By ED. SIMONE

After a year-long hiatus, the Southern Tier Symphony returns to offer a concert of audience favorites, including the spectacular Rachmaninov Second Piano Concerto.

The STS will give two concerts this weekend.

On Saturday, the symphony performs in the Olean High School auditorium at 7:30 p.m. and on Sunday in Blaisdell Hall on the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford, Pa. campus at 3 p.m.

‘We’re beyond excited to be back with great music for our region,’ says STS executive director and trumpeter Dr.

Cyril Bodnar. ‘Maestro Benjamin Grow and the Southern Tier Symphony musicians, along with guest soloist Dr. Ben Laude, are offering up a wonderful program of music.’

Guest piano soloist Laude, whose playing the New York Times called ‘superb,’ will perform Sergei Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 2, beloved by audiences for its lush, romantic melodies and mighty orchestral accompaniment.

While not an immediate hit when it premiered in Russia in 1901, the concerto gained popularity steadily and became a favorite with American audiences when the composer himself played it for the first time in the U.S. in 1909.

Also on the program is Felix Mendelssohn’s Hebrides Overture, also known as ‘Fingal’s Cave.’ This piece depicts the misty, wind-swept coasts of the Hebrides islands off Scotland. Mendelssohn was especially inspired by the caves formed by lava flows on the island of Staffa and even sent the first few bars of the overture to his sister, Fanny, in a postcard. It’s been an audience favorite since it’s London premiere in 1832.

Another audience favorite on the symphony’s program is the first suite from ‘Peer Gynt’ by the Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg. Grieg’s music for Ibsen’s 1867 play brilliantly captures the drama’s picaresque adventures including Gynt’s famous fantasy among the trolls in the Hall of the Mountain King.

STS’s return to the concert stage brings popular classical music to our region on a grand scale with the music of Mendelssohn, Grieg and Rachmaninov.

Tickets may be purchased at the door or online at southerntiersymph. org.

Benjamin Grow, music director of the Southern Tier Symphony, conducts a performance in February 2024. STS returns this weekend with performances Saturday at St. Bonaventure University and Sunday at the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford.

Era file photo