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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.
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.
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!
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