Russian classical pianist Valentina Igoshina is returning to Arnold.
Igoshina is scheduled to perform a free concert, along with the Southeast Missouri Symphony Orchestra, starting at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 12, at Rickman Auditorium, 747 Jeffco Blvd., in Arnold.
The performance was arranged by the Committee on the Creative Arts of Arnold and is being funded by a $5,500 grant from the city of Arnold’s Tourism Commission and private donations, said Charles Hudson, a member of the creative arts committee and former Fox C-6 School District superintendent. The Arnold Food Pantry also is a sponsor, he said.
Igoshina first performed at Rickman in 2009 and has performed in Arnold three times since, the last in 2016 when she was part of a concert held at St. John’s Lutheran Church.
“She is one of the great classical pianists of our age,” Hudson said. “She has appeared on many of the grand concert stages in the world.”
Igoshina is a professor at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels in Belgium and serves as a consultant at the Maurice Ravel Conservatory in Paris.
She has won numerous competitions around the world, including taking first place at the age of 14 in the Arthur Rubinstein Piano Competition in Poland and capturing first place and a special award at the Rachmaninov International Piano Competition at 18. She also was the silver medalist at the 2006 Jose Iturbi International Piano Competition in Spain.
She has performed at venues in Zurich, Paris, Tokyo, London and Moscow.
“In 2009, we decided there were different places in St. Louis County that had groups supporting the cultural arts, and we decided it would be nice for us to begin something similar out here,” Hudson said of the creation of the creative arts committee and arranging Igoshina’s first performance in Arnold.
“This provides an exposure to the cultural arts for people in our area.”
Igoshina also is scheduled to perform for music students at Seckman and Fox high schools before the free concert.
“Any time we can put professional musicians in front of our students, it’s a win,” Seckman High band director Ben Middleton said. “They get to see someone who has dedicated their life to perfecting a craft and is very accomplished. I think the students will appreciate the opportunity and enjoy the recital.”
Fox High band director Tommy Perry agreed.
“I think it will be a great experience for our students to witness a truly magnificent musician that has been around the world performing some of the most influential music of the last century or two.”
While there is no admission fee for the concert, donations of non-perishable food items and money will be accepted to support the Food Pantry, Hudson said.
There are two more performances at Rickman planned this year to help support the Food Pantry, 2024 Key West Drive, in Arnold.
The Butch Wax & The Hollywoods band is scheduled to perform a mix of songs from the ’50s, ’60s and ’70s, starting at 7 p.m. Nov. 12. Tickets cost $20 or $25 at brownpapertickets.com or the Food Pantry’s Treasure Shoppe.
Food Pantry executive director Ed Fitzhenry said Carrollton Bank and Laborer’s Local 110 purchased all of the balcony seats for the Butch Wax & The Hollywoods concert and distributed them for free to Mercy Hospital system employees and area first responders.
The Nutcracker to be performed by the Belleville Ballet Troupe and Belle-ville Philharmonic Orchestra is set for Dec. 3. The ticket cost has not been announced, but information for purchasing them will be available later this month, Fitzhenry said.
“Fundraisers are the bread and butter for supporting what we (at the Food Pantry) do, and the last two years, we have been unable to hold them,” he said.
For more information about the performances, go the Food Pantry’s website wefeedthehungry.org.