Happy Birthday, Philharmonic!

The Long Island Philharmonic opens its delayed 2009-10 season on Saturday, looking ahead as it looks back.
With the funding issues that led to the restructuring of its concert season seemingly settled, the Long Island Philharmonic is ready to get going and celebrate its 30 years of music-making, as it commemorates the 30th anniversary of the Philharmonic’s premiere concert.
The first concert of the new season is a birthday celebration for the Philharmonic, which was founded in 1979 and gave its opening concert on Nov. 14 of that year. To mark that occasion, Maestro David Stewart Wiley leads his orchestra, with pianist Seymour Lipkin and the Long Island Philharmonic Chorus, in a program of works by Mozart, Schubert and Beethoven.
“It’s a spectacular evening that salutes the best of the classical tradition,” said Stephen Belth, the Philharmonic’s executive director. “We’ve selected works by the most beloved composers and have included the chorus, which was also founded 30 years ago.”

The concert reaches back to the region’s symphonic tradition, with the appearance of Lipkin, a Long Island music icon, as guest soloist. The former music director of the Long Island Symphony, a predecessor to the Long Island Philharmonic, will be playing Mozart’s beloved Piano Concerto No. 23 in A Major. He will also be performing Beethoven’s masterful “Choral Fantasy” with the Philharmonic Chorus. The program further includes Schubert’s well-known Symphony No. 8 in B minor, commonly known as the “Unfinished.”
A student of Rudolf Serkin and Mieczyslaw Horszowski at the Curtis Institute of Music, Lipkin won the prestigious Rachmaninoff Competition at age 19. He went on to appear with all of America’s “top five”orchestras: the New York Philharmonic, the Boston Symphony, the Philadelphia and Cleveland orchestras, and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. His distinguished resume includes a stint as New York Philharmonic’s assistant conductor and Music Director of the Joffrey Ballet. He is currently the Artistic Director of the Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Festival, and is on the faculties of both the Juilliard School and the Curtis Institute of Music.
Later this month, the Philharmonic plays Broadway, when it presents “Franc D’Ambrosio’s Broadway,” a revue of Broadway hits and love ballads, Friday, Nov. 20, at the Patchogue Theatre for the Performing Arts.

When: Happy Birthday, Philharmonic!, Saturday, Nov. 14, 8 p.m. Tickets are $85, $68, $50, $38.
Where: Tilles Center for the Performing Arts, C.W. Post Campus, Rte. 25A, Brookville. (631) 293-2222 or www.liphilharmonic.org.