Accomplished musicians will solo at June 6 concert

LEISURE WORLD ORCHESTRA

Six Leisure World musicians will be featured soloists at the Leisure World Orchestra’s June 6 concert at 1 p.m. in Clubhouse 2.

A program section called Players Showcase, initiated by Leisure World Orchestra conductor Linda DeRungs, will present solos and orchestraaccompanied piano, trumpet and vocal works.

“I wanted to demonstrate how lucky Leisure World is to have drawn such extraordinary musicians to our small community,”DeRungs said. “Encouraging them to perform solos improves their artistry even more.”

The concert begins with Mutual 7’s Dilara Khalilov, accompanied by the full orchestra, performing the third of Beethoven’s five piano concertos. Khalilov took her master’s in piano performance and teaching at the Azerbaijan State Conservatory before she emigrated to the United States.

Broadway singer and actress Lucy Daggett, who was in the premiere cast of the Tony Award-winning “Ragtime,” will join the orchestra to sing excerpts from several Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals. Daggett, who was named valedictorian at both Long Beach Polytechnic High School and Pepperdine University, now lives in Mutual 11.

Pianist Yuri Lotakov of Mutual 7 returns to the orchestra to play Gershwin’s “Three Preludes,” and Khachaturian’s “Toccata.”

Lotakov, who holds a doctorate in piano performance from the Kyiv Conservatory in Ukraine, will be joined by Woody Jones Band member Richard Freedman of Mutual 14 to perform a tango-inspired classical work called “Oblivion.”

The program will conclude with Mutual 12 resident Hyo Jung Chung singing the traditional Korean folk tune, “Arirang,” followed by orchestral variations on the work by American composer John Barnes Chance.

The concert’s programming will also include works of Americana and two marches.

—William Thompson