Preparing for a 60th Anniversary Celebration!
Music Director Michael Christie and a quartet of Phoenix Symphony musicians put out the word about our upcoming 60th Anniversary Opening Night Concert in an appearance on Channel 3's morning show today. The quartet (featuring Dian D'Avanzo and Jessica Guideri on violin, Chiara Kingsley Dieguez on viola, and Danielle Guideri on cello) gave Arizona a little preview of Saturday's program with a performance of George Gershwin's "American in Paris". Check it out below in case you missed it!
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12 Comments:
Unanswered question for Maestro Christie.
The promotional material states that selections from Gershwin's "Porgy and Bess" will be performed. Please tell us which arrangement you are using.
"Catfish Row, symphonic suite" (from Porgy and Bess, opera)
or
"Porgy and Bess: A Symphonic Picture" (arr. Robert Russell Bennett)?
I find it disturbing that the Phoenix Symphony repeatedly fails to name the actual pieces in its publicity material for some concerts. Last season, I had to ask on-line for the Baroque Christmas program.
This season, no precise programs are listed for the "Symphonic Favorites" Concerts Nos. 2, 3, and 4, as well as the "Baroque Christmas." None of these are "Pops" concerts where, perhaps, such information is not so important to the patrons.
As a knowledgeable and serious classical music concertgoer, I must demand more accuracy. Otherwise, you will not see me buying those subscriptions series or advance signle tickets. I shall remain with "Classics A8" until you have resolved this issue.
Hi Sonny-
The arrangement of Porgy and Bess for Opening Night will be the "Symphonic Picture" by Robert Russell Bennett. Even more exciting is the fact that the majority of the songs Dennis Rowland will be performing with The Phoenix Symphony are brand new arrangements written specifically for this event!
For other concerts, the full programs (beyond the "featured" work) are not always fully decided upon by the time marketing materials need to go to print in the Spring. As those programs are finalized, an effort is made to update our website to reflect more detailed information. Look for the concerts you mentioned to be updated online with program information very soon.
As always, program clarification, movement information and other programming questions you might have may always be directed to info@phoenixsymphony.org where the appropriate department will be happy provide any information they can. Thank you for your question.
Brendan Anderson
Web Administrator
The Phoenix Symphony
My new concertgoing amiga from the oficina "Caliente Cat" comments:
"I agree it would be nice to know what the pieces are, especially for somebody like me who is learning about this. It would be nice to be able to kind of research the pieces ahead of time."
Caliente Cat should be ready for "The Rite of Spring" and Beethoven's 4th. She'd better be studying the CDs I gave her! There'll be a quiz after the concert.
Speaking of researching upcoming pieces, one new feature we're trying to add to our website this season is a link to the program notes for each piece one or two weeks before the concert so that our online patrons might have a chance to read up on the music.
Currently the program notes are up for Classics Week 1 with some great info from Golijov himself, notes on Beethoven and some back-story on The Rite of Spring. You can find it all here. Just click on a title and the notes will pop right up.
Brendan Anderson
Web Administrator
Here is the problem with your new "link to the program notes for each piece."
Composer Osvaldo Golijov is quoted as describing Last Round as follows: "Two quartets confront each other, separated by the focal bass, with violins and violas standing up as in the traditional tango orchestras."
Is this piece being performed as a nonet on September 13 and 15? That's what it implies.
However, I just happened to have inside knowledge that the second movement of Last Round will have a string ensemble standing behind the nonet. Am I wrong?
Also, a long recitation of just the program notes, which will likely be printed in the program book at the concert, says nothing about what the audience can expect to hear. How about inserting a sound sample like the New York Philharmonic's website? A 60-second sound bite of Golijov's Last Round, even though recorded by a string nonet, would enlighten those unfamiliar with the piece.
I truly believe that familiarity is most important for a listener to actually "like" or "understand" a new work. Perhaps such a musical preview would have prevented the "misunderstanding" that concertgoers had about the music of Christopher Rouse last season.
