Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra Performs at Phillips Center, 3/18

The Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra (BPO), under the direction of celebrated Music Director JoAnn Falletta, will perform at the Phillips Center for the Performing Arts March 18, as part of the orchestra's first multi-city tour in more than a decade.

Gainesville is the final stop on the Florida Friends Tour, which is the culmination of three years of planning and launches the celebration of the BPO's 75th Anniversary. Internationally recognized pianist Fabio Bidini will perform alongside the orchestra.

Acclaimed by The New York Times as "one of the finest conductors of her generation," JoAnn Falletta serves as the Music Director of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra as well as the Virginia Symphony Orchestra.

Since stepping up to the podium of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra in the fall of 1999, Ms. Falletta has been credited with bringing the Philharmonic to a new level of national and international prominence. In 2009, for the first time in its 74-year history, the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra won two Grammy awards for Best Classical Performance and Best Classical Composition for its John Corigliano: Mr. Tambourine Man: Seven Poems of Bob Dylan; Three Hallucinations CD.

Also during Ms. Falletta's tenure, the Buffalo Philharmonic has rekindled its distinguished history of NPR broadcasts and recordings, including the release of eleven new CDs of a highly diverse repertoire on the NAXOS and Beau Fleuve label.

Fabio Bidini's sensational success at the Busoni and at the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition opened the door to a constantly growing international career. Mr. Bidini now is recognized as one of the foremost young pianists to have emerged from Italy since the days of Michelangeli and is a frequent guest of the finest orchestras in the world.

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Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra with Fabio Bidini, Piano
Thursday, March 18, 7:30 p.m.
Curtis M. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts
The performance is sponsored by Merrill Lynch Global Wealth Management Michael C. Carr, V.P.

Program
Overture to Semiramide Gioachino Rossini

Concerto in G Major for Piano and Orchestra Maurice Ravel

Fabio Bidini, Piano

Symphony No. 2 in E Minor, Op. 27 Sergei Rachmaninoff

Pre-performance Discussion
Led by JoAnn Falletta at 6:45 p.m.

Ticket Prices: $34.00 - $55.25

Web sites:
University of Florida Performing Arts: www.performingarts.ufl.edu
www.bpo.org
www.joannfalletta.com
www.fabiobidini.com

To Purchase tickets, call the Phillips Center Box Office at 352-392-ARTS (2787) or 800-905-ARTS (toll-free within Florida) or call Ticketmaster at 800-745-3000 (toll-free). Tickets may also be purchased in person at the Phillips Center Box Office, the University Box Office at the University of Florida Reitz Union or from any Ticketmaster outlet, or online at www.ticketmaster.com. Cash, checks, MasterCard and Visa are accepted.

UF students may purchase $10 tickets (with a valid student ID) at the Phillips Center Box Office and the University Box Office at the Reitz Union. Other students may purchase $10 student tickets (in the balcony) at the Phillips Center Box Office.