseph Kaz carries this enduring Romantic Spirit into the present.