If you ask piano virtuoso Angela Cheng how to keep the love fires burning this Valentine’s Day her answer is simple…Do it with music. Cheng will stoke the flame as guest artist in the Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra’s Everything is Romantic and her performance of Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in C Minor.

Pianist Angela Cheng will entertain this Valentine’s Day. (Rosen-JonesPhotography)

“It has fireworks, passion, intimacy, everything you can imagine,” says Cheng. “The gorgeous melodies touches everyone’s heart. It’s the perfect fit for Valentine’s Day.”

It’s a pleasure to come back

From Carnegie Hall to the Sydney Opera House, Cheng has performed all over the world and is excited to make her return to the SSO stage.

“It’s like coming home,” says Cheng. “I love performing with the SSO. The community is so welcoming, the orchestra and the staff treat me with such care and warmth, it’s a pleasure to come back.”

There’s so much longing and desire in the music

Judith Yan returns to conduct. (Julie Isaac Photography)

Conductor Judith Yan says the entire program is going to melt hearts. George Walker’s Lyric for Strings, an ode to his first love, his grandmother will celebrate familial love. Love Theme, Adagio from Spartacus by Aram Khachaturian is a piece so lyrically beautiful it’s been used by champion figure skaters like Michelle Kwan in their pursuit of gold. And, there’s no denying the romantic pull of Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet, Fantasy Overture based on Shakespeare’s star-crossed lovers.

When words fail, music says it all

“The love scene, when you hear it, there’s so much longing and desire in the music,” says Yan. “I guarantee the audience will know these pieces. They’ve been used in television and movies and represent the highest moments of love and sacrifice.”

Chocolates and roses are great but for Yan, this concert is one that will turn that first date into a guaranteed second.

“Music is the true language of love,” says Yan. “It expresses feelings so sensuous, that no writer or painter possibly can. When words fail, music says it all.”