Pianist Mia Nakamuar to solo with Northwest Symphonhy Orchestra

  Pianist Mia Nakamura will perform at the award-winning Northwest Symphony Orchestra’s gala opening of its 60^th anniversary season on Sunday, November 20 at 3:30 PM. This exciting  concert will be held in the Theatre for the Performing Arts at Maine West High School, 1755 S. Wolf Road in Des Plaines.  Highlighting this special season will be reprisals of music played at the orchestra’s inaugural concert on May 3, 1953.  Music Director and Conductor Paul Vermel will open the concert with Aaron Copland’s Ceremonial Fanfare.  The orchestra will continue with George Walker’s Lyric for Strings, followed by music played at the inaugural concert, selections from the L’Arlesienne Suites I and II by Georges Bizet.   Mia Nakamura will perform Tchaikovsky’s popular Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat minor.

Miss Nakamura, a native of Kyoto, Japan, has established herself as a much-in-demand soloist,

collaborative artist, and chamber musician in the Chicago area and abroad. She has been praised for her “exceptional talent” “elegant performances”, and “passion and excitement”.

As a scholarship student of Ludmila Lazar, Ms. Nakamura recently received a Performance

Diploma at Chicago College of Performing Arts of Roosevelt University, where she also earned

B.M. and M.M. degrees in piano performance with honors.  Ms. Nakamura’s extensive resume includes performing with the Symphony of Oak Park and River Forest in 2008 and with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at Ravinia in 2011 as second keyboardist, with James Conlon conducting, in Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet.  She is a frequent guest artist at the Consulate General of Japan in Chicago. Other solo appearances include a performance with the Evanston Symphony orchestra, a recital at the Piano Forte Salon Series, broadcast live on 98.7 WFMT, and regular engagements with the Chicago Japanese American Association. During her diploma study at CCPA, she was selected to perform at the Inaugural Piano Showcase Recital as one of the college’s brightest and most talented piano students and has performed with members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, and the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra in Tokyo, Japan.  Ms. Nakamura has participated in the Bowdoin International Music Festival in Maine as a scholarship recipient and has studied with Martin Canin from the Juilliard School. She has played in the master classes of Menahem Pressler, Mary Sauer, Martin Katz, Evenly Brancart, and Hershey Felder.  Ms. Nakamura joined the Civic Orchestra of Chicago in 2009 and has been the principal keyboardist since 2011. She has also been on the piano faculty at the People’s Music School of Chicago.

Prior to the concert Carolyn Paulin, a producer and program host at radio station WFMT 98.7 Chicago, will present a pre-concert commentary. The free commentary begins one hour prior to the concert.

The Northwest Symphony, founded in 1951, now numbers 70 instrumentalists, ranging from talented students to music professionals, who meet weekly to play and share great symphonic orchestral music. Symphony members, whose ages range from the late teens to the eighties, live in Des Plaines and more than 45 surrounding communities.  A special guest performer, Ed Doemland, who played in the first concert of the Northwest Symphony, as well as many others through the years, is traveling from Milwaukee to rejoin the orchestra at this celebratory concert.

Individual concert ticket prices are $20.00 for adults, $15.00 for seniors, and $10.00 for students. Season tickets for the four-concert series are $60.00 for adults, $45.00 for seniors, and $30.00 for

students, a series savings of 25%. Children under age 14 are admitted free when accompanied by a paying adult. Tickets will be available at the door on concert days. Those who wish to purchase

tickets in advance may mail requests and payment checks to the Northwest Symphony Orchestra, PO Box 46, Mt. Prospect, IL 60056-0046.  Online order forms available at the Orchestra’s Web site, www.northwestsymphony.org