News Release

The Hopkins Symphony Orchestra will open its 2003-2004 season with "All Beethoven, All the Time" featuring guest pianist Clipper Erickson, at 8 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 18, in Shriver Hall, located on Johns Hopkins University's Homewood campus, 3400 N. Charles St. in Baltimore.

Music director Jed Gaylin will lead the orchestra of Johns Hopkins students, faculty and staff and Baltimore- area residents through a program of well-known pieces by Ludwig van Beethoven. The performance will feature Leonore Overture No. 3, Piano Concerto No. 5 ("Emperor") and Symphony No. 8. Max Derrickson will give a free pre-concert lecture at 7 p.m.

"With 'Leonore 3,' Beethoven inadvertently invented a whole new genre, the concert overture," Gaylin said. "The 'Emperor' concerto manages to be both grandiose and earthy, with a stunningly intimate middle movement. The Eighth Symphony is a compact gem, less an homage to older classical styles than a disguised revolution in its own right."

Clipper Erickson began his performing career at 19 when he won the Young Musicians Foundation Competition in Los Angeles. Erickson attended the Juilliard School of Music and earned degrees from both Indiana University and Yale University, where he was named the most promising graduate student in music. He was awarded top prizes in the Busoni Competition and the William Kapell Competition, and was a semifinalist in the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow. He has appeared both nationally and internationally in recital and as soloist with symphony orchestras. His third album, "Woven Images," features music inspired by the visual arts.

Upcoming performances by the Hopkins Symphony Orchestra include "Sorcerer's Solstice" on Dec. 6; a free family concert on March 6; "Let's Play!" on March 7; and "Open Spaces" on April 17. The orchestra also sponsors three chamber music concerts each year, scheduled for Nov. 9, Feb. 15, and April 4.

Tickets are $10 general admission; $8 senior citizens and students; $8 Johns Hopkins faculty, staff and alumni; free for Johns Hopkins students with ID. Subscriptions are available. For more information, call 410-516-6542, e-mail hso@jhu.edu or visit www.jhu.edu/~jhso.