THE PASADENA SYMPHONY ‘CHANGES KEY’ ON MAY 6
Entertainment Desk
April 16, 2007
The Pasadena Symphony will present a new kind of performance – an afternoon of chamber music – on a brand new day, at a brand new venue on the campus of Occidental College.
Featured soloists, however, will include artists NOT new to the audience, longtime favorites pianists Howard Shelley and Robert Thies; soprano Shana Blake Hill; clarinetist Donald Foster and violist Jorge Mester, Music Director of The Pasadena Symphony!
PASADENA, Calif. - The Pasadena Symphony will conclude its 79th season on a slightly different note than patrons have come to expect – offering a new kind of program on a new day at a new time and venue – when it presents an afternoon of chamber music at Thorne Hall on the campus of Occidental College in Eagle Rock on Sunday, May 6.
Yet, while a chamber music concert on a college campus is a groundbreaking venture for The Pasadena Symphony, the soloists joining the orchestra on stage at Thorne Hall are longtime audience favorites. They include pianists Howard Shelley and Robert Thies; soprano Shana Blake Hill; Donald Foster, Principal Clarinetist for The Pasadena Symphony…and violist Jorge Mester.
Sharing a Sunday afternoon with his fellow musicians and music lovers in an intimate setting perfectly suited for chamber music has long been a dream of our Music Director Jorge Mester,” says Tom O’Connor, Executive Director. “Remember, before he became a conductor, Jorge was an accomplished violist and a member of the Beaux Arts Quartet.”
On May 6, Mester will play the viola in Mozart’s Piano and String Quintet, K 414. Pianist Howard Shelley, who last appeared with The Pasadena Symphony in 2005, will join his longtime friend Mester on stage.
I have played in ensembles, from time to time, at fundraisers,” says Mester, “but it will be an especially memorable treat to perform this time with Howard Shelley. He’s not only a renowned soloist but a talented ensemble musician.”
Although Hindemith’s Piano Concerto No. 1, garnered a good deal of attention – and notoriety – at its premiere, today the work is rarely performed or recorded.
This is a scenario Jorge Mester has attempted to rectify throughout his career. “It’s the first piece I ever conducted,” says the renowned Music Director, who has invited longtime audience favorite, pianist Robert Thies, to appear as soloist for this performance. “It’s also one of the first I recorded with the Louisville Orchestra.”
Mester is referring to the fact that, during his 12-year tenure as Music Director of the Louisville Orchestra – he is leading the orchestra once again this season as Interim Music Director – he made 72 world premiere recordings with the ensemble.
The afternoon of music will conclude with two works by Franz Schubert: Shepherd on the Rock for voice, clarinet and piano, with soprano Shana Blake Hill, clarinetist Donald Foster and Howard Shelley; and Fantasia in F minor for piano and four hands, featuring both Shelley and Thies on the keyboard.
Many feel that Shepherd on the Rock, composed only a few weeks before Schubert’s death, more closely resembles an operatic aria than the art songs, or lieder, for which the composer is renowned.
Yet the work can also be treated as a chamber work because the parts for voice, clarinet and piano interweave with one another as they express the shepherd’s thoughts on the joy and sadness we experience in life,” says O’Connor.
Adds Hill, whose work with such orchestras as the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Pacific Symphony and the New West Symphony has been described as ‘mesmerizing’ and ‘luminous,’ “The Shepherd on the Rock is one of the purest and most beautiful works in the repertoire. It is what truly intimate music making is all about – healing and inspiring both the audience and the performer.”
Music in May will conclude with Schubert’s Fantasia in F minor for piano and four hands. Howard Shelley will play the “Primo” part and Robert Thies “the Secondo.”
The Fantasia is a work I have loved all my life,” confesses Mester, “ever since I purchased my first recording of it as a student in 1952.”
Robert Thies agrees. “It probes a deeper and, perhaps, darker sense of spiritual awareness. It’s a beautiful and concise work, a poignant masterpiece. I am honored to be asked to share in the performance.”
The performance will begin at 3 p.m. Thorne Hall is located on the campus of Occidental College, located at 1600 Campus Road in the Eagle Rock section of Los Angeles.
