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Sunday Afternoon Concert

Pianist: Pei-I Wang

Please join us to enjoy The Legacy of Sergei Rachmaninoff concert by pianist Pei-I Wang. Please Register.

On November 2, 1942 the famous Russian composer/pianist Sergei Rachmaninoff performed a concert at the first Methodist Church in Elgin. In recognition of this historic event, please join us for The Legacy of Sergei Rachmaninoff concert by pianist Pei-I Wang. Rachmaninoff was a composer of true romanticism in piano literature and music history. His incredible lyricism, poignancy, memorable melodies, rich harmonic color, and intense emotions were immensely impactful in classical music and beyond.

Rachmaninoff’s influences in the 20th century were surprisingly greater than we could imagine. Moreover, his style and legacy permeated in broader types of music. In the pop music, Frank Sinatra, Eric Carmen, and Danillo Perez borrowed Rachmaninoff’s musical excerpts from his well-known second piano concerto and second symphony in their songs. For example, Sinatra’s “Full Moon and Empty Arms”. The movie “Somewhere in Time” (1980) features the 18th variation of Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini in a signature scene and its associated motif in the movie. In 1942, Rachmaninoff along with pianist Vladmir Horowitz toured the Walt Disney studios in Los Angeles. As a byproduct of this visit, Mickey Mouse performed Rachmaninoff’s famous C# minor prelude in the short, animated film The Opry House in 1929. The British movie—Dangerous Moonlight (1941) was originally intended to feature Rachmaninoff’s piano concertos but turned to the English composer Richard Addinsell writing the Warsaw Concerto with the grand romantic musical gestures and melancholy harmonies in the style of Rachmaninoff.

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