Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto

We went to the third concert of the Pacific Symphony's 2018-2019 classical concert series!  :)

Listen to Alan Chapman's preview on SoundCloud.

The Saturday night performance will broadcast on Classical KUSC on February 17, 2019.

Guest conductor Rune Bergmann conducted with violinist Philippe Quint.

MOZART:  Overture to Don Giovanni

TCHAIKOVSKY:  Violin Concerto in D Major

NIELSEN:  Symphony No. 4, “The Inextinguishable”

KUSC's Alan Chapman interviewed both guests in the pre-concert lecture.  Rune gave some interesting characteristics of the Scandinavian countries.

• Finland is the dark one.
• Norway is the joyful one, with all the fjords and mountains.
• Sweden is also joyful, but thinks too much.
• Denmark is the happiest one, and drinks beer all the time.

Rune didn't use a conductor's podium.  I think if he did, he'd fall off!  :)

As a Norwegian conductor, he's very energetic on obviously joyful.  This is the second time I've seen Rune here, and he is on top of my favorite conductors to watch.

Dvořák’s New World Symphony

We went to the Pacific Symphony's Sunday Matinee concert!  :)

The Saturday night performance will broadcast on Classical KUSC on February 10, 2019.

Music director Carl St.Clair conducted with Soprano Michaela Vaughn.

Škroup/Kajetán Tyl:  National Anthem of the Czech Republic "Kde domov můj" "Where is My Home?"

Smith/Scott Key:  National Anthem of the United States "Star-Spangled Banner"

DVOŘÁK:  Symphony No. 9 in E Minor“From the New World”

This was also celebrating the 100th anniversary of Czechoslovakia's independence.

The concert started off with the national anthem of both the Czech Republic and the USA.  Ambassador Pavol Šepeľák from Czech gave a speech, and Dr. Hana Ayala gave a presentation of Pangea World.  I learned that Czechoslovakia and USA had many ties since inception.  Czechoslovakia became independent exactly 100 years ago, on October 28, 1918.  Their constitution was published in Philadelphia, an their first president's wife was from Brooklyn, NY!

Rach 3 & Boléro

We went to the first concert of the Pacific Symphony's 2018-2019 classical concert series!  :)

Listen to Alan Chapman's preview on SoundCloud.

The Saturday night performance will broadcast on Classical KUSC on February 3, 2019.

Music director Carl St.Clair conducted with pianist Olga Kern.

FRANK Ticheli:  Shooting Stars

Rachmaninoff:  Piano Concerto No. 3

Mozart:  Sinfonia Concertante for Violin and Viola

Ravel:  Boléro

The Boléro piece was played with a video showing footage of the 40 years of the Symphony.  It was perfectly in synch with the music.  Very good job, Jeffery Sells!  :)

We also went to the Sunday concert.

Olga Kern was amazing as the Saturday concert, a very powerful Rachmaninoff.

If the fact that she wore a different dress on the concert wasn't amazing enough, she also played different pieces for the encore.  On Saturday, it was a virtuosic piece by Mussorgsky.  On Sunday, it was the Flight of the Bumblebee.  I don't know how she can do that right after a Rach 3!

She noted that she never felt the piece to be difficult, maybe because she was experiencing it before she was born.  Her mother was playing it when Olga was still in the womb!

You can sample Olga's piano on Amazon!  :)

Tchaikovsky Spectacular!

We went to the final concert of the Pacific Symphony's Summerfest 2018 at the Pacific Amphitheatre!  :)

Music director Carl St.Clair conducted with pianist Vadym Kholodenko, and the Huntington Beach Concert Band.

Dmitri Shostakovich:  Festive Overture, Op. 96

Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky:  Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat Minor, Op. 23

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov:  “Procession of the Nobles” from Mlada

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov:  Russian Easter Overture, Op. 36

Alexander Borodin:  “Polovtsian Dances” from Prince Igor

Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky:  1812 Overture, Op. 49

The second half of the program was accompanied with an experimental app, "Encue".  It shows real-time program notes, describing the pieces as they progress.  They first tried it out at an open rehearsal back in January, but I guess there was some tweaking to be done for the general performance.

This was nice, but I needed to see the canon and fireworks!  :)

You can install the app from iTunes for Apple, and Google Play for Android.  You have to be at the venue to download the show notes, though.

Sounds of Hollywood

KUSC is broadcasting the twelfth concert of the Pacific Symphony's 2017-2018 classical concert series tonight at 7 PM (PDT).

We went to the Sunday concert.  :)

Listen to Alan Chapman's preview on SoundCloud.

Music director Carl St.Clair conducted with violinist Anne Akiko Meyers.

Mikhail Glinka:  Overture to Ruslan and Ludmilla

Morten Lauridsen:  O Magnum Mysterium

Maurice Ravel:  Tzigane, rapsodie de concert, for Violin & Orchestra

Leonard Bernstein:  Somewhere from West Side Story

Richard Strauss:  Ein Heldenleben, TrV 190, Op. 40

This was also the debut classical concert for the new Concertmaster, Dennis Kim.  :)

Rach 2

KUSC is broadcasting the eleventh concert of the Pacific Symphony's 2017-2018 classical concert series tonight at 7 PM (PDT).

We went to the Saturday concert.  :)

Listen to Alan Chapman's preview on SoundCloud.

Guest conductor Ben Gernon conducted, with pianist Boris Giltburg.

Sergei Prokofiev:  Russian Overture

Sergei Rachmaninoff:  Concerto No. 2 in C Minor for Piano & Orchestra, Op. 18

Igor Stravinsky:  Petrushka (1947 version)

The super-tuba played in Petrushka by Jim Self.

Alan Chapman interviewed both guest artists in the pre-concert lecture.

Conductor Ben Gernon was born in a musical family, with both parents being music teachers.  He started the Tuba when he was 7, because nobody in his Dad's brass band wants to play it.  :)

Ben started conducting when he was 15, in the school orchestra!

Boris Giltburg is somebody who loves playing the piano.  He makes practicing his first priority, saying it's hard to know when it's good enough, and time to stop.  Boris talked about the differences between the German and Russian music schools.  The German school leans more intellectual, and the Russian school leans more emotional.  They also touched on his "dream piano", posted on his blog.

You can sample Boris' piano in Amazon.  :)

Watts Plays Beethoven

KUSC is broadcasting the tenth concert of the Pacific Symphony's 2017-2018 classical concert series tonight at 7 PM (PDT).

We went to the Saturday concert.  :)

Listen to Alan Chapman's preview on SoundCloud.

Music director Carl St. Clair conducted, with pianist André Watts.

Ludwig van Beethoven:  Concerto No. 5 in E-flat Major for Piano and Orchestra,

Dmitri Shostakovich:  Symphony No. 10 in E Minor, Op. 93

There was a video of Dmitri Shostakovich playing in the lobby.

KUSC's Alan Chapman interviewed André Watts in the pre-concert lecture, and André was hilarious as always.  He talked about the teaching music.  The hypocrisy of teaching, telling something to the student and not doing it yourself.  How he juggles teaching and performing.  The range of talent in his students.  His amazing experiences with Glenn Gould.

André Watts is one of the few artists that takes advantage of the BYOS (Bring Your Own Steinway) policy.  :)