Upcoming Program -

Thursday April 6 the Toronto Centre for the Arts

KERRY STRATTON CONDUCTS CANADIAN DEBUT CONCERT OF VIENNA CONCERT VEREIN ORCHESTRA, THURSDAY APRIL 6, 2006

*** PLEASE NOTE: Due to a visa problem, Russian pianist Alexander Kobrin is unable to perform April 6 in Toronto. His replacement is an equally celebrated young pianist. The Mozart concerto will also change. The revised release follows.
_________________________________________

Three dynamic musical forces unite Thursday, April 6 in Toronto, when Kerry Stratton conducts the Concert-Verein Orchestra of the famed Vienna Symphony, and Italian pianist Roberto Plano, a Van Cliburn International Piano Competition alumnus. The concert marks the Orchestra's Canadian debut, Plano's Toronto debut and their only joint appearance.

The performance, featuring the music of Mozart, Schubert and Malcolm Arnold, takes place Thursday, April 6, 2006, 8 p.m. in the George Weston Recital Hall, Toronto Centre for the Arts, 5040 Yonge Street (North York City Centre subway). Tickets, $30, $60 and $90, are available at the theatre box office and from Ticketmaster, 416-870-8000 or www.ticketmaster.ca. A limited number of tickets are available without service charge, from the International Resource Centre for Performing Artists, 416-362-1422.

More information is available from www.kerrystratton.com/itp. The concert is presented by International Touring Productions.

"Vienna plus Van Cliburn - you couldn't ask for better!" exclaims Maestro Stratton. "We have players from one of the world's very top orchestras, performing the finest music together with one of the most exciting piano talents to emerge in recent years."

Under the baton of Maestro Stratton, the orchestra performs repertoire that has captivated audiences throughout the world since its founding. The program includes Schubert's "pearl of a symphony" - No. 5 in B flat, Malcolm Arnold's witty Sinfonietta, Op. 48, and - with Roberto Plano - Mozart's final piano concerto, No 27 in B flat, K.595.

This is the second year that Kerry Stratton has toured a leading European orchestra in Canada. Last year, he brought the Sir Georg Solti Orchestra of Budapest to Toronto and nearby communities.

ROBERTO PLANO (www.robertoplano.com)
The New York Times says that Italian pianist Roberto Plano demonstrates "artistic maturity beyond his years." The Suddeutsche Zeitung in Munich finds him "a deep and exciting pianist."

Born in Varese, Italy in 1978, Plano gained the music world's attention through his stunning performances and top awards in the 2005 Van Cliburn, the 2003 Esther Honens, and the 2001 Cleveland International Piano Competitions. He has gone on to earn an international reputation for the radiant colours he creates in his performances, and for his sympathetic collaborative playing. His friendly and outgoing personality has made him a favourite with audiences.

Plano has performed throughout much of Europe and North America, as well as in Japan, recorded two CDs (Chopin, Liszt and Scriabin on Italy's Sipario Dischi label, and an all-Liszt disc on Azica), and is soon to record a third for Canada's Arktos at the Banff Centre. He has been featured on a number of radio and television broadcasts and DVDs, and was chosen by Philippe Entremont for a video project about the music of Mozart, to be broadcast by Japan's NHK.

He has performed throughout North America and Europe - making his debuts at such prestigious concert venues as New York's Alice Tully Hall, Sala Verdi in Milan, the Salle Cortot in Paris, and at the Herculessaal and Gasteig in Munich. Besides Italy, his concerto performances have taken him to Germany, Spain, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania, and to the Calgary Philharmonic. He has also been a featured guest artist at several international music festivals in recent seasons, among them the Chopin Festival in Duszniki, Poland; and festivals in the U.S., Spain and Italy. Prior to his Toronto debut April 6, he will have performed in Alberta and Manitoba with the Jupiter String Quartet (winner of the 2004 Banff International String Quartet Competition).

Highlights of his 2006-07 season include a recital debut at London's famed Wigmore Hall, and an invitation to play with and conduct members of the famed Berlin Philharmonic in concerti by Mozart and Shostakovich on tour in Italy.

VIENNA CONCERT-VEREIN
Founded in 1987, the Vienna Concert-Verein is an ensemble of the world-famous Vienna Symphony Orchestra. Its conductors have included such international luminaries as Vladimir Fedosiev, Leopold Hager, Marcello Viotti, Claus Peter Flor and Krzystof Penderecki. This young orchestra devotes itself to both the cultivation of Austrian contemporary music and the classical Viennese orchestra tradition. It also plays 20th century works from other countries, such as Malcolm Arnold's 1954 Sinfonietta, which was commissioned by England's Boyd Neel Orchestra, and which will open the Toronto performance.

Its CD recordings reflect the artistic thrust of this chamber orchestra. They range from the first-ever releases of Joseph Haydn's Notturni for the King of Naples and Michael Haydn's Violin Concerto in A and Concerto in D Major for Two Trombones, to rarely performed works by Arnold Schonberg and by Austrian contemporary composers Gottfried von Einem, Rainer Bischof and Richard Dunser.

Since its foundation, the Vienna Concert-Verein has given many successful concerts in Europe, China, Hong Kong and Japan. In Canada, the Orchestra will also perform in other Southern Ontario centres.

KERRY STRATTON: GLOBE-TROTTING CANADIAN MAESTRO
Before bringing the Vienna Concert-Verein Orchestra to Canada, Kerry Stratton will make his debut with it in the Brahms Hall of the Concertverein in Vienna.

This year sees the Canadian conductor busier than ever, with his career taking him in many directions. Toronto will be the home to his new 21-piece Grand Salon, Canada's Palm Court Orchestra, which debuts in March and will present salon and dance music of the 1920's, '30s and '40s in concert.

Also upcoming are concerts and recording engagements in early 2006 in Germany and the Czech Republic, the Toronto Philharmonia's Annual Viennese Ball at the Royal York Hotel, and summer concerts at the Huntsville Festival of the Arts, where he is founding music director. In May, he will host Music Capitals of Europe: On Tour With the Maestro, a journey to Vienna and Prague, and Budapest, where he will conduct the Sir Georg Solti Orchestra. (Details at www.kerrystratton.com/itp.)

Maestro Stratton remains Conductor and Music Director of the Toronto Philharmonia, orchestra-in-residence at the Toronto Centre for the Arts, and Principal Guest Conductor with the Karlsbad Symphony of the Czech Republic. His recorded catalogue includes the world premiere recording of Liszt's De Profundis, and music by Alan Hovhaness, as well as a CD of Slavic composers and a Dvorak disc. His promotion of Czech and Slovak culture earned him the Masaryk Award. A new, all-Brahms recording is scheduled in 2006 with the Nuremberg Symphony for Sony Korea.

- 30 -

For mediainformation, photos, interviews, CDs, etc., contact:

Linda Litwack
416-782-7837
E-mail: lalitwack@rogers.com