Internationally acclaimed classical pianist Wael Farouk joins Maestro Kirk Muspratt and New Philharmonic at the McAninch Arts Center (MAC) for Brahms’ Piano Concertos Nos. 1 and 2 at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, April 13, and 3 p.m. Sunday, April 14. A free MAC Chat will precede each concert one hour prior to concert time.
Johannes Brahms’ (1833-1897) Piano Concerto No. 1 in D minor, Op. 15, is a work for piano and orchestra. It began as a symphony and became a sonata for two pianos before being completed by Brahms in 1858 and premiering in 1859. Brahms’ Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-flat major, Op. 83 debuted 22 years later. The work was dedicated to his teacher, Edward Marxsen. A colossal work, in Brahms’ tongue in cheek description to his friend Clara Schumann, he called it "... a very small piano concerto with a very small and pretty scherzo."
Wael Farouk with New Philharmonic in 2021. Photo courtesy of the MAC
This will be the fourth time Farouk has teamed up with New Philharmonic. Remarkably, to prepare for these concerts, Farouk will build his stamina by playing the entire program three times a day leading up to the New Philharmonic concert. Herculean accomplishments are nothing new to Farouk, who was last seen at the MAC in 2021 performing Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in F-sharp minor, Concerto No. 2 in C minor and Concerto No. 3 in D minor — all in a single program.
In the spring of 2021, Farouk was approached by Dr. Nash Naam, the President of the American Association of Hand Surgery, after he had read an article in the Chicago Tribune about Farouk’s historic performance of Rachmaninoff’s piano concerti with the New Philharmonic Orchestra.
As Farouk shares on his website: “Dr. Nash, who is also a fellow Egyptian by birth and Coptic, is also a music lover and was very much interested by the fact that I was born with a disability in both hands and yet am able to play Rachmaninoff. What got me intrigued in my conversations with Dr. Nash was when he told me that I could help hand surgeons understand more about how someone like me can do what I do despite my hands, and that understanding my story would help them better work with children with unusual hand conditions and their parents.” In 2022 Farouk delivered the lecture "My Perfect Hands" to members of the American Association of Hand Surgery.
Farouk has performed on five continents in such venues as the White Hall in St. Petersburg, Schumann’s house in Leipzig, and Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall in New York, garnering international acclaim.
As an instructor, Farouk has served as Director of the Keyboard Studies Program of Wisconsin's Carthage College and Piano Faculty at Chicago's Roosevelt University. Using virtual technology, he has instructed students as far away as China and Nigeria, Ukraine and Egypt. Farouk is now on the piano faculty at the Manhattan School of Music in New York, his alma mater.
Tickets
New Philharmonic presents Brahms Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 2 at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, April 13 and 3 p.m. Sunday, April 14 at the McAninch Arts Center, 425 Fawell Blvd., on the campus of College of DuPage. Tickets are $55. For tickets visit www.AtTheMAC.org or call 630.942.4000. The McAninch Box Office is open Tuesday – Saturday, noon – 6 p.m. and two hours prior to performance.
About New Philharmonic
New Philharmonic, the only professional orchestra based in DuPage County, Ill., has inspired classical music enthusiasts in Chicago and the suburbs for more than four decades. New Philharmonic was recently honored with the Illinois Council of Orchestras’ 2020 ICO Award in the category Programming of the Year. It continues to thrive with the goal to give innovative treatment to both classic compositions and modern works while striving to make the music accessible to new audiences and youth through a variety of educational efforts. Today, under the direction of Music Director/Conductor Kirk Muspratt, named 2018 Conductor of the Year (Professional Orchestra) by Illinois Council of Orchestras, New Philharmonic consists of more than 60 professional musicians and typically performs more than a dozen concerts a year, reaching more than 7,500 from the greater Chicago area annually.
Season support for New Philharmonic is provided in part by the JCS Fund of the DuPage Foundation; Anonymous, Brookdale Glen Ellyn; a grant from the Illinois Arts Council Agency; WDCB 90.9 FM; Frank Modruson and Lynne Shigley, and the College of DuPage Foundation.
About the MAC
McAninch Arts Center at College of DuPage is located 25 miles west of Chicago near I-88 and I-355. It houses three indoor performance spaces (780-seat proscenium Belushi Performance Hall; 186-seat soft-thrust Playhouse Theatre; and a versatile black box Studio Theatre), outdoor Lakeside Pavilion, plus the Cleve Carney Museum of Art and classrooms for the college’s academic programming. The MAC has presented theater, music, dance and visual art to more than 1.5 million people since its opening in 1986 and typically welcomes more than 100,000 patrons from the greater Chicago area to more than 230 performances each season.
The mission of the MAC is to foster enlightened educational and performance opportunities, which encourage artistic expression, establish a lasting relationship between people and art, and enrich the cultural vitality of the community. For more information about the MAC, visit www.AtTheMAC.org or @AtTheMAC on Facebook and Instagram.
Support for the McAninch Arts Center is provided in part by Bank of America, Brookdale Senior Living Glen Ellyn, the DoubleTree by Hilton Lisle/Naperville, Anonymous, Sullivan Taylor Family Trust, The DuPage Foundation, Ball Horticultural, Clayco, Enjoy Illinois, Illinois Arts Council, a state agency; JCS Arts, Health and Education Fund of the DuPage Foundation; Wight & Company, WDCB 90.9 FM and College of DuPage Foundation.
Established as a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit charitable organization in 1967, the College of DuPage Foundation raises monetary and in-kind gifts to increase access to education and to enhance cultural opportunities for the surrounding community. For more information about the College of DuPage Foundation, visit www.foundation.cod.edu or call 630.942.2462.