Tickets to the concert are available for $50/person. To purchase tickets for the concert, call the box office at 626.584.8833 or visit The Pasadena Symphony’s website at www.pasadenasymphony.org.
Featured soloists, however, will include artists NOT new to the audience, longtime favorites pianists Howard Shelley and Robert Thies; soprano Shana Blake Hill; clarinetist Donald Foster and violist Jorge Mester, Music Director of The Pasadena Symphony!
PASADENA, Calif. - The Pasadena Symphony will conclude its 79th season on a slightly different note than patrons have come to expect – offering a new kind of program on a new day at a new time and venue – when it presents an afternoon of chamber music at Thorne Hall on the campus of Occidental College in Eagle Rock on Sunday, May 6.
Yet, while a chamber music concert on a college campus is a groundbreaking venture for The Pasadena Symphony, the soloists joining the orchestra on stage at Thorne Hall are longtime audience favorites. They include pianists Howard Shelley and Robert Thies; soprano Shana Blake Hill; Donald Foster, Principal Clarinetist for The Pasadena Symphony…and violist Jorge Mester.
Sharing a Sunday afternoon with his fellow musicians and music lovers in an intimate setting perfectly suited for chamber music has long been a dream of our Music Director Jorge Mester,” says Tom O’Connor, Executive Director. “Remember, before he became a conductor, Jorge was an accomplished violist and a member of the Beaux Arts Quartet.”
On May 6, Mester will play the viola in Mozart’s Piano and String Quintet, K 414. Pianist Howard Shelley, who last appeared with The Pasadena Symphony in 2005, will join his longtime friend Mester on stage.
I have played in ensembles, from time to time, at fundraisers,” says Mester, “but it will be an especially memorable treat to perform this time with Howard Shelley. He’s not only a renowned soloist but a talented ensemble musician.”
Although Hindemith’s Piano Concerto No. 1, garnered a good deal of attention – and notoriety – at its premiere, today the work is rarely performed or recorded.
This is a scenario Jorge Mester has attempted to rectify throughout his career. “It’s the first piece I ever conducted,” says the renowned Music Director, who has invited longtime audience favorite, pianist Robert Thies, to appear as soloist for this performance. “It’s also one of the first I recorded with the Louisville Orchestra.”
Mester is referring to the fact that, during his 12-year tenure as Music Director of the Louisville Orchestra – he is leading the orchestra once again this season as Interim Music Director – he made 72 world premiere recordings with the ensemble.
The afternoon of music will conclude with two works by Franz Schubert: Shepherd on the Rock for voice, clarinet and piano, with soprano Shana Blake Hill, clarinetist Donald Foster and Howard Shelley; and Fantasia in F minor for piano and four hands, featuring both Shelley and Thies on the keyboard.
Many feel that Shepherd on the Rock, composed only a few weeks before Schubert’s death, more closely resembles an operatic aria than the art songs, or lieder, for which the composer is renowned.
Yet the work can also be treated as a chamber work because the parts for voice, clarinet and piano interweave with one another as they express the shepherd’s thoughts on the joy and sadness we experience in life,” says O’Connor.
Adds Hill, whose work with such orchestras as the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Pacific Symphony and the New West Symphony has been described as ‘mesmerizing’ and ‘luminous,’ “The Shepherd on the Rock is one of the purest and most beautiful works in the repertoire. It is what truly intimate music making is all about – healing and inspiring both the audience and the performer.”
Music in May will conclude with Schubert’s Fantasia in F minor for piano and four hands. Howard Shelley will play the “Primo” part and Robert Thies “the Secondo.”
The Fantasia is a work I have loved all my life,” confesses Mester, “ever since I purchased my first recording of it as a student in 1952.”
Robert Thies agrees. “It probes a deeper and, perhaps, darker sense of spiritual awareness. It’s a beautiful and concise work, a poignant masterpiece. I am honored to be asked to share in the performance.”
The performance will begin at 3 p.m. Thorne Hall is located on the campus of Occidental College, located at 1600 Campus Road in the Eagle Rock section of Los Angeles.
Tickets to the concert are available for $50/person. To purchase tickets for the concert, call the box office at 626.584.8833 or visit The Pasadena Symphony’s website at www.pasadenasymphony.org.
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