Philharmonic Orchestra Spring Concert

BEETHOVEN: Piano Concerto No. 5, "Emperor"
     Lillie Gardner, piano
SIBELIUS: Symphony No. 2

Lillie Gardner is active as a solo pianist, chamber musician, and music educator throughout the United States. She has performed in the "Chopin 200" Festival at the World Financial Center and the "Tutte le Corde: Piano Music After 1950" concert series in Greenwich Village, as well as in venues such as Steinway Hall, Saklad Auditorium, Bellevue Hospital, Teatro de Casa Italiana, Southampton Cultural Center, and in chamber music concerts at Provincetown Playhouse and the Tenri Cultural Institute of New York. Particularly passionate about American music at the turn of the twentieth century, Gardner recently completed a pioneer sketch study of Aaron Copland's Piano Variations (1930) and is devoting the 2017-2018 concert season to the music of Amy Beach, whose 150th birth anniversary was in September of 2017. Gardner received her Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from New York University, and she holds a Doctorate of Musical Arts in piano performance from the University of Connecticut. Originally from St. Paul, she began her piano studies with Dr. Joseph Zins of Crocus Hill Studios. An avid writer, Gardner is fascinated by the relationship between words and music, and she recently curated "American Literature in Recital," a concert of solo and collaborative works by American composers inspired by the words of American writers. She is on the piano faculty of St. Joseph's School of Music, teaches in the St. Paul Public Schools after-school program, and maintains her private teaching studio, Gardner Piano Studio, in St. Paul.

The Philharmonic Orchestra is a full symphonic orchestra open, by audition, to all Bethel community members, including students, faculty, staff, alumni, and the larger community as openings allow.

If you are interested in playing with the Bethel Philharmonic Orchestra, please contact the Department of Music at music@bethel.edu.