Morihiko Nakahara, one of seven finalists chosen from over 250 applicants for the position of Peoria Symphony music director, will arrive in Peoria this weekend to prepare for the Symphony’s November 7 concert. His visit follows those of conductors Michael Butterman and Sarah Hicks, both of whom received standing ovations at their respective concerts.

In addition to rehearsing the orchestra, Mr. Nakahara will have a full itinerary while in town. Television and radio interviews have already been scheduled, and he will meet several times with PSO board and Search Committee members in both formal interview sessions and social settings. He also plans to spend time with with the PSO staff, receive tours of the area and visit local schools.

The program for the concert includes Liszt’s Mephisto Waltz No. 1 and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No.6, “Pathetique,” and PSO Concertmaster Marcia Henry Liebenow will solo in performances of Kernis’ Air for Violin and Orchestra and Stanford’s Irish Rhapsody No. 6.

Regarded as a leading young conductor equally at home in a wide range of repertoire and concert formats, Morihiko Nakahara has been recognized by critics as possessing “a poet’s sensitivity and a craftsman’s efficiency.” The Resident Conductor of the Spokane Symphony, he is also the Music Director of the South Carolina Philharmonic and previously served as the Music Director of the Holland Symphony Orchestra in Michigan. In 2005, he was featured in the League of American Orchestra’s prestigious Bruno Walter Conductor Preview hosted by the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra.

Nakahara is also a popular guest conductor and clinician with youth orchestras and college ensembles, including the Boston University Tanglewood Institute’s young Artist Orchestra. A native of Kagoshima, Japan, Nakahara holds degrees from Andrews University and the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.

With playing described as “sizzling with dark sensuality” and “heart wrenching in its soulful beauty,” Marcia Henry Liebenow is Concertmaster of the Peoria Symphony Orchestra and teaches violin, viola, and chamber music at Bradley University. Active as a soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician, Marcia’s performances have been broadcast in Europe and across the United States, including on National Public Radio’s Performance Today. She has appeared as soloist with the Samara Philharmonic Symphony in Russia, with orchestras in Germany, and served as Primo Violino at the Orvieto Musica in Italy. Her CD of the Grieg Violin Sonatas with pianist Antonio Pompa-Baldi was released in October 2007 on Centaur Records.