The DSO Invites Audiences to Dance in the Aisles for ¡Musica Bravo!

The content of this post comes from a press release from the Delaware Symphony Orchestra...

The Delaware Symphony Orchestra (DSO) continues its 118th season with a performance of ¡Musica Bravo! on Friday, November 10, 7:30pm at The Grand Opera House in Wilmington and Sunday, November 12, 2:30pm at Cape Henlopen High School in Lewes.

The DSO welcomes guest condcutor Michelle Di Russo
& guest guitarist João Luiz for its November concerts. 

The concert welcomes guest conductor Michelle Di Russo and guitarist João Luiz in a performance that features Latin- and Hispanic-inspired works. Di Russo will be the first female conductor to take the DSO podium in several decades.

“If I could pick a program that represents my absolute love for music, it would be this one,” says Di Russo. “I believe it truly showcases where my passion for music and my roots connect through classical music.”

Di Russo is certain this program will resonate with both first-time concertgoers and experienced music lovers. “This program will make you fall in love with the hypnotic, beautiful Latin and Hispanic melodies and rhythms,” she says. “I am also happy that I get to share music by Argentinian composer Alberto Ginastera. It is extremely special for me to be able to perform music from my country.”

Di Russo, who is of Argentinian/Italian descent, is known for her compelling interpretations, passionate musicality, and championing of contemporary music. She currently serves as Associate Conductor of the North Carolina Symphony in Raleigh, N.C.

Guest artist João Luiz — half of the Brasil Guitar Duo who have performed previously with the DSO — joins the Symphony on Spanish acoustic guitar to bring the sounds of Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez to life. The program also includes works by Márquez, de Falla, Rimsky-Korsakov, and the aforementioned Ginastera.

The orchestra will repeat this performance in Sussex County, travelling to Cape Henlopen High School on Sunday, November 12, for a 2:30 p.m. concert.

“We're very excited to bring you this dynamic program and welcome to the stage guest conductor Michelle Di Russo,” said Chief Executive Officer, J.C. Barker. “Don't miss these concerts. You will be dancing in the aisles!"

Subscription packages and single tickets for all concerts are available. Visit DelawareSymphony.org or call 302.656.7442 for more details.

DSO thanks subscribers at Dickinson

On Tuesday, October 25, the Delaware Symphony played at John Dickinson High School, giving their subscribers a thank you concert and joining forces to promote the fantastic Kimball Organ.

The concert allowed the DSO to give yet another performance (the last one was in the 1980s in Washington, DC) of the Saint Saens Symphony No. 3 in C minor, often referred to as the organ symphony. They also played Fratres by Arvo Pǟrt and a fairly unusual piece by Ottorino Respighi called Church Windows (Vetrate di chiesa) which he refashioned from an earlier piano composition he called Tre Preludi sopra melodie gregoriane. For Church windows, Respighi added a movement and scored it for full symphony, pipe organ and tam-tam.

Since it is rare to have a good venue with a full pipe organ which can accommodate a full symphony as well, this performance at Dickinson was a rare treat.

See delawaresymphony.org

Les Six

The Delaware Symphony champagne series at the Hotel DuPont Gold Ballroom October 4 was a whirling delight of early twentieth century compositions. The program featured DSO woodwind principals and principal French horn in five solos and a grand finale sextet.

Pianist Lura Johnson, recently named principal piano to the DSO, was a powerhouse – playing every one of the quite difficult pieces and bonding extremely well with all five soloists. William Short was able to show his marvelous tone in both high and low registers in Henri Dutilleux’s Sarabande et cortege for bassoon and piano. (Having heard him play in Richard Strauss’ Also sprach Zarathustra in both his final Curtis concert and the recent DSO opening, his smooth sound and control was no surprise.)

Charles Salinger’s arrangement of Max Bruch’s Kol Nidrei for clarinet was a more somber and subtle piece, allowing Salinger to show his amazing control and dynamic gradations in a narrow range of sound. Karen Schubert’s horn sound in Paul Dukas’ Villanelle for horn and piano had the volume needed in that room to stand against the full sound of the grand piano’s open lid and Johnson’s strong attacks.

Jeff O’Donnell’s delicate oboe sound (which had been sorely missed during his year-long hiatus from the DSO) and Kimberly Reighley’s flute were both high enough to be in an almost different sound zone from the piano and this enhanced the effect of each performance, allowing their control and technical brilliance to be clearly heard.

And the Poulenc sextet was one of those moments in musical performances where everything seemed to click among the six musicians – the rollicking music resounded in the ballroom – and here is where the strength of Johnson’s piano playing really showed. What other pianist could have prepared that many notes for a single evening’s concert and still play with energy and gusto up to the very last note?

See www.delawaresymphony.org.

Chamber Music in October

Would you believe that the Pyxis Quartet’s October 1 concert at the Delaware Art Museum has been sold out since August? The Concerts on Kentmere series will be presented in the Pre-Raphaelite gallery and an option for dinner on the Chihuly Bridge can be part of the package for those lucky few who booked early.

The Pyxis Quartet was founded this year and I hope they will play together for many years to come: Hiroko Yamazaki, piano, Meredith Amado, violin, Amy Leonard, viola and Jie Jin, cello are a formidable combination.

If you did NOT book early for the Concert on Kentmere, fret not. You have two other opportunities to hear the Pyxis this fall: They will be playing on Thursday, October 29, at noon at First and Central Presbyterian Church just off Rodney Square and on Sunday, November 1 at Grace United Methodist Church at 3:00 p.m.

But don’t forget the Newark Symphony Chamber Series which starts on Saturday, October 3, with a star-studded ensemble of players. Thomas DiSarlo, concertmaster of the Philadelphia group Camerata Ama Deus, will play a violin etude by Ernst, and two Mozart violin duos with Amy Walder. Walder will switch to viola to join Susan Kiley, who will trade in her NSO viola role for a violin, and Charles Thomas, cello and Thomas DiSarlo, violin for the Haydn Emperor Quartet. The final piece in the concert will be the Schumann E-flat Piano Quartet with Vincent Craig, piano, DiSarlo, violin, Amy Walder, viola and Charles Thomas, cello.

On October 11 at 4:00 p.m.,near perfect acoustics in the Church of the Holy City will enhance the delightful sound of the Copeland String Quartet: Eliezer Gutman, violin, Thomas Jackson, violin, Nina Cottman, viola and Mark Ward.

And if you are still hungry for chamber music (and macaroons), don’t forget the Hotel Dupont Chamber Series. On October 27, you will hear the Nielsen Wind Quintet, the Strauss Happy Workshop and a local composer, Chuck Holdeman’s Petit Concert.

On Tuesday, December 1, David Amado teams up with his wife, Meredith, for an evening of Mozart violin sonatas at the Hotel Dupont.

There is no shortage of chamber music in the Diamond State this season!

See http://www.delart.org/.
See http://www.desymphony.org/.
See http://www.newarksymphony.org/.
See http://www.copelandstringquartet.com/.