For our second MasterWorks concert, the Canton Symphony Orchestra welcomes our Concertmaster Cristian Zimmerman (no relations to the Maestro) to the Umstattd stage to perform Concerto dei Fiori (Concerto of Flowers), a piece originally premiered by his father. We will also perform Copeland’s original version of Appalachian Spring using only a few strings, winds and piano (instead of the full orchestra) as well as Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915, which will feature solo soprano Hilerie Klein Rensi and the orchestra. We will finish our MasterWorks program with Kodály’s Dances of Galánta. This concert is on November 9, 2019 at 7:30pm at Umstattd Performing Arts Hall at the Zimmermann Symphony Center. This concert is sponsored in part by the generosity of FreshMark and Neil Genshaft.
Hilerie Klein Rensi, our featured Soprano, is delighted for her debut with the Canton Symphony Orchestra. Praised as”…a mellifluous mezzo” (Cleveland Plain Dealer), Hilerie has performed over 50 opera, operetta and oratorio works including Dorabella in Cosi fan Tutte, Tessa in The Gondoliers, Rosina in the Barber of Seville, and the mother in the world premiere of Brooke Joyce’s An Imaginary line. Hilerie has performed with Spoleto Festival USA, Tri-Cities Opera, Basically Bach Ensemble, Opera Theater Summerfest, Natchez Festival of Music, Lake George Opera, Orchestra of the Southern Finger lakes, Undercroft Opera, Hamilton College and Community Oratorio Society and Traverse Symphony Orchestra, among many others. As an award-winning artist and alumna of Interlochen Center for the Arts, Hilerie was honored with the “Best Female Principle Over 25 Year of Gilbert and Sullivan Operettas” award. Hilerie is also the owner and founder of Higher Voice Studios, one of the largest private voice studios in the country.
Our Concertmaster, 25-year-old Cristian Zimmerman is quickly developing a successful and multi-faceted career as an orchestra, chamber, and solo violinist. Born in Cincinnati, Ohio to British parents, he was immediately drawn to music due to his father’s work as an orchestral conductor. After a move to Hartford, Connecticut, Cristian began his studies in violin with renewed pedagogue Teri Einfelt at the age of 5, and in 2012 enrolled at the Cleveland Institute of Music, where he studied with David Updegraff and Jan Sloman. In 2018, Cristian attended the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music under the tutelage of Alexander Kerr, former concertmaster of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and current concertmaster of the Dallas Symphony orchestra and the Canton Symphony Orchestra.
Tickets for the Canton Symphony Orchestra concert on November 4, 2019 range in price from $28-$48 and are available online at www.cantonsymphony.org, by phone at 330-452-2094 or in person at the Canton Symphony Orchestra administrative offices in the Zimmermann Symphony Center at 2331 17th Street NW in Canton weekdays 9am-5pm.
Founded in 1937, the Canton Symphony Orchestra is celebrating its 82th anniversary and is a fully professional ensemble and organization dedicated to performing concerts that enrich, educate and entertain residents of Stark County and beyond. The orchestra performs classical, holiday, and a variety of educational programs in Umstattd Performing Arts Hall, 2323 17th Street NW, Canton, Ohio, as well as other venues in Stark County. For more information, please visit www.cantonsymphony.org or call (330)452-2094. Administrative offices are located at the Zimmermann Symphony Center 2331 17th Street NW, Canton OH 44708.
