For Openers, a Piano Prodigy

Ray Ushikubo

SANTA MONICA — Celebrating its fifth season, the Dream Orchestra opens its “Symphonic Season” on Saturday, Sept. 17, at 8 p.m. at the Broad Stage in Santa Monica.

The special guest artist is 15-year-old piano phenom Ray Ushikubo, who will perform Grieg’s Piano Concerto in A minor. The program includes Sibelius’ Symphony No. 2.

The Broad Stage is located at 1310 11th St. in Santa Monica. Tickets range from $20 to $60 and are available at www.dreamorchestra.org and http://brownpaperticket.com, by calling (800) 838-3006 and at the door (subject to availability).

Exhibiting an innate musicality well beyond his years, Japanese American pianist Ushikubo has already performed on the stages of Carnegie Hall and Merkin Concert Hall in New York City, and on NBC’s “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.”

Since his solo orchestral debut at age 10 with the Young Musicians Foundation Orchestra at Los Angeles’ Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Ushikubo has appeared with world-renowned pianist Lang Lang at Orange County’s Segerstrom Concert Hall, and with pianist and conductor Jeffrey Kahane and the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra at Royce Hall in Los Angeles.

A recipient of the prestigious Davidson Fellow Laureate Award in 2014, he won the 2016 Piano Concerto Competition at the Aspen Music Festival and School.

After its successful 2015-2016 season at the St. Monica Catholic Church, Dream Orchestra Artistic Director and Conductor Daniel Suk chose the Broad Stage for the 2016-2017 season because of its intimacy and symphonic acoustics.

He founded the orchestra in the fall of 2011, and since then it has performed in top concert halls all over Southern California – Walt Disney Concert Hall and Zipper Hall in Downtown Los Angeles, the Barclay Center in Irvine, the James R. Armstrong Theatre in Torrance, and others.

The nonprofit Dream Orchestra’s mission is to promote and present exciting, passionate classical music, enrich the lives of community members and most importantly, inspire the next generation of young people to love classical music and become artists.

More than 60 top musicians from Los Angeles and Orange counties are core members of the Dream Orchestra.

The 2016-2017 Dream Orchestra season continues (unless otherwise noted, all concerts will take place at Broad Stage, Santa Monica):

• Saturday, Nov. 5 – “Immortal Beethoven” Symphony 5 and 7

• Friday, Dec. 2 – “Christmas Gala Concert” (at St. Monica Catholic Church, 725 California Ave., Santa Monica)

• Wednesday, Dec. 14 – “Grand Year End Gala and Dinner” with special guest tenor Keon-woo Kim, first-prize winner of 2016 Operalia (at the Omni Hotel, 251 S. Olive St., Los Angeles)

• Friday, Jan. 6, 2017 – “Dreams of Tchaikovsky” Symphony 4 and Violin Concerto

• Saturday, Feb. 25 – “Dreams of Brahms” Symphony 4 and Violin Concerto

• Saturday, April 29 – “Dream Orchestra at the Broad Stage” Mahler Symphony 5

• Sunday, June 11 – “Young Stars of Tomorrow” (at Zipper Hall, Colburn School, 200 S. Grand Ave, Los Angeles)

For more information about the 2016-2017 season, visit www.dreamorchestra.org.