Rimsky-Korsakov

MARSALIS & STRAUSS

Nicola Benedetti violin

MOZART & RACHMANINOFF

Programme

WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART (1756-1791)
Don Giovanni K. 527, Overture
Symphony No. 40 in G minor K. 550

Interval

SERGEI RACHMANINOFF (1873-1943)
Piano Concerto No. 1 in f-sharp minor Op. 1
(James Gaffigan: conductor)

Mikhaïl Pletnev conductor, piano

STRAVINSKY

Programme

IGOR STRAVINSKY (1882–1971)
The Rake’s Progress

Christopher Willoughby Tom Rakewell
Ava Dodd Anne Trulove
Vartan Gabrielian Nick Shadow
Siân Griffiths Baba the Turk
William Socolof Father Trulove
Samuel Harris Sellem
Hyejun Kwon Mother Goose
Henry Griffin Keeper of the Madhouse

Tivoli Copenhagen Phil
Conductor / James Gaffigan
Soloist / Lise Davidsen, soprano

Selected arias by Verdi, Beethoven, Kálmán, Puccini and Wagner:

Verdi / ”’Tu che le vanità’ from Don Carlo / La forza del destino ouverture /
‘Pace, pace, mio ​​Dio’ from La forza del destino / Uddrag from act 3 of La Vedetta /
‘Ave Maria’ from Otello
Beethoven / ‘Abominable one, where are you hurrying… Come hope’ fra Fidelio
Puccini / Intermezzo fra Manon Lescaut, Act 3 / ‘Sola perduta abbandonata’ fra Manon Lescaut
Wagner / ‘You are Lenz’ fra Valkyrien
Kálmán / ‘Heia in the mountains is my homeland’ from Sigøjnerprinsessen
Wagner / Rienzi ouverture / ‘You, dear Halle’ from Tannhäuser

Richard Strauss 1864 – 1949
Le Bourgeois gentilhomme, Op. 60

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart 1756 – 1791
Sinfonía N°39, en Mi bemol mayor, K 543

Les Arts és Simfònic continues to extend its presence in the Valencian Community. This season, the OCV, led by its chief conductor, James Gaffigan, visits the auditoriums of Cullera, Altea and Torrevieja. The orchestra performs for the first time the music that Richard Strauss devised for chamber orchestra on the satirical comedy Le Bourgeois gentilhomme by Molière and Lully. Dances, intermezzi, minuets, grouped in a suite, inspired in part by Lully’s original material, but with a neoclassical sonority and Strauss’s personal style. It is followed by Mozart’s Symphony 39, which already sheds light on a romantic character and serves as a prologue to the set of the last three symphonies (numbers 39, 40 and 41) of the Salzburg composer, considered the best corpus of symphonic music of the eighteenth century.

Richard Strauss 1864 – 1949
Le Bourgeois gentilhomme, Op. 60

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart 1756 – 1791
Symphony No. 39, in E flat major, K 543

Les Arts és Simfònic continues to extend its presence in the Valencian Community. This season, the OCV, led by its chief conductor, James Gaffigan, visits the auditoriums of Cullera, Altea and Torrevieja. The orchestra performs for the first time the music that Richard Strauss devised for chamber orchestra on the satirical comedy Le Bourgeois gentilhomme by Molière and Lully. Dances, intermezzi, minuets, grouped in a suite, inspired in part by Lully’s original material, but with a neoclassical sonority and Strauss’s personal style. It is followed by Mozart’s Symphony 39, which already sheds light on a romantic character and serves as a prologue to the set of the last three symphonies (numbers 39, 40 and 41) of the Salzburg composer, considered the best corpus of symphonic music of the eighteenth century.

THE LADY OF SPADES

Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

THE LADY OF SPADES

Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

THE LADY OF SPADES

Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

THE LADY OF SPADES

Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

THE LADY OF SPADES

Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

THE LADY OF SPADES

Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

Barber The School for Scandal Overture
Gershwin Piano Concerto in F
Bernstein Symphonic Dances from West Side Story
Revueltas Sensemayá

Conrad Tao, piano

An exuberant melding of jazz, blues and classical styles, Gershwin’s Piano Concerto in F is an ideal vehicle for Illinois native Conrad Tao, “a personality-plus pianist with a fearless technique” (Chicago Classical Review). Bernstein’s beloved West Side Story dances include themes from the songs “Somewhere” and “Maria.” Barber’s soulful overture and Revueltas’ joyfully raucous Sensemayá frame the program.

