SPRINGFIELD Symphony to present night of ‘Madness & Mystery’

By C lifton J. Noble Jr. Special to The Republican

Two of this area’s finest musicians, conductor Tian Hui Ng and pianist Jiayan Sun, will join forces with the Springfield Symphony Orchestra on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. in Symphony Hall, presenting Sergei Rachmaninoff’s most famous and beloved composition, his “Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor,” in a concert entitled “Madness & Mystery.”

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Event: Springfield Symphony Orchestra presents “Madness & Mystery”

It was a really good performance and people loved it, but they keep clamoring for more of Buddy Holly. There isn’t a week that goes by when somebody doesn’t ask me when the show is coming back. So, here we are ending our 25th anniversary season with the play,” said Danny Eaton, founder of The Majestic.

“Million Dollar Quartet” was inspired by the famed recording session that brought together rock ’n’ roll icons Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins for the first and only time on Dec. 4, 1956.

Written by Alan Janes, “Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story” opened at London’s Victoria Palace Theatre in 1989 before being brought to Broadway in 1990. Over the years, there have been numerous national tours in the England and the United States as well as other productions throughout the world.

In addition to Whelton, cast members include Caleb Koval as Ritchie Valens, Shaun O’Keefe as the Big Bopper, Tina Sparkle as Holly’s wife Maria Elena Holly, Josh Karam as one of The Crickets, Jacob Nichols as a Cricket, Chelsea

Nectow as one of the Snowbirds, Josh Mason as Holly’s record producer Norman Petty, Steve Henderson as Holly’s first manager Hi-Pockets Duncan, and Brad Shepard as the MC at Holly’s last performance at the Surf Ballroom. Music director is Mitch Chakour, with Eaton once again directing the play.

Eaton was with a group of students when they went to see “Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story” in London’s West End.

“For me it was the music of my generation. The performance just bowled me away and the audience was so multigenerational with grandparents dancing in the aisles with their grandkids,” Eaton said about thinking the play would be perfect for the Majestic’s opening performance.

Of special note, audiences are no longer required to wear masks during performances. Ticket prices range from $31 - $37 and can be purchased only by visiting or calling the box office at 413-747-7797 from Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

For more information, visit majestictheater.com.

Rachmaninoff premiered the concerto in 1901 and went on to play the piece 145 times during his life, conducting it several occasions as well. The triumph of the piece reinforced the composer’s confidence in his abilities. The disastrous debut of his First Symphony had plunged Rachmaninoff into severe depression, which he was only able to conquer through sessions of hypnotherapy with Dr. Nikolai Dahl. Dahl was said to have incorporated the following three-part suggestion into their sessions: “You will begin to write your concerto. ... You will work with great facility. ... The concerto will be of an excellent quality.”

It worked. Rachmaninoff dedicated the concerto to Dahl in gratitude for his treatment. The conductor-pianist team of Tian Hui Ng and Jiayan Sun brings to the stage not only the pair’s collective global fame, but their educational contributions in the Springfield area.

Ng teaches at Mount Holyoke College as the director of orchestral studies. A native of Singapore, he has studied and conducted all over the world. Closer to home, he is music director of the Pioneer Valley Symphony Orchestra, the Boston Opera Collaborative, the Victory Players, and White Snake Projects.

Sun is assistant professor of music at Smith College and associate chair for performance

When: Saturday, 7:30 p.m. Where: Springfield Symphony Hall, 34 Court St., Springfield

Cost: $15-$70 activities. Since coming to Smith, Sun has presented the complete Beethoven Piano Sonatas, as well as a yearlong series devoted to the music of Schubert and Chopin.

For more information and to purchase tickets: Go online to springfield sym phony.org or call the box office, 413-733-2291.

A native of Yantai, China, Sun is a prize-winner in several international piano competitions. He received bachelor’s and master’s degrees from The Juilliard School in 2012 and 2014.

Rachmaninoff himself had an interesting connection with Smith College. In 1909, he gave his first performance in the United States at Smith. He returned to perform there in 1921, 1928, and 1941. His cousin and sister-in-law, Sophia Satin, taught Botany at Smith College from 1945-1955.

The “Madness & Mystery” in the concert’s title can be found in the two works that surround the Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto. Benjamin Britten’s “Sea Interludes,” the program’s opening work, come from Britten’s 1945 opera “Peter Grimes,” based