Benefit Concert for Japan
Mahler’s Symphony No. 3: What Love Tells Me
One World Symphony
Sung Jin Hong, Artistic Director and Conductor
Gustav Mahler: Finale, Symphony No. 3, What Love Tells Me (1896)
Olivier Messiaen: From Quartet for the End of Time (1941)*
John Lennon: Imagine (1971)**
Sung Jin Hong: Eye of the Storm (2011, revised) for audience and symphony
*Orchestration by Sung Jin Hong (2010)
**Orchestration by Andrew Struck-Marcell (2010)
Sunday, April 3
Holy Apostles Church
Manhattan
All proceeds will go towards the American Red Cross Japan Earthquake and Pacific Tsunami Relief Fund
Listen to One World Symphony perform Mahler’s Adagietto.
At the request of One World Symphony’s musicians, One World Symphony is honored to contribute to Japan’s relief efforts from the recent earthquake and tsunami. All of the proceeds will go towards the American Red Cross Japan Earthquake and Pacific Tsunami Relief Fund.
Gustav Mahler expanded and progressed the scope of the symphony to its limit — he famously argued with Sibelius that a symphony should contain and represent the universe. No other symphony than Mahler’s Third may project a journey of epic scale representing nature, animals, humanity, angels, and God and Love. Mahler’s Symphony No. 3, the finale, originally bore the title “What Love Tells Me.” The prayerful and expansive adagio is performed with all the Love it is intended to express: compassion, generosity, charity, and patience. In the last climax of the movement, Mahler expressed: “Father, look upon wounds! Let no creature be lost!”
Olivier Messiaen composed Quartet for the End of Time while he was a prisoner or war, overcoming his adversity through music. The work premiered in German prison camp Stalag VIII-A in 1941 to an audience of 5,000 prisoners. This arrangement for cello and symphony orchestra by Sung Jin Hong received its world premiere performance in September 2010 by One World Symphony.
Sung Jin Hong’s Eye of the Storm, inspired by traditional Korean drumming and Buddhist meditation, pulsates with his personal experiences visiting the Demilitarized Zone. Eye of the Storm, commissioned by West Village Concerts, received its world premiere performance in September 2010 by One World Symphony and its audience members .Revised for Japan, the 2011 version of Eye of the Storm has significant changes in orchestration, and the audience will be interacting in Japanese rather than the original Korean. In the face of immeasurable loss and destruction, can miracles be born?
Continuing One World Symphony’s tradition of fostering active audience participation and in the spirit of worldwide community, John Lennon’s Imagine will be performed as a sing-along with audience in this symphonic arrangement. Lennon envisioned a world where people weren’t divided by arbitrary walls of country, religion, or wealth. He asked us to dream of this utopia with him. We haven’t gotten there — yet — but we can work towards it, by reaching out a hand to others to help them, across borders and despite the barriers. Will you join us?
Program length: 75 minutes without intermission
Artists
Sung Jin Hong (photo by Jaka Vinšek), One World Symphony (photo by Hillary Honeck)
Sunday, April 3
Holy Apostles Church
Manhattan
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