This concert showcases French wind chamber music, featuring pianist Joseph Rackers in Jean Francaix’s Hommage a l’ami Papageno. A tip of the hat to Mozart and his opera The Magic Flute, this charming work is a miniature piano concerto for piano and 10 winds. Also on the program is Charles Gounod’s Petite Symphonie conducted by guest conductor Will Talley and Henri Tomasi’s monumental brass work, Fanfares Liturgiques. Hailed as an “American virtuoso” (Audiophile Audition), “enormous power and intelligent, instinctive interpretation” (Spoleto Today), and “simply dazzling” (The State), pianist Joseph Rackers has performed for enthusiastic audiences in New York, Chicago, Kiev, Rome, Shanghai and Washington D.C., at venues across Canada, China, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Bulgaria, Ukraine and extensively throughout the United States.