Principal
Conductor Iván Fischer led Evgeny Kissin in his first appearance
with the National Symphony Orchestra on September 26, 2009, at the Season
Opening Ball Concert. Mr. Kissin was featured in the Piano Concerto No.
2 of Chopin.
Also making his NSO debut was violinist József Lendvay,
Jr. He performed Sarasate’s Zigeunerweisen (“Gypsy Tunes”).
His performance of this same work with Maestro Fischer’s Budapest
Festival Orchestra at New York’s Carnegie Hall was called “as
revelatory in its blisteringly virtuosic moments as in its soulful ones” by
The New York Times.
The concert began at 7 p.m., and was immediately
followed by the Season Opening Ball, chaired by April and John Delaney.
The Ball’s National Chairmen were Lou Kerr and Dick Sias, and Helen
Henderson served as Honorary Chair. The black-tie event officially launches
the Kennedy Center’s 2009-2010 season and attracts patrons from
Washington’s political, diplomatic, and corporate sectors.