Bacewicz Overture
Mozart Eine kleine Nachtmusik (Serenade in G Major)
Wagner Der Ring ohne Worte für Orchester (“The Ring Without Words”)

Fantasy kingdoms, scandalous love affairs, dwarfs, giants, and powerful music. Game of Thrones? Tolkien? Actually, before those came the Ring cycle, Wagner’s master achievement in his quest to create an all-encompassing theatrical experience. Conductor James Gaffigan returns to lead the CSO in a concert compilation of Wagner’s four epic operas, on a program that opens with two musical gems: Bacewicz’s delightfully bracing Overture and Mozart’s well-known Eine kleine Nachtmusik.

BACEWICZ: Overture
MOZART: Eine kleine Nachtmusik (Serenade in G Major)
WAGNER: Der Ring ohne Worte für Orchester(“The Ring Without Words”)

Fantasy kingdoms, scandalous love affairs, dwarfs, giants, and powerful music. Game of Thrones? Tolkien? Actually, before those came the Ring cycle, Wagner’s master achievement in his quest to create an all-encompassing theatrical experience. Conductor James Gaffigan returns to lead the CSO in a concert compilation of Wagner’s four epic operas, on a program that opens with two musical gems: Bacewicz’s delightfully bracing Overture and Mozart’s well-known Eine kleine Nachtmusik.

Mozart Symphony No. 41, “Jupiter”
Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto
Ravel La Valse

Bomsori Kim, violin

“Swirling clouds afford glimpses, through rifts, of waltzing couples. The clouds scatter little by little; one can distinguish an immense hall with a whirling crowd.” Ravel poetically paints a picture of whirling ecstasy, capturing the sights and sounds of a dance floor long ago.

Emerging superstar violinist Bomsori also debuts with the Pittsburgh Symphony with Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto. Originally reviewed as “music that stinks to the ear,” this piece has come full swing to be one of the biggest staples of the classical repertoire.

Mozart Symphony No. 41, “Jupiter”
Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto
Ravel La Valse

Bomsori Kim, violin

“Swirling clouds afford glimpses, through rifts, of waltzing couples. The clouds scatter little by little; one can distinguish an immense hall with a whirling crowd.” Ravel poetically paints a picture of whirling ecstasy, capturing the sights and sounds of a dance floor long ago.

Emerging superstar violinist Bomsori also debuts with the Pittsburgh Symphony with Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto. Originally reviewed as “music that stinks to the ear,” this piece has come full swing to be one of the biggest staples of the classical repertoire.

Mozart Symphony No. 41, “Jupiter”
Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto
Ravel La Valse

Bomsori Kim, violin

“Swirling clouds afford glimpses, through rifts, of waltzing couples. The clouds scatter little by little; one can distinguish an immense hall with a whirling crowd.” Ravel poetically paints a picture of whirling ecstasy, capturing the sights and sounds of a dance floor long ago.

Emerging superstar violinist Bomsori also debuts with the Pittsburgh Symphony with Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto. Originally reviewed as “music that stinks to the ear,” this piece has come full swing to be one of the biggest staples of the classical repertoire.

Pietro Mascagni Cavalleria rusticana in Concert

James Gaffigan, conductor
Heidi Melton, soprano (Santuzza)
Meredith Arwady, contralto (Lucia)
Antonio Poli, tenor (Turiddu)
Brian Mulligan, baritone (Alfio)
St. Louis Symphony Chorus

Sicily, 1900. A beautiful place with a passionate underbelly. The perfect setting for Pietro Mascagni’s legendary Cavalleria rusticana, a compelling story of love and betrayal. Turiddu and Lola have happily rekindled their old love, but Lola’s husband finds out, and Santuzza feels betrayed, all with dire consequences. Conductor James Gaffigan brings an international reputation as an opera conductor, and he tells this tale with white-hot intensity.

Pietro Mascagni Cavalleria rusticana in Concert

James Gaffigan, conductor
Heidi Melton, soprano (Santuzza)
Meredith Arwady, contralto (Lucia)
Antonio Poli, tenor (Turiddu)
Brian Mulligan, baritone (Alfio)
St. Louis Symphony Chorus

Sicily, 1900. A beautiful place with a passionate underbelly. The perfect setting for Pietro Mascagni’s legendary Cavalleria rusticana, a compelling story of love and betrayal. Turiddu and Lola have happily rekindled their old love, but Lola’s husband finds out, and Santuzza feels betrayed, all with dire consequences. Conductor James Gaffigan brings an international reputation as an opera conductor, and he tells this tale with white-hot intensity.

