Clara Schumann: Scherzo, Op. 10
Johannes Brahms: Tragic Overture, Op. 81
Robert Schumann: Symphony No. 4, Op. 120
Johannes Brahms: Piano Concerto, No. 2, Op. 83
Derek Wang, Piano
The grand finale of the 2024-2025 concert season tells the story of the love triangle between Clara Schumann, Robert Schumann, and Johannes Brahms.
The Star-Crossed Letters Concert will take place on Friday, May 16, 2025, at 7:30 pm at the Prairie Home Alliance Theater, Peoria Civic Center.
With musicianship of “pure poetry” (Seen and Heard International) and “enviable idiomatic rigor” (The Wall Street Journal), pianist Derek Wang is drawing increasing acclaim in wide-ranging appearances as soloist, collaborator, and communicator. A proponent of the music of Franz Liszt, Derek was awarded second prize at the 12th International Liszt Competition (Liszt Utrecht) in the Netherlands in 2022, which followed on the heels of first prize at the inaugural New York Liszt Competition in 2021. Deeply experienced in contemporary music, Derek held a three-summer-long fellowship position as pianist of the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble at the Aspen Music Festival under conductors Donald Crockett and Timothy Weiss, performing a total of over fifty works of the 20th and 21st centuries. Derek holds degrees from Juilliard and from the Yale School of Music. His principal teachers have included Stephen Hough, Yoheved Kaplinsky, Matti Raekallio, and Boris Slutsky. He continues his studies at the Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien in Hannover, Germany in the studio of Arie Vardi. For more information and the latest concert schedule, please visit www.derek-wang.com.