Spokane Symphony kicks off 60th Anniversary season

Sep 8, 2005

For Immediate Release

Contact: Annie Matlow 326-3136

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE


Opening night one of the most exciting nights of the season - has arrived, and the Symphony of Stars begins the season with its first star, pianist Jean-Philippe Collard. Music Director Eckart Preu will direct this first Classics concert on Friday, Sept. 16, at 8 p.m. at the Spokane Opera House.

Not only will Collard and the Symphony start up the 60th anniversary season of the Spokane Symphony, the French pianist will be playing one of the most beloved pieces ever written Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 3. Rachmaninoff's highly demanding piano concerto requires stamina, a broad expressive range and brilliant technique. The first movement has two themes intertwined to captivate the audience with its lengthy and showy melodies. In the second movement, the piano sings a romantically melancholy song, which ebbs and flows in intensity and passion. The finale piles excitement upon excitement accelerating tempos, bone-crunching virtuosity for the soloist captivating the audience, getting them wanting more.

The orchestra will also play a suite from Richard Strauss' Der Rosenkavalier. In the opinion of many critics, Der Rosenkavalier is the most popular and finest of Strauss' 15 operas. Writing just before World War I, Strauss is full of happy nostalgia for a gracious era that was already disappearing. With a libretto by the Austrian poet Hugo von Hofmannstahl, it tells the story of a love triangle involving different generations: two women vying for the love of one man. The Viennese waltz will bring comic sparkle and inspiration.

The final piece, La Valse by Maurice Ravel reflects the tougher, more violent style known as Expressionism that swept through the European arts after the cataclysm of World War I. Ravel experienced horrors both on the battlefield and in his personal life. When Ravel played La Valse with a colleague, he dismissed it for being a masterpiece . . . but not a ballet. Despite his feelings toward his masterpiece, it has been choreographed several times. In just 12 minutes, one will experience the most vivid sound portrait imaginable of the end of an era.

Maestro Preu and the Spokane Symphony orchestra will begin its 60th Anniversary celebration by inspiring you by dance.
Underwriters for this concert are Sterling Savings Bank and the Mary Jewett Gaiser Endowment Fund.

Tickets range from $15 to $35 and are available at the Spokane Symphony Ticket Office, 818 W. Riverside, Suite 100 or 509-624-1200; all Ticketswest Outlets; 509-325-SEAT; 1-800-325-SEAT and at www.spokanesymphony.org