Midcoast Symphony returns to Franco

LEWISTON — The Franco-American Heritage Center in Lewiston will host the second in a series of four concerts this season by the Midcoast Symphony Orchestra on Saturday, January 19 at 7:30 p.m.

On the program are Richard Wagner’s Flying Dutchman Overture, Aaron Copland’s Clarinet Concerto, and Robert Schumann’s Symphony No. 3 in E flat major (Rhenish), Op. 97, performed by the MSO under the direction of conductor Rohan Smith. The MSO will perform the same selections the following afternoon at the Orion Performing Arts Center in Topsham.

The concert’s featured soloist is clarinetist Peter Jenkin, an Australian who began his professional career at age 19 when he became principal clarinet with the State Opera of South Australia.

Jenkin has performed with the London Sinfonietta, the Nash Ensemble, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, and L’Orchestre de L’Opéra de Lyon. He has also been a guest principal clarinet with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. He is currently Opera Australia’s principal clarinet (Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra) and on the staff of the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.

Tickets for the concert are $18 and are available at the Franco Center box office, which is open Monday through Friday from noon to 4 p.m. Tickets may also be obtained through the MSO’s website at www.midcoastsymphony.org or by calling 846-5378.

For $45, patrons may also purchase a package of tickets for all three remaining concerts at the Franco Center, which include the January 19 concert and two more on March 23 and May 18, respectively.

The first MSO concert of the season at the Franco Center was held in October of last year. A video excerpt of that performance can be viewed on the homepage of the symphony’s website.