Natasha Paremski, piano. Photo courtesy Pasadena Symphony & Pops

David Lockington, conductor. Photo courtesy Pasadena Symphony & Pops

Join Music Director David Lockington and the Pasadena Symphony for a romantically Russian program on Saturday, February 18th with award winning pianist Natasha Paremski performing Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 at both 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. at Ambassador Auditorium. Also on the program is Tchaikovsky’s Symphony –No.6 “Pathétique,” Lockington describes the work “as piece that envisions life, that has the joy, sweetness, tenderness and ultimately in the end–the great sadness that Tchaikovsky carried with him at the time.”

This concert marks Natasha Paremski’s debut with the Pasadena Symphony. With her consistently striking and dynamic performances, the Moscow born American pianist reveals astounding virtuosity and voracious interpretive abilities. “Comparisons with Argerich should not be given lightly, but Paremski is so clearly of the same temperament and technique that it is unavoidable here.” — American Record Guide. A recipient of the prestigious Gilmore Young Artists prize at age of 18 and the Classical Recording Foundation’s Young Artist of the Year in 2010, Natasha continues to generate excitement from all corners as she wins over international audiences with her musical sensibility and flawless technique.

The Pasadena Symphony provides a quintessential experience combining great music with a festive social atmosphere. To learn more about the music join us for Insights – a free pre-concert dialogue with David Lockington, which begins one hour prior to each performance. Patrons who plan to arrive early can also enjoy a drink or a dinner in the lively Sierra Auto Symphony Lounge, yet another addition to the carefree and elegant concert experience the Pasadena Symphony offers. A posh setting at Ambassador Auditorium’s beautiful outdoor plaza, the lounge offers uniquely prepared menus from Claud &Co for both lunch and dinner, a full bar and fine wines by Michero Family Wines, plus music before the concert and during intermission.

All Symphony Classics concerts take place at Ambassador Auditorium, 131 S. St. John Avenue, Pasadena with matinee and evening performances at 2:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. Subscription packages start at $99; regular individually priced tickets start at $35 and may be purchased online at pasadenasymphony-pops.org or by calling (626) 793-7172.

About the Artists

David Lockington
Music Director

Over the past thirty-five years, David Lockington has developed an impressive conducting career in the United States. A native of Great Britain, he served as the Music Director of the Grand Rapids Symphony from January 1999 to May 2015, and is currently the orchestra’s Conductor Laureate. He has held the position of Music Director with the Modesto Symphony since May 2007 and in March 2013, Mr. Lockington was appointed to the same position with the Pasadena Symphony. He also has a close relationship with the Orquesta Sinfonica del Principado de Asturias in Spain where he is currently the orchestra’s Principal Guest Conductor, and beginning with the 15/16 season he will be one of three Artistic Partners with the Northwest Sinfonietta in Tacoma, Washington.

In addition to his current posts, since his arrival to the United States in 1978 Mr. Lockington has also held additional positions with American orchestras, including serving as Assistant Conductor of the Denver Symphony Orchestra and Opera Colorado and Assistant and Associate Conductor of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. In May 1993 he accepted the position of Music Director of the Ohio Chamber Orchestra, assumed the title of Music Director of the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra in September 1995 and was Music Director of the Long Island Philharmonic for the 96/97 through 99/2000 seasons.

Mr. Lockington’s guest conducting engagements include appearances with the Saint Louis, Houston, Detroit, Seattle, Toronto, Vancouver, Oregon and Phoenix symphonies; the Rochester and Louisiana Philharmonics; and the Orchestra of St. Luke’s at Carnegie Hall. Internationally, he has conducted the Northern Sinfonia in Great Britain, the Israel Chamber Orchestra, the China Broadcasting Symphony Orchestra in Beijing and Taiwan and led the English Chamber Orchestra on a tour in Asia.

Recent and upcoming guest conducting engagements include appearances with the New Jersey, Indianapolis, Vancouver, Utah, Pacific, Colorado, Nashville, San Diego, Syracuse, Edmonton, Alabama, Columbus and Kansas City symphonies, the Florida and Louisville Orchestras, the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa and the Buffalo and Calgary Philharmonics. Mr. Lockington’s summer festival activities include appearances at the Grand Teton, Colorado Music, Interlochen, Chautauqua and Eastern Music festivals.

David Lockington began his career as a cellist and was the Principal with the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain for two years. After completing his Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of Cambridge, Mr. Lockington came to the United States on a scholarship to Yale University where he received his Master’s degree in cello performance and studied conducting with Otto Werner Mueller. He was a member of the New Haven Symphony Orchestra and served as assistant principal cellist for three years with the Denver Symphony Orchestra before turning to conducting.

