Franco Center hosts benefit concert

LEWISTON — The Franco-American Heritage Center will host its 9th Annual Gala Benefit Concert on Saturday, October 20 at 7:30 p.m. featuring a performance by the Midcoast Symphony Orchestra with guest piano soloist George Lopez.

The music begins with a performance of Claude Debussy’s “Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun,” followed by Ludwig van Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in B flat major, Op.19, and it concludes with Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade, Op.35.

The gala concert, which is the first in a series of four concerts that the MSO will perform at the Franco Center this season, is the biggest musical event of the year at the center and serves as a kick-off to its 2012-13 slate of events. In addition to the music at the gala, there will be food and drink receptions both before and after the concert.

The theme for the evening is “Las Vegas,” and beginning at 6 p.m. concert attendees can avail themselves of wine as well as hors d’oeuvres from local restaurants and caterers including Culinary Concepts, DaVinci’s Eatery, the Green Ladle, Gritty McDuff’s, Margaritas, Naral’s Restaurant, Pat’s Pizza, Rolly’s Diner, and Town and Country Foods.

After the concert there will be a dessert and champagne reception featuring sweets from Bates College, the Bread Shack, Grant’s Bakery, and Starbucks.

The concert also serves as a symbolic transition in leadership at the Franco Center as Rita Dubé prepares to retire after 12 years as Executive Director and introduces concert-goers to the center’s new director, Louis Morin.

Tickets for the gala are $50 and are only available in person at the Franco Center box office, located on the Oxford Street side of the building located at 46 Cedar Street. The box office is open Monday through Friday from noon to 4 p.m.