Central Oregon Symphony, directed by Michael Gesme, will conclude its season this coming week.
The end of the 2011-12 season concerts begin at 7:30pm on Saturday, May 19 and Monday, May 21 and at 2pm on Sunday, May 20, in the Bend High School Auditorium. Doors will open 45 minutes before the performances. Tickets are required for these free concerts.
The concert will feature the winners of the 2011 Young Artist Competition: John Fawcett on violin, performing the perpetual-motion third movement of the Violin Concerto in C by the 20th-century Russian composer Dmitri Kabalevsky and flutist Arianna Peters performing Poem for Flute and Orchestra by Charles Griffes.
“The most famous American representative of musical Impressionism, Griffes has created a luscious work that has the clear influence of Debussy and Ravel with twists of his own design,” said Gesme.
Rounding out the concert are two works from the standard symphonic repertoire. While not nearly as famous or frequently played as the “Fifth” or the “Ninth,” Beethoven’s Symphony No. 2 is indicative of Beethoven on the edge. Many things are still influenced by the symphonies of his predecessors, Haydn and Mozart, but everywhere there are hints, signs—and occasionally overt defiance of the classical model— as the romantic Beethoven begins to emerge, according to Gesme.
The concert will conclude with a suite from Aaron Copland’s 1938 ballet Billy the Kid. Copland was integral in introducing the idea that American composers had something to say on the world stage that was not only worth hearing, but was uniquely American in sound and could have only been produced by a composer who had lived the American experience. Gesme observed, Billy the Kid is a fantastic example of an American story set to an American soundscape—wide-open prairie, gunfights, cowboy songs—a romanticized musical tour de force of the Western experience.
A limited number of complimentary tickets are available at these locations: Dudleys, Mountain View Music, COCC Box Office, all in Bend; Maddison Coffee House and Laundry in Madras; City Center Motel in Prineville; and Paulina Springs Books in Redmond and Sisters. Tickets are also available as e-tickets, which can be obtained on the symphony website, www.cosymphony.org.
The Central Oregon Symphony is an all-volunteer ensemble whose talented members dedicate a significant amount of their time to rehearsing and performing with the symphony.
Affiliated with Central Oregon Community College and supported almost exclusively by individual donations from local community members, the ensemble is committed to making free symphonic concerts available to all members of the community. Thanks to the contributions of season ticket holders, no one is turned away at the door.
For information regarding season tickets, scheduling, and volunteering for the 2011-12 concert season, call 541-317-3941 or visit www.cosymphony.com.
In addition, on at 7 p.m. on Thursday, May 17, the Central Oregon Symphony will present the third annual Virginia Riggs Children’s Concert. This 45-minute performance, also held in the Bend High School Auditorium, is designed to introduce children of all ages to the instruments and sounds of the orchestra and the joy of symphonic music.
Beginning at 6pm, children will have the opportunity to walk around the Commons area and see individual instruments up close and personal, the equivalent of an instrument ‘petting zoo.’ Tickets for this concert are free, but they are required for entry and may be obtained via the e-ticket link on the symphony website, www.cosymphony.org.