Be My Valentine: An Evening of Music and Romance

Romance and love fill the air on Valentine’s Day as the Signature Symphony at TCC performs “Music of Love to Share with Your Love” at 7:30 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 14 at TCC Southeast Campus VanTrease Performing Center for Education (PACE). This special evening contains the lush romantic sounds of Mozart, Rachmaninoff and other musical selections under the baton of guest conductor Richard Wagner from The University of Tulsa.

The program features highly recognizable compositions from Academy Award nominated movies, popular television series, the stage and commercials beginning with Mozart’s “Piano Concerto No. 21 in C major.” The piece is a beautiful composition written in four weeks in 1785 and one of his most popular piano concertos. You may recognize it from such films such as “Superman Returns,” “The Spy Who Loved Me,” and a 1967 Swedish film about a tragic tightrope walker, “Elvira Madigan,” giving the music its unofficial nickname. Rachmaninoff’s "Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini” was written in 1934. It was featured in the timeless love story, “Somewhere in Time.”

Yun-Chin Zhou will be the guest pianist. He made his Carnegie Hall debut in November and was the first-prize winner of the 2013 Young Concert Artists International Auditions. He now studies at The Juilliard School and is pursuing his Master’s degree.

Prior to the concert, the Signature Symphony will host an elegant fundraising dinner at the TCC Southeast Campus VanTrease PACE Studio Theatre at highway 169 and 81st Street. The evening promises a candlelight dining experience just feet away from the concert without the chaos of crowds or a long wait. Parking is easily accessible outside the theatre.

The Signature Symphony Valentine’s Day Fundraiser Dinner co-chairs are Chelsea Levo and Jane Stanley. Committee members are Les Boyle, Marcia Brueggenjohann, Carol Messer, Delia Pierson, and Dean VanTrease.

The three-course catered dinner begins at 6 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 14 followed by the performance at 7:30 p.m. The menu will begin with an arugula salad with pears, walnuts, feta cheese crumbles, and balsamic dressing followed by an entrée of carved tenderloin with brandy butter sauce and Tilapia Doree, twice baked Yukon Gold potatoes, fresh asparagus in yellow squash ring with dill seasoning. The meal will include artisan sliced bread with Irish butter and chocolate truffle mousse for dessert.

Seating is limited. Tickets are $100 per person which includes dinner and orchestra ticket for the Signature Symphony. For those who have already purchased tickets for the concert, the dinner is $75 per person. For more information or to make reservations, please call (918) 595-7776.

The Signature Symphony at TCC is made possible in part by a grant from the Oklahoma Arts Council.

PHOTO - (l to r) Dean VanTrease, TCC president emeritus and Signature Symphony advisory board member; Jane Stanley, Signature Symphony advisory board president; Orr Nalp, Just Catering by Orr; and Delia Pierson, Signature Symphony advisory board member and past advisory board president.