Milenkovich Plays Beethoven with violinist Stefan Milenkovich Friday, April 18, 2008 7:00 pm Concert Conversation 7:30 pm Concert Begins McKinley Presbyterian Church 5th & John Streets, Champaign

Luigi Cherubini: Overture to Medea Ferdinand Ries: Octet in F Minor, Op. 128 Ludwig van Beethoven: Violin Concerto in D, Op. 61 Beethoven was hardly known for his cuddly personality, but he was hugely popular in his own time—a true musical hero—with many friends and copious admirers. He, in turn, expressed great admiration for some of his composer colleagues, among them the Italian Luigi Cherubini, whose fierce overture provides a fitting prelude to a grisly subject. Friend, pupil, copyist, secretary, advocate, early biographer: Ferdinand Ries was all these to Beethoven, and a fine composer besides, as his Octet for piano, winds and strings clearly demonstrates. Stefan Milenkovich, the newest member of the University of Illinois string faculty, has played for popes and presidents since the age of ten. We'll hear this exciting virtuoso in one of the greatest of all violin concertos.