Wichita Symphony Orchestra presents Gabriela Martinez Plays Rachmaninoff

Hello? Is anyone listening out there? Imagine a musical message – a Primal Message - sent 25,000 light-years away? What would our cosmic greeting sound like? Nokuthula Ngwenyama, inspired by the work of Carl Sagan and the interstellar greeting sent by the Arecibo Observatory in 1974, offers her possibility. As we say in Kansas, “Ad Astra per Aspera.”

Mathis der Maler (Mathis the Painter) depicts an artist who retreats, spiritually wounded, from the turbulent world of contemporary politics into the timeless world of art. Does that sound like a story for our times? In this 1934 music, Hindemith responds to the art of a famous Renaissance altarpiece to convey his emotions about beauty and a rapidly changing world.

Pianistic fireworks – check. Sublime melodies – check. Famous piano concerto – check. It’s all here for you to experience. Rachmaninoff hit it out of the park with the Second Piano Concerto. Venezuelan pianist Gabby Martinez, with her effortless technique, takes the Wichita Symphony’s Steinway through its paces in a performance you don’t want to miss!

NOKUTHULA NGWENYAMA Primal Message for Strings
PAUL HINDEMITH Mathis der Maler
SERGEI RACHMANINOFF Piano Concerto No. 2
     featuring Gabriela Martinez, piano