University Symphony Orchestra in concert Feb. 22

Pianist James Prell will join the Washington University Symphony Orchestra for a performance at 3 p.m. Feb. 22 in Graham Chapel.

Prell, a junior in Arts & Sciences, will be the featured soloist in Maurice Ravel’s virtuosic work for piano and orchestra, Concerto in G Major.

The piece is rife with elements reflecting the French composer’s love of American jazz. Indeed, Ravel began composing the concerto in 1929, shortly after hearing George Gershwin perform his own jazz-laden, rhythmically intricate Rhapsody in Blue.

Prell, who is pursuing a minor in music, is a student of Seth Carlin, director of the piano program.

“The Department of Music is proud to nurture and support extremely talented students like Jim, whose academic interests outside of the piano range from chemistry and German to his study of music composition and the completion of several of his own works,” Carlin said.

Dan Presgrave, instrumental music coordinator in the Department of Music, will conduct the 70-plus-member orchestra. The program also includes Johannes Brahms’ popular Academic Festival Overture and the Petite Suite of Claude Debussy.

Admission is free and open to the public.

For more information, call 935-4841.

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