Guest pianist Ilya Yakushev will perform Rachmaninoff’s ‘Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini’ with the Wichita Symphony Orchestra

The Wichita Symphony Orchestra has put together a program that explores the variations of Sergei Rachmaninoff’s masterful “Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini,” Edward Elgar’s beloved “Variations on an Original Theme – Enigma” and a new classical gem. Award-winning composer Christopher Theofanidis’ 21st-century crowd-pleaser “Rainbow Body” took the music of Hildegard von Bingen and put his own spin on it.

Rachmaninoff wrote “Rhapsody” — a piece that became one of his best-known works — in the U.S. in 1934.

Russia-born, award-winning pianist Ilya Yakushev is the soloist for this challenging work. Yakushev, like renowned Russian composer Rachmaninoff, listened to classical and Russian folk music as a child. Both men, although raised a century apart, became classical pianists trained at Russian universities.

Rachmaninoff was born in 1873 in a village more than 250 miles east of Moscow. Several years later, the family moved to St. Petersburg. Known for his extraordinary musical abilities, Rachmaninoff, a romantic composer, was highly regarded in both his homeland and Europe. In 1917, during the Russian Revolution, Rachmaninoff and his family walked across the border to Finland, leaving their possessions behind, and eventually settled in California.

Yakushev, who grew up in Leningrad (St. Petersburg), started playing the family’s upright piano at age 5. Rachmaninoff began his lessons at 4.

“I played only three preludes by Rachmaninoff up to the age of 18,” said Yakushev, winner of the 2005 World Piano Competition. Since coming to study, teach and perform in the U.S., Yakushev has played more of Rachmaninoff’s works.

“Rhapsody is a very special piece,” Yakushev said. “Rachmaninoff is at his best in musical form and technique here. I feel great when I play this piece.”

Several years ago, Yakushev performed another Rachmaninoff work with the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Daniel Hege, the music director and conductor for the Wichita Symphony Orchestra.

“Ilya is brilliant,” Hege said. “He has great charisma and phenomenal technique. He’s a great artist.”

Hege is excited to have Yakushev perform the Rhapsody — and to have the Wichita Symphony Orchestra accompany him in this intricate work.

“It’s an exciting and fun piece,” Hege said. “It’s ingeniously written.”

Hege described the 18th variation as “hauntingly gorgeous.”

“It’s so beloved that it’s found its way into popular culture,” Hege said.

Before the Rachmaninoff piece, the symphony will perform Theofanidis’ 2000 composition “Rainbow Body.” This is one of the most performed modern works in the classical repertoire.

Theofanidis, a professor at Yale University, wrote this composition after listening to “Ave Maria, O Auctrix Vite” by medieval composer Hildegard von Bingen.

“People are going to love this piece of music,” Hege said. “They are going to discover a new treasure.”

Hege said Theofanidis was able to incorporate into this composition the reverberations one would hear in a cathedral.

“It’s filled with a lot of rhythmic energy,” Hege said.

The energy built up from the program’s beginning will not dissipate with Elgar’s “Variations on an Original Theme – Enigma.” Elgar, born in England in 1857, sat down at the piano one evening, after giving a violin lesson, and started playing. His wife, Alice, told him how much she enjoyed the piece. He continued to play different melodies, asking her whom each piece reminded her of. Eventually, he had a composition that included 11 sketches of his friends, one variation dedicated to his wife, one to himself, and one sketch that he modeled after the actions of his friend’s dog. What started out as a whimsical exercise soon became serious and eventually revered.

This exceedingly popular and highly regarded work also was a favorite of Mitchell Berman, the symphony’s former executive director. A portion of the work, the Nimrod Variation, was played in his honor at the symphony’s first concert of the season. Berman died last September.

“This work is characterized by deep introspection, humor and sheer nobility and triumph,” Hege said. “It is a great virtuoso vehicle for the orchestra.”

Elgar’s variations were performed in 1899 to an enthusiastic London audience. Elgar continued his rise as a well-respected British composer with his “Cockaigne” and Pomp and Circumstance marches. In 1904, he was knighted.

This story was originally published March 4, 2012 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Guest pianist Ilya Yakushev will perform Rachmaninoff’s ‘Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini’ with the Wichita Symphony Orchestra."