Isaac Albéniz 1860-1909
Prelude to “Merlin”

Richard Wagner 1813 – 1883
Wesendonck Lieder

Pyotr Ílich Tchaikovsky 1840- 1893
Symphony No. 6, in lower S., Op. 74 “Pathetic”

Jamie Barton, mezzo-soprano

Orchestra of the Valencian Community

Isaac Albéniz 1860-1909
Prelude to “Merlin”

Richard Wagner 1813 – 1883
Wesendonck Lieder

Pyotr Ílich Tchaikovsky 1840- 1893
Symphony No. 6, in lower S., Op. 74 “Pathetic”

Jamie Barton, mezzo-soprano

Orchestra of the Valencian Community

Barrie Kosky’s mystical and visually striking production sweeps the audience into the enigmatic world of fairy tales—and in doing so tells us more about our times than you’d think. After stops in Aix-en-Provence, Lyon, and Adelaide, his celebrated production can now be experienced at the Komische Oper Berlin.

Tsar Dodon is plagued by worries: his kingdom is threatened by enemies all around, his sons don’t have any sensible advice either, and he’d rather just eat and sleep instead of looking after his country. An astrologer enters the scene with just the right solution: a golden cockerel that crows and flaps if danger looms. Dodon is thrilled, especially since the astrologer declines to name his price for this precious talisman until later on. But then, when war really breaks out, the cockerel crows, and his sons seem to have been lost in action, Dodon has to go there in person—even if his armour doesn’t really fit after a lifetime of indulgence. Instead of the anticipated battlefield, he encounters the unimaginably beautiful Queen of Shemakha. When Dodon falls rapturously in love with her, the disastrous course is set …

Rimsky-Korsakov’s last piece of music theatre paints the magic of Pushkin’s dark fairy tale with a fantastic spectrum of sonic colours. Barrie Kosky translates these into images that are as poetic as they are mysterious, laying bare the innermost core of Rimsky-Korsakov’s fairy tale. Amusing, unsparing, and sensually shimmering in the blackest of night. ‘A great starry conjunction in the history of opera’ [ONLINE MERKER].

Franz Schubert 1797 – 1828
Symphony no. 4, in C minor, D. 417 “Tragica”

Anton Bruckner 1824 – 1896
Symphony no. 9, in D minor

James Gaffigan conducts the OCV in two key symphonies from the German repertoire. Schubert’s Symphony No. 4 , composed at the age of 19 and never premiered in his lifetime, exhibits the melodic and youthful brilliance that reigns in the composer’s Lieder , in the shadow of the symphonic scaffolding erected by Mozart and Haydn, but also under the influence Beethoven’s drama. Nor was Bruckner able to see the premiere of the Ninth Symphony . Despite being unfinished, in three movements, it is appreciated as one of the greatest orchestral scores of all time. He evokes themes from his previous compositions as a reminder, and in the famous final Adagio, deeply inspired, he seems to want to conclude the monumental work as if it were his farewell to life.

Franz Schubert 1797 – 1828
Symphony no. 4, in C minor, D. 417 “Tragica”

Anton Bruckner 1824 – 1896
Symphony no. 9, in D minor

James Gaffigan conducts the OCV in two key symphonies from the German repertoire. Schubert’s Symphony No. 4 , composed at the age of 19 and never premiered in his lifetime, exhibits the melodic and youthful brilliance that reigns in the composer’s Lieder , in the shadow of the symphonic scaffolding erected by Mozart and Haydn, but also under the influence Beethoven’s drama. Nor was Bruckner able to see the premiere of the Ninth Symphony . Despite being unfinished, in three movements, it is appreciated as one of the greatest orchestral scores of all time. He evokes themes from his previous compositions as a reminder, and in the famous final Adagio, deeply inspired, he seems to want to conclude the monumental work as if it were his farewell to life.

Children’s Concert

Sunday morning, 11 a.m. An expectant buzz in the hall. The doors close shut, the curtain rises. Enter Robin Poell, the singing and dancing stagehand! Together with the orchestra of the Komische Oper Berlin, he conjures up an always child-friendly but never simplistic concert experience for children aged 4 and up as well as their families! On weekdays also for daycare groups and school classes. We’re looking forward to seeing you all!

Sometimes when you listen to music, it seems like you can see pictures and colours. In this concert, you’ll join our music director James Gaffigan, along with Robin Poell and the orchestra of the Komische Oper Berlin, on a musical search for blue, red, orange, and other colours of the crayon box.

With music by George Gershwin (excerpts from Rhapsody in Blue), Edward MacDowell (To a Wild Rose, arr. Leroy Anderson), and Franz Liszt (Nuages Gris, arr. Donald Fraser)