'Dinner at the Courthouse' Opens Dearborn Symphony's 52nd Season

By Gretchen Ackermann

The doors of the 19th District Court in Dearborn will swing open at 6 p.m. Oct. 4 for the Dearborn Symphony's opening night dinner.

“Dinner at the Courthouse,” will feature guests dining in the rotunda. Chief Judge Sam Salamey, Judge Mark Somers and Judge William Hultgren will serve as hosts for the event.

Guests will enjoy a three-course dinner with wine prepared by event chairwoman Gloria Nycek.

The dinner will set the stage for a grand season of listening to the award-winning Dearborn Symphony under the direction of Maestro Kypros Markou. Following dinner, the night’s program will move a short distance, at 8 p.m. to the Ford Community and Performing Arts Center, where the featured musician is world-renowned pianist Christopher O’Riley.

O’Riley will bring the concert to a thrilling finish with Tchaikovsky’s spectacular "First Piano Concert," the piece that propelled Harvey Lavan Van Cliburn to a phenomenally successful career when he won the 1958 International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow. The concert begins with Offenbach’s “Orpheus in the Underworld Overture” that includes the famous “Can-Can” followed by Franz Schubert’s Symphony No. 2.

O’Riley’s credits include winner of the Leeds, Van Cliburn, Busoni and Montreal competitions, as well as an Avery Fisher career grant. O'Riley was a finalist at the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in 1981.

O’Riley has appeared with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl, the Minnesota Orchestra, and the symphonies of Pittsburgh, Detroit, Colorado, Atlanta and Baltimore. Prior to the concert, O’Riley is expected to mingle with dinner guests.

The Oct. 4 dinner is $85 per person. For an extra $15, participants can support the symphony’s opening night and have their name printed on the list of supporters’ in the program booklet.

Symphony concert tickets range from $15 to $30 each, and are available with seating in the balcony and main level. Dearborn Sausage Company along with owner Don and Mary Kosch are this year’s opening night sponsor.

For tickets to “Dinner at the Courthouse," call 313-565-2424 or visit the Dearborn Symphony website www.dearbornsymphony.org.