Conductor James Paul leads the Festival symphony orchestra in a tribute to 19th century New Orleans composer and pianist Louis Moreau Gottschalk (1829-1869). A friend and colleague of French composer Louis-Hector Berlioz, Gottschalk was America’s first musical “super-star”. After taking Europe by storm in the early 1850s, Gottschalk returned to the United States to even great praise and adulation for both his performing prowess and the sentimental beauty of his compositions, which, in the Romantic musical tradition of the time, often drew upon popular and folk musical themes. This evening’s concert will celebrate Gottschalk’s life and times with several of his best orchestral compositions, including “A Night In the Tropics” and “Gran Tarantella”.