Names of the players please....they sounded very nice.
Angela G.
As a concert go'er and a participant in tonight's concert, I want to say Bravo to the Phoenix Symphony.
I noticed a couple things, the orchestra failed to respond to the conductor (to stand) after one of the songs. There is a tension in the orchestra that is clearly visible. I hope that when I go to a concert the performer's are as exciting to be there as I am.
Bravo!!
Adios Luciano!
Was the refusal to stand after the conductor asked them to followed by much tapping of feet and waving of bows? Sometimes out of respect for the conductor the concertmaster will refuse to stand (in case you don't know, the orchestra stands when the concertmaster does) to congratulate the conductor on a job well done.
Dear "Tense" Anonymous:
What do you mean by a "tension in the orchestra that is clearly visible?"
Did an orchestra member tell you that he/she was so bothered by personal or administrative matters that total concentration on music-making was not possible? That doesn't sound like any professional musician I know in The Phoenix Symphony.
There are only a handful of musicians who show their love for the music by smiling or gyrating during a piece. That's not an indication of bad tension. If anything, that is good nervous concentration. Watch for the relaxed smiles to each other at the end of a piece.
Did you happen to notice the 4 members of "JAZZ EXPERIENCE?" None of them were smiling during the wonderful collaboration with singer Dennis Rowlands. That's professionalism for you.
Thank you Web Maestro for acting so quickly in improving this website!
Those new sound bites for the first two classics concerts are great. Anyone clicking on those brief excerpts you have chosen would get a good idea what to expect to hear at the concerts.
I can just imagine those hearing Golijov for the first time saying: Hey, it sounds modern, but very tonal and listenable stuff. Maybe I should buy a recording of his opera "Ainadamar" so I can be ready for its full impact next May.
Also, thanks for publishing the detailed list of pieces for the upcoming concerts: the exact number and order of Hungarian Dances in Classics Week 2; all the pieces for Symphonic Favorites Concert No. 2 (Baroque Ensemble), and Symphonic Favorites No. 3. (James Pellerite, Native American flute) listed as part of the press release on the year-long residency of Composer Mark Grey.
These revelations will surely make me buy more CDs and miniature scores to study the music before each concert.
Hello fellow bloggers!
Sonny, thanks for noticing some of our recent changes to our website and your kudos to our webmaster/blog administrator, Brendan.
It'S funny you should reference the addition of the program notes on concert listings. Maybe we should have somehow made our blog readers aware of these great tools and their recent appearance! FYI - we generally get the program notes 2-3 weeks prior to the concerts so definitely check them out!
I have a vocal background, and one of the first things I learned about the realm of opera is that if you understand the storyline, the
experience is going to be all that much more enjoyable and emotionally affecting.
Trust me, I attended many operas in the growing years of my music career that I had no idea what they were about, and I still came away in tears at the emotion I felt in the music. THE same applies to orchestral music: the more you know about the music ahead of time, the more rewarding your experience will be. That doesn't mean you won't enjoy the performance or music without having any background knowledge, but it can be that much more. There's nothing better than
closing your eyes during The Rite of Spring and imagining what it must have been like in Paris when it was premiered!
We are under the process of "tweaking" some of our web navigation and functions, not only to make easier for visitors, but to try to make it more educational as well. Definitely look for much more to come!
Also, anything else that fellow bloggers and web visitors want, let us know! We're always looking for new interactive ideas to incorporate. The outcome, in the end, is for you!!
Brandon Walls
Marketing Manager
Sonny the Cat says "Perhaps such a musical preview would have prevented the "misunderstanding" that concertgoers had about the music of Christopher Rouse last season."
Sonny, there was no misunderstanding on this concertgoers part. I came open minded, and found that I did not like any of the Rouse pieces presented. While there were some sections of one or two of the pieces that were pleasant, on the whole my gut feeling is that Rouse needs therapy. And I hope he gets it before he writes something else.
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