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Piano-percussion perfection in Langley

Music lovers take heart. While the season finale at the Rose Gellert Hall is on Friday, it promises to be an event to remember with well-known music from Broadway and other stages.

The Bergmann Piano Duo of Marcel and Elizabeth Bergmann will perform with Vern Griffiths, the principal percussionist with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra (VSO), and Aaron MacDonald, the principal timpanist with the VSO.

The piano-percussion team will perform Mussorgsky’s Pictures from an Exhibition, Gershwin’s An American in Paris, and Bernstein’s West Side Story on Friday, May 22 at 7:30 p.m. at the Rose Gellert Hall.

Each piece, like the time period it represents, is unique and different and while the music is familiar, the presentation at this concert will bring a fresh feeling to it.

Langley Community Music School (LCMS) principal Susan Magnusson noted the performance will be “stunning.”

“This piano-percussion ensemble, combined with these famous theatrical music works, packs the power and the punch that makes for a great show,” she said.

Tickets are $22 for adults, $20 for seniors, $16 for students, and $10 for LCMS students and can be purchased through the box office at 604-534-2848 or langleymusic.com.

Other news at LCMS includes newly added faculty members: pianist Henri-Paul Sicsic, Borealis string quartet violinist/violist, Nikita Pogrebnoy, violinist Will Chen, violinist Peter Ing, and cellist Marcus Jeehon Kim.

“I am thrilled to announce that our school has been able to attract such highly-acclaimed and experienced faculty teachers to join our faculty. Students of all levels will benefit from their interaction with these outstanding musicians,” said Magnusson.

These new faculty members join other recent LCMS newcomers: cellist Judy Lou, violinist Charlene Bentum, pianist Kathleen Stanyer, and violinist Karina Slupski.