Yakov Kasman, DMA, will perform Rachmaninoff’s “Rhapsody on a theme by Paganini” as a soloist with the Alabama Symphony Orchestra for its Masterworks Series, nightly Feb. 9-10.
Kasman is professor and artist-in-residence in the University of Alabama at Birmingham College of Arts and Sciences’ Department of Music.
The ASO invites top world soloists for their Masterworks concert series. Kasman says it is a big honor and a big responsibility.
“I have been a soloist with them at least nine times over the last 20 years, but the last time I think was in 2012,” Kasman said. “Rachmaninoff’s ‘Rhapsody on a theme by Paganini’ is one of the works most beloved by audiences around the globe, but I find that it is especially loved in the USA. I am hoping to play this piece again in Russia in March.”
The performance is set for 8 p.m. each night in UAB’s Alys Stephens Performing Arts Center, 1200 10th Ave. South. The program will also include “Festive Overture” and Symphony No. 10 by Shostakovich. Gain insight into the works prior to the performance at 7 p.m. for free Concert Comments in the center’s Reynolds-Kirschbaum Recital Hall.
Kasman has been invited to perform at some of the most important venues in the world. In recent years, he performed Prokofiev’s Second Piano Concerto in Paris with Orchestre Lamoureux in the famed Theatre des Champs Elysees, considered one of the most important concert halls in the world. Kasman has appeared in concert with the Dayton Philharmonic, Louisiana Philharmonic, Richmond Symphony, Brevard Symphony, National Symphony of Ukraine, KBS Orchestra in South Korea, in recitals in Texas and New Mexico, and master classes in Tokyo and Osaka, Japan. His students are winners of regional, national and international competitions.