Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto

KUSC is broadcasting the third concert of the Pacific Symphony's 2018-2019 classical concert series tonight at 7 PM (PST).

Listen to Alan Chapman's preview on SoundCloud.

Guest conductor Rune Bergmann conducted with violinist Philippe Quint.

MOZART: Overture to Don Giovanni

TCHAIKOVSKY: Violin Concerto

NIELSEN: Symphony No. 4, “The Inextinguishable”

We went to the Saturday concert!  :)

Bernstein @ 100

KUSC is broadcasting the second concert of the Pacific Symphony's 2018-2019 classical concert series tonight at 7 PM (PST).

Listen to Alan Chapman's preview on SoundCloud.

Music director Carl St. Clair conducted with violinist Augustin Hadelich, vocalist Angel Garcia, soprano Celena Shafer, clarinetist Joseph Morris, and the Pacific Chorale.

Bernstein:  PRELUDE, FUGUE AND RIFFS

Bernstein:  SERENADE (AFTER PLATO’S “SYMPOSIUM”)

Bernstein:  CHICHESTER PSALMS

Bernstein:  SELECTIONS FROM ARIAS AND BARCAROLLES

An apprentice of Leonard Bernstein's, Carl is very passionate about "Lenny" and his works.  There is probably no person better fit for a centennial concert.

1,001 Nights

We went to the third concert of the Pacific Symphony's 2018-2019 Sunday Matinees Series!  :)

Listen to Alan Chapman's preview on SoundCloud.

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

Music director Carl St.Clair conducted the symphony.

Rimsky-Korsakov:  “SCHEHERAZADE”

Before playing it in full, Carl gave a little preview of the piece, with snippets from each movement.  He also teased the audience with a partial Super Bowl score, "7".  :)

Scheherazade is the main character in "The Arabian Nights", or "One Thousand and One Nights".  The once-betrayed Sultan, as his revenge to all women, took a new wife every day and killed her at dawn.  To stop this, Scheherazade volunteered to become his wife, and told a story every night, leaving the punch line open for the next day.  She continues this for 1,001 nights, until the Sultan finally gives up on killing her.

Carl likened this to the Netflix model, which lures the viewers into continuing to watch the next episode.  :)

Rach 3 & Boléro

KUSC is broadcasting the first concert of the Pacific Symphony's 2018-2019 classical concert series tonight at 7 PM (PST).

We went to the Saturday and Sunday concerts!  :)

Pop quiz:  What color was the dress Olga was wearing at this concert?

Answer at the end of this post.

Listen to Alan Chapman's preview on SoundCloud.

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

TICHELI: Shooting Stars

RACHMANINOFF: Piano Concerto No. 3

MOZART: Sinfonia Concertante for Violin and Viola

RAVEL: Boléro 

Pop quiz answer:  She was wearing a purple dress on the Saturday night performance.

Chopin's Piano Concerto

We went to the fifth 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 March 3, 2019.

Guest conductor David Danzmayr conducted with pianist Gabriela Martinez.

MUSSORGSKY:  Night on Bald Mountain
CHOPIN:  Piano Concerto No. 1
PROKOFIEV:  Symphony No. 7

KUSC's Alan Chapman interviewed both guests in the pre-concert lecture.
Gabriela started piano at age 5, saying she wanted to play the Beethoven's 2nd piano concerto, and she did so next year.  She once performed at a recital at Antlers, Oklahoma (where there were only 3 stores on main street), and the hall's piano were missing the highest octave!  Gabriela ended up playing a Liszt piece with a lot of clunking, I presume.

David is an Austrian conductor, and said the most difficult people to work with are Austrians!  :)
Because they are very emotional, and that multiplies with them being musicians.  He went on describing the traits of orchestras around the world.  David also talked about his experience as a student of the Mozarteum University Salzburg.  He said you shouldn't judge a person by what school they went to, but by with which teacher they studied from.

Gabriela was signing her CD during intermission.

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

Amplified Soul

Symphony #35 "Haffner" in D K.385

Rich Capparela says we all remember how your ennoblement went in great details.  Well, this piece was commissioned by Sigmund Haffner the Older for his son's ennoblement.

"Symphony #35 "Haffner" in D K.385" by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Performance by the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Jiří Bělohlávek

Rich gave us not one, not two, but because he loves us, three performances from the same recording!  :)

Buy this piece from ArkivMusic to support KUSC.

You can sample the piece on Amazon.

Mozart: Symphonies Nos.35 & 36

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.