Renowned pianist joins Jacobs orchestra

The Jacobs School of Music’s Philharmonic Orchestra, accompanied by conductor David Effron and pianist André Watts, will perform 8 p.m. Wednesday at the Musical Arts Center.

About 70 students will perform at the concert, the first of the year.

“I’m excited, and the students are extremely excited about the first concert,” Effron, a professor of orchestral conducting at Jacobs, said. “We’re especially excited that a man of André Watts’s stature is going to be a soloist. He’s so much fun to work with for everybody.”

Watts is a piano professor who joined the School of Music faculty in 2004. His career began in 1963 when he was only 16 years old, after he was chosen by Leonard Bernstein to perform with the New York Philharmonic at one of its Young People’s Concerts.

He has since received numerous awards, including the 2011 National Medal of Arts, given by the President of the United States in recognition of his contribution to arts in the U.S.

Works that will be played at the concert include German composer Otto Nicolai’s overture to “The Merry Wives of Windsor,” Norweigan composer Edvard Grieg’s  “Piano Concerto in A Minor, Op. 16,” with Watts on piano, and German composer Johannes Brahms’s “Symphony No. 2 in D Major, Op. 73.”

“I wanted to perform works that would be familiar to audiences as this will give a good start to the 2013/14 season,” Effron said. “It will be a wonderful, joyful beginning to the semester.”

Follow Jacobs School of Music reporter Rachel Osman on Twitter @rachosman.