Wael Forouk Joins New Philharmonic for Brahms' Piano Concertos

Internationally acclaimed classical pianist Wael Farouk joins Maestro Kirk Muspratt and New Philharmonic at the McAninch Arts Center (MAC) for Brahms’ Piano Concertos Nos. 1 and 2 at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, April 13, and 3 p.m. Sunday, April 14. A free MAC Chat will precede each concert one hour prior to concert time.

Johannes Brahms’ (1833-1897) Piano Concerto No. 1 in D minor, Op. 15, is a work for piano and orchestra. It began as a symphony and became a sonata for two pianos before being completed by Brahms in 1858 and premiering in 1859. Brahms’ Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-flat major, Op. 83 debuted 22 years later. The work was dedicated to his teacher, Edward Marxsen. A colossal work, in Brahms’ tongue in cheek description to his friend Clara Schumann, he called it "... a very small piano concerto with a very small and pretty scherzo."

This will be the fourth time Farouk has teamed up with New Philharmonic. Remarkably, to prepare for these concerts, Farouk will build his stamina by playing the entire program three times a day leading up to the New Philharmonic concert. Herculean accomplishments are nothing new to Farouk, who was last seen at the MAC in 2021 performing Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in F-sharp minor, Concerto No. 2 in C minor and Concerto No. 3 in D minor — all in a single program.

In the spring of 2021, Farouk was approached by Dr. Nash Naam, the President of the American Association of Hand Surgery, after he had read an article in the Chicago Tribune about Farouk’s historic performance of Rachmaninoff’s piano concerti with the New Philharmonic Orchestra.

As Farouk shares on his website: “Dr. Nash, who is also a fellow Egyptian by birth and Coptic, is also a music lover and was very much interested by the fact that I was born with a disability in both hands and yet am able to play Rachmaninoff. What got me intrigued in my conversations with Dr. Nash was when he told me that I could help hand surgeons understand more about how someone like me can do what I do despite my hands, and that understanding my story would help them better work with children with unusual hand conditions and their parents.” In 2022 Farouk delivered the lecture "My Perfect Hands" to members of the American Association of Hand Surgery.

Farouk has performed on five continents in such venues as the White Hall in St. Petersburg, Schumann’s house in Leipzig, and Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall in New York, garnering international acclaim.

As an instructor, Farouk has served as Director of the Keyboard Studies Program of Wisconsin's Carthage College and Piano Faculty at Chicago's Roosevelt University. Using virtual technology, he has instructed students as far away as China and Nigeria, Ukraine and Egypt. Farouk is now on the piano faculty at the Manhattan School of Music in New York, his alma mater.

New Philharmonic presents Brahms Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 2 at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, April 13 and 3 p.m. Sunday, April 14 at the McAninch Arts Center, 425 Fawell Blvd., on the campus of College of DuPage. Tickets are $55. For tickets visit AtTheMAC.org or call 630.942.4000.