CityMusic Cleveland provides world class musical performances in world class settings.
Experience the Old World in the New World, especially at the concert scheduled at the Shrine of St. Stanislaus [1]--
October 14-18, 2009
Conductor: David Alan Miller
Soloists: Pacifica Quartet
Program:
HATZIS Redemption [world premiere]
MOZART Serenade in D (Serenata Notturna), K239
MENDELSSOHN A Midsummer Night's Dream: Suite
Concert Schedule:
Wed: October 14 - 8.00 pm Stambaugh Auditorium, Youngstown
dinner reservations call 330-747-5175
FREE TICKETS CAN BE OBTAINED BY CALLING BOX OFFICE AT 330-747-5175
Thurs: October 15 - 7.30 pm Fairmount Presbyterian Church, Cleveland Heights
free childcare - call for reservations 216-321-5800
Fri: October 16 - 8.00 pm St. Noel Church, Willoughby Hills
free childcare - call for reservations 440-946-0887
dinner reservations at St. Noel call 440-946-6635
****Sat: October 17 - 7.30 pm
Shrine of St. Stanislaus Church, Slavic Village*****
Sun: October 18 - 2.00 pm St. Mary, Elyria
free childcare - call for reservations 440-323-5539
Dreams and Redemption
Our October concerts are just weeks away and everyone is deeply involved in the preparation: musicians are practising their parts, the conductor is studying scores, one of the composers is busy helping us understand the brand new piece that we’ll be performing for the first time. And if you’re visiting this page then you’re also beginning to think about the music you’ll be hearing.
Probably the most striking thing about this program is that the “soloist” is a string quartet, four musicians. That’s going to make for a very interesting concert, not only for your ears, but for your eyes. It will be fascinating to see how the Pacifica Quartet musicians interact with each other (as they normally do) and with the larger orchestra.
You’ll get to see and hear this in the first half of the concert, with the oldest and the newest pieces. Mozart’s Serenata notturna is an unusual piece in that it features a serenade quartet (two violins, viola and double bass) against a string orchestra with timpani. It’s thought that at the first performance, which would have been at some big social event, Mozart might have even put the quartet in one room and the orchestra in another! Whether that’s true or not, it’s very clear that Mozart was out to have a good time with this music: the finale includes an extended musical joke that still inspires musicians and amuses audiences.
But the main piece to make use of our guest soloists is a new work, Redemption, by Canadian composer Christos Hatzis. Some of his strongest influences, musically and philosophically, include early Christian spirituality and his own Byzantine heritage, but also non-classical music genres and popular idioms. He is an advocate of borderless culture, and through his music he is “trying to establish a conversation with everyone, not just the musically literate”. We’re all discovering, as we get to know this new piece, that his inspiration is profound and powerful. In particular, the second movement (Fall from Innocence), features beautiful and lyrical music that’s deeply moving.
The second half of the concert will return to smiles and youthful genius with the music of Felix Mendelssohn. Some say that he was a greater child prodigy than Mozart and they hold up his teenage overture for A Midsummer Night’s Dream to prove it. It’s true it was a masterpiece, but when he returned to write more music for the play as a man in his 30s he was able to bring an equally inspired vitality to the project. And we’ll hear that in the suite, which ends with the great Wedding March.
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Links:
[1] http://www.ststanislaus.org
[2] http://www.citymusiccleveland.org/
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