Bruce Murdy, Clara Zach and Drew Petersen. PHOTO BY JOSHUA KODIS

The Vero Beach Friends of the Atlantic Classical Orchestra drew a packed audience of guests to the lovely Orchid Island Beach Club for ‘An Intimate Evening of Beautiful Piano Music,’ a benefit concert and reception featuring the exceptional pianist Drew Petersen.

“It’s always exciting to realize that the beginning of the season is here. And this event symbolizes that; it has this sort of Pavlovian effect on me,” said Maestro David Amado, ACO music director, before speaking of the season, which began Jan. 11 with Masterworks I: The Wild West.

“And then in February, we’ve got a concert all about the Paris jazz scene in the ’20s, and we’ll be playing, among other things, ‘American in Paris,’” said Amado, referencing Gershwin’s iconic work.

“In March, we are playing music of Astor Piazzolla, the ‘Tango King.’ We’re playing his ‘Four Seasons of Buenos Aires,’ which is modeled after Vivaldi’s ‘Four Seasons,’ but this is tango-inflected, hot-blooded. You know, after that concert, everyone’s going to need a cold shower, for sure,” said Amado.

“And then, the last concert we pay tribute to our institutional DNA. We play classical period music, ending with Beethoven’s groundbreaking and earth-shattering ‘Eroica Symphony,’” said Amado.

“Before that, of course, we have some wonderful music right now,” said Amado. Calling Drew Petersen an extraordinary pianist, he related that Drew’s brother had studied cello with his aunt, who told Amado of the “unbelievable” skills of his pianist brother.

Of Petersen’s ACO performance this past year of Chopin’s Concerto No. 2, Amado said, “We had four performances of this, and it was some of the most beautiful music-making I have ever experienced. It was really something special; that was a real gift. So we’re delighted to have Drew back for a more intimate kind of performance, and I’m really looking forward to hearing some glorious music.”

After thanking the ACO for inviting him to Florida, a nice change from New Jersey’s December weather, Petersen introduced the pieces he would play.

Starting with the last piece, Chopin’s “Polonaise in A-flat major, Op. 53,” he opined that it really needed no introduction.

“It is, I think, pretty well known, although among my contemporaries on the concert scene, not so often performed, amazingly. So I’m thrilled to get to do that tonight,” said Petersen.

The audience was just as thrilled; his playing eliciting a collective gasp of appreciation and thunderous applause at its conclusion.

“But first up is a real gem that used to be performed quite a lot as a beautiful, charming, virtuosic showpiece by Carl Maria von Weber, ‘Invitation to the Dance.’ It was a favorite of the great virtuoso Franz Liszt of the 19th century,” said Petersen.

He added that while Liszt was known as the “ultimate rearranger” of other composers’ music, this was one of the few pieces he performed where he didn’t change a single note.

He described “Valses Poeticos,” by the Spanish pianist and composer Enrique Granados, as an unsung gem of his repertoire of classical, highly emotional waltzes, adding, “They’re so pristine and beautiful.”

“And finally, I’ll just say a few words about Scriabin’s ‘Mazurkas,’” said Petersen, referencing a quartet of Mazurkas by the Russian composer Alexander Scriabin.

“These pieces are very early of his. They’re quite beautiful, they’re very poetic, and there’s lots of really fascinating twists and turns that I find really exciting and endlessly fascinating to play,” said Petersen, who proceeded to enthrall the audience with his extraordinary performance.

For more than three decades, the ACO has been delighting audiences on the Treasure Coast, with performances in Vero and Stuart. For more information, visit Atlantic
ClassicalOrchestra.com.

Photos by Joshua Kodis