Orchestras around the globe are programming endless reams of Beethoven next season to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the composer’s birth.
But the Civic Orchestra of Tucson is getting a jump on the competition.
In two concerts this weekend, music director Charles Bontrager will lead the orchestra in Beethoven’s beloved Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-flat major, “Emperor,” featuring pianist Rex Woods.
Bontrager programmed the work, Beethoven’s last completed piano concerto, on a performance dubbed “The Emperor” that opens with the overture for Glinka’s “Ruslan and Lyudmila” followed by Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Le Coq d’or” (The Golden Cockerel) suite.
The orchestra will perform the concert twice: at 3 p.m. Saturday, March 16, at Journey Church, 4700 N. Swan Road; and 4:30 p.m. Sunday, March 17, at Crowder Hall, North Park Avenue and East Speedway in the University of Arizona Fred Fox School of Music. Admission is free. Details: cotmusic.org
