GSO Concerts

The Greenwich Symphony Orchestra has announced its 2010-2011 season of five double concerts, including seven outstanding soloists. Conductor David Gilbert will celebrate his 36th season leading the 85-member, fully professional orchestra.

Richard Wagner's Overture to Tannhäuser will open the season in concerts on October 2 and 3. The highlight of the concerts will be guest pianist Jon Nakamatsu performing the great Piano Concerto in F by George Gershwin. Mr. Nakamatsu won the 1997 Van Cliburn Gold Medal and has won rave reviews from Greenwich audiences for his previous appearances with the GSO.

Acclaimed violinist Elmar Oliveira will present Beethoven's magnificent Violin Concerto on November 20 and 21. Mr. Oliveira has been called one of the most distinguished violinists in the world today. The program will also feature young soprano Halley Gilbert in Samuel Barber's ''Knoxville: Summer of 1915.'' The San Francisco Chronicle has praised her ''big, beautiful voice.''

On January 29 and 30, rising young cellist Joshua Roman will lift our spirits with a performance of the beautiful Elgar Cello Concerto. Mr. Roman captured the attention of the music world when, at age 22, he won the job of principal cellist with the Seattle Symphony. The orchestra will also perform the Sibelius Symphony No. 7 and Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 4.

On March 19 and 20, violinist Barnabás Kelemen will return to Greenwich, this time with his wife, violist Katalin Kokas. Ms. Kokas is well-known in Europe having won numerous violin and viola competitions there. Mr. Kelemen won the Gold Medal at the 2002 International Violin Competition of Indianapolis. The couple will perform Mozart's Sinfonia Concertante K. 364. Also on the program are the romantic Symphony No. 2 of Tchaikovsky and Stravinsky's Divertimento from ''Le Baiser de la Fée.''

The last concert of the season, on April 16 and 17 will feature Greenwich resident Thomas Stacy, currently the English Hornist with the New York Philharmonic, playing Fuchs's ''Eventide—Concerto for English Horn and Orchestra.'' Mr. Stacy is the most recorded English Hornist in the world. After Haydn's Symphony No. 77, the program will conclude with the Symphony No. 2 of Brahms, a favorite of Greenwich audiences.

All concerts are held at the Greenwich High School auditorium on Hillside Road off U.S.1. The Saturday evening concerts begin at 8 p.m. and the Sunday concerts are at 4 p.m. All concerts are preceded by a free lecture one hour before, given by Tara Simoncic, Assistant Conductor of the Greenwich Symphony.