LEWISTON -The Franco-American Heritage Center will host a gala and benefit concert with the Mid-Coast Symphony Orchestra at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 30.

Proceeds will help the center’s effort to renovate and develop the facility into a state-of-the-art concert hall, museum and learning center.

Conducted by Rohan Smith, who is on the faculty of Phillips Exeter Academy, the symphony orchestra will perform works by Siblieus, Rachmaninoff and Beethoven.

Smith, conductor and violinist, will conduct “Finlandia” op.26 by Siblieus; Rhapsody on a theme of Paganini, and op.43 by Rachmaninoff with guest pianist, George Lopez.

The orchestra will also perform Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 in C Minor.

Lopez has been featured across the globe as a soloist with orchestras and a recitalist, and is considered an important chamber musicians of his generation.

A laureate of several international competitions, Lopez received critical acclaim for his interpretation of J.S. Bach’s “Goldberg Variations” at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. His chamber music collaborations have included the Emerson String Quartet, the Rainier String Quartet of Seattle, and members of some of the top orchestras in the country with whom he plays regularly at the New Hampshire Music Festival.

As part of the fund-raiser, a number of hosts throughout the community will invite guests to attend presymphony cocktail parties for the purchase of a ticket to the concert.

For tickets, $50, call the Franco-American Heritage Center at 783-1585. FMI: go online to www.francoamerican-heritage.org.

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