Natasha Paremski
Piano

With her consistently striking and dynamic performances, the Moscow born American pianist Natasha Paremski reveals astounding virtuosity and voracious interpretive abilities. Since her solo debut at age nine with El Camino Youth Symphony in California. At the age of fifteen she debuted with Los Angeles Philharmonic and release a disc with Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra under Dmitry Yablonsky, the first featuring Anton Rubinstein’s Piano Concerto No. 4 coupled with Rachmaninoff’s Paganini Rhapsody. A recipient of the prestigious Gilmore Young Artists prize in 2006 at the age of 18 and the Prix Montblanc a year later, Natasha was awarded the Classical Recording Foundation’s Young Artist of the Year in 2010.

Natasha continues to generate excitement from all corners as she wins over international audiences with her musical sensibility and flawless technique when she appears on various festivals. Natasha has performed at London’s Wigmore Hall, the Auditorium du Louvre in Paris, Tokyo’s Musashino Performing Arts Center and on the Rising Stars Series of Gilmore.

Recent engagements includes performances with North America including Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, San Diego Symphony, Toronto Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, Houston Symphony, NAC Orchestra in Ottawa, Nashville Symphony, Virginia Symphony, Oregon Symphony, Colorado Symphony, and Minnesota Orchestra.

She tours overseas and extends her performance activities with renewed orchestras in Europe, such as the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Vienna’s Tonkünstler Orchester, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Orchestre de Bretagne, the Orchestre de Nancy, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Tonhalle Orchester in Zurich, Moscow Philharmonic, under the direction of conductors including Peter Oundjian, Andres Orozco-Estrada, Jeffrey Kahane, James Gaffigan, Dmitri Yablonski, Tomas Netopil, JoAnn Falletta, Fabien Gabel, and Andrew Litton. Natasha also appeared with Gidon Kremer and the Kremerata Baltica in Latvia, Benelux, the UK and Austria and performed with the National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra in Taipei.

Natasha has also being active beyond the traditional concert hall. In the winter of 2007, Natasha partnered with Simon Keenlyside and Maxim Vengerov in the filming of Twin Spirits, a project that explores the music and writing of Robert and Clara Schumann. Other projects she has performed in the project live several times in New York and the UK are directed by John Caird, the original director/adaptor of the musical Les Misérables. She was featured in choreographer Benjamin Millepied’s Danse Concertantes at New York’s Joyce Theater in 2008. She also played a role in a major two-part film for BBC Television on the life and work of Tchaikovsky, shot on location in St. Petersburg, performing excerpts from Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto and other works.

With a strong focus on new music, Natasha’s developing repertoire reflects an artistic maturity beyond her years. In the 2010-11 season, she played the world premiere of a sonata written for her by Gabriel Kahane, which was also included in her solo album. She contributed her musical philosophy to John Corigliano’s his Piano Concerto with the Colorado Symphony. In recital, she has played several pieces by noted composer and pianist Fred Hersch.

Natasha began her piano studies at the age of 4 with Nina Malikova at Moscow’s Andreyev School of Music. She then studied at San Francisco Conservatory of Music and with Pavlina Dokovska at Mannes College of Music in New York, from which she graduated in 2007.

About the Pasadena Symphony Association

Recent Acclaim for the Pasadena Symphony and POPS
“The Pasadena Symphony signals a new direction…teeming with vitality…dripping with opulent, sexy emotion.” Los Angeles Times.

“…full of pulsating energy from first note to last… the strings were lushly resonant, the wind principals were at the top of their games, and the brass rang out with gleaming vigor.” –Pasadena Star News.
Formed in 1928, the Pasadena Symphony and POPS is an ensemble of Hollywood’s most talented, sought after musicians. With extensive credits in the film, television, recording and orchestral industry, the artists of Pasadena Symphony and POPS are the most heard in the world.

The Pasadena Symphony and POPS performs in two of the most extraordinary venues in the United States: Ambassador Auditorium, known as the Carnegie Hall of the West, and the luxuriant Los Angeles Arboretum & Botanic Garden. Internationally recognized, Grammy-nominated conductor, David Lockington, serves as the Pasadena Symphony Association’s Music Director, with performance-practice specialist Nicholas McGegan serving as Principal Guest Conductor. The multi-platinum-selling, two-time Emmy and five-time Grammy Award-nominated entertainer dubbed “The Ambassador of the Great American Songbook,” Michael Feinstein, is the Principal Pops Conductor, who succeeded Marvin Hamlisch in the newly created Marvin Hamlisch Chair.

A hallmark of its robust education programs, the Pasadena Symphony Association has served the youth of the region for over five decades through the Pasadena Youth Symphony Orchestras (PYSO) comprised of five performing ensembles, with over 250 gifted 4th-12th grade students from more than 50 schools all over the Southern California region. The PYSO Symphony often performs on the popular television show GLEE.

The PSA provides people from all walks of life with powerful access points to the world of symphonic music.