Lush Russian melodies will bring the Redlands Bowl Summer Music Festival’s 2003 season to a close on Friday, August 22, beginning at 8:15 p.m. In a symphonic concert titled “Finale a la Russe”, pianist John Novacek and the Redlands Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of Maestro Frank Fetta, will perform music by Russian composers Khachaturian, Prokofiev, and Tchaikovsky.

The concert will open with three excerpts from Aram Khachaturian’s five-piece “Masquerade Suite”. Fetta explained that this performance will celebrate the composer’s 100th birthday. Considered as one of the chief exponents of 20th century Armenian “nationalist” music, Khachaturian wrote more than 25 film scores, and wrote music characterized by vitality of rhythm, rich orchestration, and brilliant melodies, according to the ”Oxford Companion to Music”.

After the opening piece, Novacek, a Redlands favorite, will perform Prokofiev’s Third Piano Concerto. A much-sought-after performer throughout the United States, Novacek has performed many times on the Redlands Bowl stage. He has worked with Yo-Yo Ma, Joshua Bell, Leila Josefowicz, John Williams, and Lalo Schifrin, among many others. Many times for Redlands’ audiences, he has encored his performances with his own ragtime compositions.

“The Prokofiev concerto is a bit of a difficult work for the orchestra,” said artistic director and conductor Fetta, noting that it doesn’t receive many performances. According to Fetta, who has worked with Novacek since the pianist was 16 years old, Novacek’s commanding keyboard presence and virtuosity will bring a dynamic dimension to this work.

To close the concert and the season, the orchestra will perform Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony, “a totally symphonic, very splashy work that will bring the house down,” assured Fetta.

For this event, representatives of the Noon Kiwanis Club of Redlands will be the ushers, and David Raff, president of the Redlands Community Music Association, Inc., will be the intermission speaker. The evening’s program is dedicated to the Associates of the Redlands Bowl.

All events of the Redlands Bowl Summer Music Festival are presented without an admission charge, with a free-will offering collected at intermission.

The Redlands Bowl is located at 25 Grant Street in Redlands between Grant and Eureka Streets, just south of Brookside Avenue. For directions and more information, contact the office at 909/793-7316 or view the website at www.redlandsbowl.org.