Aaron Copland is considered to have been the “dean of American composers.” His style, a brilliant synthesis of the European classical tradition and the American vernacular, is instantly recognizable. His Fanfare for the Common Man is one of the great pages of musical patriotism, and is a work whose familiarity belies its originality. The Third Symphony, composed during the final years of World War II, is the best known of his symphonies. While it represents the epitome of his American style, it uses no folk tunes, but extensively develops the thematic material of his Fanfare, written a few years earlier.

The ebullient virtuosity of Beethoven’s Concerto No. 5 for Piano and Orchestra in E flat Op. 73 (the “Emperor Concerto”) finds a perfect champion in the young pianist, Baron Fenwick. Last season, Baron wowed the South Shore Symphony audience with his rendition of Bernstein’s Second Symphony (“The Age of Anxiety”), and he subsequently added to his list of accomplishments by winning the concerto competition at the prestigious Mannes School of Music at The New School.