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Saturday, June 29, 2019

Ravel & Prokofiev

We went to the eleventh 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 July 21, 2019.

Music director Carl St.Clair conducted with the Pacific Chorale and the CSUF Chorus. The first half of the program was changed to a memoriam to the late principal cellist, Timothy Landauer.

ELGAR: "Nimrod" from the "Enigma Variations"

TICHELI: "Rest" for Chorus and Strings

RAVEL: “L'enfant et les sortilèges” (“The Child and the Magic Spells”)

KUSC's Alan Chapman interviewed stage director Robert Neu in the pre-concert lecture. Robert also staged the Magic Flute last year. Among other things, he talked about the interesting episode of when he first staged something. There were a lot of weddings when he was 5, and he served as ring bearer on multiple occasions. He loved the weddings, and he staged a wedding between 2 toy tractors! :)

Saturday, June 8, 2019

Mahler's "Titan"

Tonight at 8 PM (PDT), KUSC is airing the final concert of the Pacific Symphony!

Listen to Alan Chapman's preview on SoundCloud.

In case you miss it, they will broadcast the recording of the performance on July 28.

Music director Carl St.Clair will conduct.

MOZART: Sinfonia Concertante for Four Winds

MAHLER: Symphony No. 1, “Titan”

The wind section principals will be the soloists in the Mozart piece. Flutist Benjamin Smolen, Oboist Jessica Pearlman Fields, Bassoonist Rose Corrigan, Hornist Keith Popejoy.

Wednesday, April 17, 2019

A Space Odyssey

We went to the ninth 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 July 7, 2019.

Guest conductor Jean-Marie Zeitouni conducted with pianist Juho Pohjonen.

DAUGHERTY: To the New World (World Premiere)

MOZART: Piano Concerto No. 23

STRAUSS: Also Sprach Zarathustra

KUSC host Alan Chapman interviewed composer Michael Daugherty and Jean-Marie Zeitouni in the pre-concert lecture. Here's what we found out about the world premiere work.

The piece is inspired by the Apollo 11 moon landing, which took place 50 years ago. Michael did a bunch of research on Neil Armstrong, and found a lot of musical connections with the astronaut. He played the euphonium, was fond of the theremin, and took a cassette recording of Dvořák's "From the New World" to the moon. So, all of these are sprinkled into the piece. A soprano sings like the theremin, and not the actual instrument is played.

The first movement "Moonrise", which starts with a video of JFK's speech and the launch of Apollo 11, depicts the anxiety of the crew with the eerie soprano. The second movement "One Small Step", which starts with Armstrong's famous quote "one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind", depicts joy and dancing. The third movement "Splashdown", in 11/8 beat and very fast, depicts the 25,000 miles an hour journey back to Earth.

That was sure a fun concert to attend! :)

Sunday, March 24, 2019

Mendelssohn's "Italian" Symphony

We went to the eighth 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 June 30, 2019.

Music director Carl St.Clair conducted with violinist Paul Huang.

BRUCH: Violin Concerto No. 1

MENDELSSOHN: Symphony No. 4, “Italian”

The Friday concert was a Classical KUSC @ Pacific Symphony concert, the last of three. This is an abridged performace, just one and a half hour long, but with shared insights from hosts from KUSC. This night, early morning show host John Van Driel introduced the works. Carl, Paul, and John hung out after the concert to engage with the audience