28th Season: 2011-2012
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Season Premiere: The American Scene
October 8 and 9 Pre-concert Lecture by Dr. Dennis Jackson Kurt Weill: Down in the Valley Eric Ewazen: Violin Concerto Jerilyn Jorgensen, Violin Aaron Copland: Appalachian Spring The Chamber Orchestra launches its 28th season in the Appalachian hills. Originally composed for a 1948 radio program, Kurt Weill’s “Down in the Valley” is an all-American tale of tragic young love, while Copland’s Appalachian Spring is the quintessential depiction of life in early America. Rising American composer Eric Ewazen’s Violin Concerto rounds out the program with its local premiere by outstanding violinist Jerilyn Jorgensen. Weill’s “Down in the Valley” showcases young talent from the acclaimed Colorado Springs Conservatory under the leadership of Linda Weise and promises to be a most heart-warming experience. Virtuoso Violinist Jerilyn Jorgensen, who led the Da Vinci String Quartet in countless memorable performances in Pikes Peak Region and abroad, is featured as the soloist in the very expressive and accessible Ewazen concerto. Mr. Ewazen is traveling to Colorado Springs to attend the concerts and be available to answer audience questions after each performance. Concert Program |
Eric Ewazen
Jerilyn Jorgensen
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Michael Yopp
Guy Dutra-Silveira
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Lyricism and Timeless Beauty
November 19 and 20 Pre-concert Lecture: Martha Hopkins Booth Ralph Vaughan Williams: Five Variants of “Dives and Lazarus” Richard Strauss: Horn Concerto No. 2 in E-Flat Major Michael Yopp, French Horn Vincenzo Bellini: Oboe Concerto in E-Flat Major Guy Dutra-Silveira, Oboe Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Symphony No. 40 in G Minor, K550 Pre-concert Lecture by Dr. Tania Cronin, Saturday, 6:15 PM, Sunday, 1:45 PM A program spanning nearly 150 years of the most beautiful music ever written is the Chamber Orchestra’s last full-scale offering of 2011. Following the Chamber Orchestra’s stunning performance of Vaughan Williams’ Fifth Symphony in November, 2010, the haunting Five Variants of Dives and Lazarus is a must-hear. Outstanding wind soloists Michael Yopp and Guy Dutra-Silveira bring their refined lyricism to a program rounded out by the Mozart’s elegant Symphony No. 40 in G Minor. Concert Program |
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Midsummer in Midwinter
February 4 and 5 Pre-concert Lecture: Mark Arnest Felix Mendelssohn: Music from A Midsummer Night’s Dream: Intermezzo, Nocturne, and Scherzo Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Variations on a Rococo Theme, op. 33 Barbara Thiem, Cello Camille Saint-Saens: Symphony No. 2 in A minor, op. 55* Celebrated cellist Barbara Thiem of the Colorado State University faculty joins the Chamber Orchestra for Tchaikovsky’s Variations on a Rococo Theme. Let the cold winter melt away with Mendelssohn’s inspired music for Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” . Concert Program |
Barbara Thiem
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Susan Grace
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Unanswered Questions
March 3 and 4 Pre-concert Lecture: Michael Grace Ernest Bloch: Concerto Grosso No. 1 for Piano and Strings Clara Schumann: Piano Concerto in A Minor, op. 7 Susan Grace, Piano Charles Ives: The Unanswered Question Igor Stravinsky: Pulcinella Suite Great enigmas from the orchestral repertoire come together in a diverse and fascinating program. Bloch’s evocative Concerto Grosso No. 1 appears neo-Baroque in its title and form, yet contains some of his most haunting musical imagery, while Ives’ The Unanswered Question plunges us into his deepest contemplations. Clara Schumann’s underperformed piano concerto is brought to us by favorite local piano artist Susan Grace. The program closes with Stravinsky’s “Pulcinella Suite” from his later neo-Classical period in which he cast aside all of the modernist drama and visual imagery that defined his career and set out to compose pure music in the tradition of Mozart. Concert Program |
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Season Finale: Voice of the Romantic
May 5 and 6 Pre-concert Lecture: Herbert Beattie Camille Saint-Saëns: La Muse et le Poète Jacob Klock, Violin Ramona McKonkie, Cello Frideric Chopin: Andante Spianato and Grande Polonaise, op. 22, Angelina Gadeliya, Piano Robert Schumann: Symphony No. 2 in C Major, op. 61 Inspired by the American and French revolutions and starting with Beethoven, the Romantic Era is the defining age of orchestral music. Chopin and Schumann, both brilliant pianists, embodied the new spirit of human expression, while Saint-Saëns carried the Romantic torch into the twentieth century with his Muse and Poet. Schumann’s inspiring Second Symphony brings our 28th season to a close in pure joy. Concert Program |
Angelina Gadeliya
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