Friday, February 9, 2024
7:30 p.m.
Graham Tyler Memorial Chapel
Concert is free with reservation. Please indicate for which concert you are reserving seats and how many.

The Orchestra of the International Center for Music will present its annual Valentine’s concert on Friday, February 9^th, 7:30 PM, at the gorgeous Graham Tyler Memorial Chapel at Park University. The program will be under the direction of Kansas City favorite, guest conductor Timothy Hankewich, music director of Orchestra Iowa, who returns for his third appearance with the ICM Orchestra. Maestro Hankewich has selected music by Bach, Boccherini, Debussy, Schubert, and Vivaldi, and the featured work will be Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 21, K. 467.

The concert begins with the second movement of Bach’s Third Orchestral Suite, a piece that has become known as Bach’s Air on the G String. A slow and dreamy melody hovering over a gentle walking bass line creates a mood of quiet contemplation and serves as introduction to all the music that follows on the program. Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 21 is one of the composer’s most popular works for both audiences and players alike. Many listeners may be most familiar with the Andante second movement, as this gained popular fame for its use in the 1967 film “Elvira Madigan,” and a photo from the film even graced the cover of the LP used for the recording. This performance will feature soloist Michael Davidman from the prestigious ICM Piano Studio under the tutelage of ICM Artistic Director, Founder and Van Cliburn Gold Medalist Stanislav Ioudenitch.

The second half of the program brings together a number of shorter works, well known in their original form or as transcriptions. Debussy’s Claire de Lune for piano, Boccherini’s Minuet from his String Quintet Op.11 No.5, and Schubert’s Serenade for solo voice all illustrate the many moods of Valentine’s Day.

With a punch and cookie reception immediately following the concert, the ICM Orchestra’s annual Valentine’s Concert has proven to be one of the most eagerly anticipated of the year, so please plan to attend this wonderful mid-winter event. As with all ICM Orchestra programs, this concert is free for all to attend. But you must make a reservation in advance by completing the RSVP form HERE.

Timothy Hankewich

Hankewich, who is popular with audiences and critics alike, has earned an outstanding reputation as a maestro whose classical artistry is as inspiring as his personality is engaging. Recent guest appearances have included performances with the Jacksonville, Victoria and Hamilton Symphonies as well as a tour throughout the Czech Republic and Slovakia with the Moravian Philharmonic and the Slovak State Orchestra. In September of 2014, Orchestra Iowa under Maestro Hankewich’s direction released its first ever commercial recording featuring composer Michael Daugherty’s American Gothic.

While in Iowa, Maestro Hankewich led his organization through a catastrophic flood in 2008 and raised it to new heights of artistic accomplishment and financial security. He helped restore its damaged performance venue, aided in the reconstruction of its offices, and helped implement a new successful business model allowing the orchestra to grow. Because of these achievements, he has been asked to advise boards of directors of other orchestras on how to achieve meaningful artistic and financial health in the wake of a crisis.

Prior to his position with Orchestra Iowa, Mr. Hankewich served as the Resident Conductor of the Kansas City Symphony for seven years. He has held additional staff conducting positions with the Oregon Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony and the Evansville Philharmonic. Winner of the prestigious Aspen Conducting Award in 1997, Hankewich has enjoyed appearing often as a guest conductor, leading such organizations as Orchestra London, the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, as well as the Windsor, Santa Rosa, Indianapolis, Oregon and China Broadcasting Symphony Orchestras.

Timothy Hankewich is a native of Dawson Creek, British Columbia and is married to his wife Jill, a pharmacist. He graduated from the University of Alberta, earning his bachelor of music degree with honors in piano performance under Professor Alexandra Munn, and a master’s degree in choral conducting under the direction of Dr. Leonard Ratzlaff. He received his doctorate in instrumental and opera conducting from Indiana University, where his primary teachers were Imre Pallo and Thomas Baldner. His studies have also included summers in Vienna and Aspen where he worked under the tutelage of Maestros David Zinman, Bruno Weil, Yuri Temirkanov, Robert Spano, Michael Stern, Murray Sidlin, Julius Rudel, James DePreist, and James Conlon.

Michael Davidman, pianist

Michael began his piano studies at the age of five at the Greenwich House Music School, continuing with Efrem Briskin at the Manhattan School of Music precollege division. Michael completed his Bachelor of Music degree under the guidance of Robert McDonald, also with mentor and teacher Ford Mylius Lallerstedt at the Curtis Institute of Music, his Master of Music degree at the Juilliard School with pianists Jerome Lowenthal and Stephen Hough. Presently, Michael is finishing an Artist Diploma studying with Stanislav Ioudenich at the International Center for Music (ICM), Kansas City, MO.

A dedicated and disciplined young musician, Michael has won numerous piano competitions, including the 2022 Long-Thibaud International Piano Competition, third place and Orchestra prize, 2021 American Pianists Association finalist award, winner 2019 Juilliard Gina Bachauer Competition, first prize 2018 New York International Piano Competition chamber ensemble, and first prizes in both soloist and concerto categories at the 33rd Ithaca College of Music Piano Competition. Michael has also received a four year scholarship from the Chopin Foundation of the United States.

As soloist, he has performed with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Orchestre Symponique de la Garde Republicaine, Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, Symphonicity, Monterey Symphony, Millikin-Decatur Symphony Orchestra, Yonkers Philharmonic Orchestra, Ithaca College Orchestra, Manhattan School of Music Philharmonic Orchestra, Summit Music Festival Orchestra, Bronx Arts Ensemble Orchestra, New York Concerti Sinfonietta, NY Chamber Orchestra, and the West Point Band. He has performed at Salle Cortot, Théâtre du Châtelet, Alice Tully Hall, Weill Recital Hall, the Kimmel Center, Sandler Center, Symphony Space, and Merkin Concert Hall. The festivals he has attended include the Encuentro de Musica festival in Santander, Spain, Norfolk Chamber Music Festival (Yale), Music Academy of the West, Kneisel Hall, Summit Music Festival, Music@Menlo, and PianoFest in the Hamptons. Michael has also performed on WHYY “Curtis On Stage”, WQXR McGraw Hill Young Artist Showcase – “The Robert Sherman Show”, WSKG-FM radio Expressions Series, NPR’s radio program “From the Top”, and “Piano Evenings with David Dubal.”

An exceptional presence on the concert stage, Michael has repeatedly earned glowing reviews in the press: “The American Michael Davidman, 25, sets the bar high with a program focused on the spectacular and the atmospheric, impressing the public…his chiseled and fiery playing tends to extremes, breathtaking and flamboyant, continues with Rachmaninov’s 2nd sonata, which gives pride of place to the explosive touch of the pianist to the delight of an audience enthusiastic”; 2022 Long-Thibaud Competition, semifinals, (Pianiste, by Melissa Khong); “2021 American Pianists Awards concerto round: Piano Concerto No. 1 in E flat Major, S.124…the excitement of the “Allegro Marziale animato” was introduced with masterly suspense, and the thrills of that finale seemed truly earned by the “intense sensitivity” the pianist had displayed previously…this was not adventitious excitement applied out of nowhere; it had been present, thanks to Davidman’s acuity and interpretive élan, from the start…all told, this was one of the best concerto performances I’ve heard in recent years, (Upstage – Indianapolis, IN – Jay Harvey, June 27, 2021).

An opera enthusiast from a very young age, Michael does audio restoration and cleaning work on historical and rare opera recordings, uploaded to his YouTube channel called PucciniMD.