Summer Serenades

Summer Serenades
June 10-25, 2005

PROGRAM 1: BEETHOVEN AND BRAHMS,
Friday, June 10

Ludwig van Beethoven: Leonore Overture III

Johannes Brahms: Concerto for Violin and Cello

Jihwan Kim: Summer Winds (2005 -- World Premiere)

Soloists: Catherine Bent, Amy Kim, Urara Mogi Mayumi Nakamura, James Pedersen, Antonio Serrada

Come and celebrate the summer season with One World Symphony's third annual "Summer Serenades," weekly concerts in June. The first program includes a world premiere by Jihwan Kim (b. 1979) called "Summer Winds" (2005). The brilliant orchestration, the exuberant mood, and the infectious high spirits of the premiere will open the first summer program.

Brahms's final orchestral composition was his Concerto for Violin, Cello, and Orchestra. He set out to create this double concerto in order to reconcile a troubled friendship with the brilliant violinist, Joseph Joachim, and to satisfy a longtime promise to the cellist Robert Hausmann. The opening movement is the longest and most dramatic of the three. The second movement is slow and stately, not melancholy but deep and thoughtful, and it contains some of the most delicately beautiful orchestration that Brahms ever wrote. The finale, full of energy and vitality, blazes of fiery brilliance matching those in his symphonies.

Beethoven composed no fewer than four different overtures for his only opera "Fidelio." As an opera overture, the very perfection of the Leonore No. 3 might be regarded as a flaw. It is so comprehensive and self-sufficient that it seems to constitute a complete drama in its own right, rather than prepare the listener for one to be enacted on the stage. In terms of mood, atmosphere and spirit, though, this music sums up splendidly the dramatic sequence conveying oppression, resolve, hope, and joyous deliverance. It is the very essence, not only of the opera "Fidelio" but of the heroic gesture in music we associate with Beethoven's name.

 

PROGRAM 2: MOZART AND TCHAIKOVSKY,
Friday, June 17

Mozart: Sinfonia Concertante

Tchaikovsky: Swan Lake Suite

Grill: Thinking of You (2005 -- World Premiere)

Soloists: Jacqui Kerrod, Adrienne Metzinger, Simone Uranovsky

One World Symphony continues to celebrate the sounds of summer in the penultimate program of acclaimed 2004-2005 season, featuring music of warmth, harmony, and love.

The Sinfonia Concertante is credited to Mozart, but the attribution is disputed; nevertheless, this light, inventive piece is a favorite of audiences and performers alike, showcasing the warm colors and virtuosic abilities of the oboe, clarinet, bassoon, and horn soloists.

Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake, the most famous of all ballets, contains some of the most recognizable love music in the classical repertoire. The orchestral suite consists of six sections: (1) a brilliant waltz from Act I, which takes place at Siegfried's Chateau; (2) the charming Dance of the Little Swans from Act II; a series of national dances from Act III, including (3) a Hungarian czardas, (4) a Spanish dance, and (5) a Neopolitan dance; and (6) the powerfully emotional last meeting of the lovers Odette and Siegfried, who ultimately are carried across the lake in a swan-shaped boat to the temple of eternal happiness.

True to its tradition of presenting recent music by contemporary composers, One World Symphony rounds out its program by introducing the world-premiere performance of Thinking of You, Stanley Grill's hauntingly poignant musical settings of poems about love and obsession by John McKenzie.

 

SEASON FINALE: CRY FOR FREEDOM,
Friday, June 24 and Sat, June 25

Beethoven: Fidelio (Highlights)

Gounod: Faust (Highlights)

Soloists: Alison Bolshoi, Natalie Havemeyer, Melanie Galloway, Jayoung Yoon, Amberleigh Aller, Laura Farmer, Alison Cheeseman, Sarah Kraus, Duncan Hartman, Waundell Saavedra, Anthony Pulgram, Aram Tchobanian, Tony Kim, Coke Morgan, Douglas Jabara, Yeonki Yoon, Lawrence Rush, Phillip Tambakis, Greggory Bruce, Ed Gonzales

One World Symphony closes its 2004-2005 season with a stirring, thought-provoking pairing of highlights from two masterpieces of the operatic stage: Beethoven's Fidelio and Gounod's Faust. Artistic Director Sung Jin Hong has programmed these works in parallel to explore the common themes of these well-known and surprisingly similar operas. Central to both operas is yearning for political and/or spiritual liberty, a topic that is timely and important, especially in light of world events and in anticipation of the July 4th holiday.

In Fidelio, Beethoven aimed to express his faith humanity's ability to triumph over evil and oppression. The dramatic opera includes a reign of terror, an unexpected savior, the endurance of hope and faith, and redemption through conjugal love. Similarly, Gounod's Faust explores the condition of a man who has sold his soul in return for youth and love. By pairing highlights of these beloved operas in a single program, Artistic Director Hong encourages audience to discover them anew and to seek fresh and relevant meanings in them.

Don't miss this final chance of the season to hear the orchestra that the Associated Press has called "unlike any other" and "blood-stirring!" Join One World Symphony, vocal soloists and Artistic Director Sung Jin Hong in what promises to be a season finale of heroic proportions!


St. Ann and the Holy Trinity
Brooklyn Heights, New York

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St. Ann and the Holy Trinity
Brooklyn Heights