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Vibrant young energy and colorful sound flows through the 50 fingers of “The 5 Browns” ―five siblings, five piano virtuosos― “thundering down” on pianos for Pacific Symphony’s second concert of Summer Festival 2011, sponsored by Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian. Now internationally acclaimed, the Julliard-trained quintet took the music world by storm in 2002, when People magazine dubbed them: “The Fab Five.” Playing Mozart’s rarely heard Concerto for Three Pianos along with Saint-Saёns’ sprightly “Carnival of the Animals,” the classical sensations are known to take one’s breath away. Led by Music Director Carl St.Clair, the concert opens with Mozart’s lively and fast-paced Overture to “The Marriage of Figaro” and finishes with Mussorgsky’s powerful elegy to his late friend’s paintings, “Pictures at an Exhibition.”
“…five young Mormons who all play scorching piano. Thundering down on five Steinways together, they’re button-down cute and somewhat otherworldly.”
– Entertainment Weekly
The concert takes place on Saturday, July 16, 8 p.m., at Verizon Wireless Amphitheater in Irvine. Individual tickets are $25 (lawn) to $99 (orchestra); kids under 14 are half price in most sections with the purchase of an adult ticket. Guests are welcome to picnic on the grounds of the amphitheater starting at 6 p.m. For more information or to purchase tickets, call the Symphony ticket office at (714) 755-5799, or visit the website at www.PacificSymphony.org.
“I am pleased to welcome The 5 Browns in a program that is sure to amaze,” says Maestro St.Clair. “These young American talents are individually extremely talented, but as an ensemble of piano virtuosi, they are dazzling. Performing the rarely heard Mozart Concerto for Three Pianos and having them team together for a performance of ‘Carnival of the Animals’ will make for an unforgettable first half. Continuing the idea of the piano during the second half, the orchestra will perform Mussorgsky’s mighty ‘Pictures at an Exhibition,’ originally composed for piano, in the orchestration by Maurice Ravel.”
The concert opens with Mozart’s exuberant Overture to “The Marriage of Figaro,” which begins fast and intense, then gets more so with sudden dynamic contrasts and bursts of comedy. Then, The 5 Browns take the stage for the novelty of Mozart’s Concerto No. 7 for Three Pianos, followed by Saint-Saёns’ “Carnival of the Animals,” a musical caricature of the animal kingdom including “hopping” fifths on two pianos for kangaroos, a slow crawl on the double-bass for the elephant and a lush romantic cello solo for the swan, among others. (In addition to playing, the Browns also provide narration). For the finale, the orchestra performs Ravel’s moving arrangement of Mussorgsky’s grandiose “Pictures at an Exhibition,” inspired by Viktor Hartmann’s paintings.
The 5 Browns—Ryan, Melody, Gregory, Deondra and Desirae—all attended New York’s Juilliard School. In fact, they became the first family of five siblings ever accepted at the same time. The quintet enjoyed their first wave of critical attention in February 2002, when they were featured on “Oprah” and “60 Minutes.” The Browns have released three CDs that each went to No. 1 on Billboard Magazine’s Classical Album Chart. They have also garnered extensive coverage from the media including on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno,” “Good Morning America,” “Today,” “The View,” “The Martha Stewart Show,” Public Radio’s “Performance Today,” as well as in The New York Times, Parade, People, the Los Angeles Times, the Sunday London Telegraph. They are also featured in a new PBS-TV special, “The 5 Browns in Concert.”
Coming Up — The “Wascally Wabbit” and his pals are let loose on the orchestra world during the Symphony’s third concert of the series―Warner Bros. Studios presents “Bugs Bunny at the Symphony”―taking place Saturday, Aug. 6, at 8 p.m. Bugs Bunny, Tweety, Sylvester, Pepe Le Pew, Daffy Duck, Elmer Fudd and others cavort across the big screen accompanied live by Pacific Symphony.
This concert is sponsored by Hoag. Summer Festival 2011 is presented by Hoag, with additional support from The Orange County Register; the Symphony’s official airline, American Airlines; official hotel, The Westin South Coast Plaza; official classical music station, KUSC; official television station, PBS SoCal; official pops radio station, K-EARTH; and official media partner, KPCC.
