Symphony C.S.I. team does evaluation of neurotic composers

Jan 7, 2011

For Immediate Release

Contact: Annie Matlow

SPOKANE— Once again C.S.I. Spokane has called in the crack investigators at the Spokane Symphony to help ferret out the truth about the alleged neuroses of certain composers. Music Director Eckart Preu will lead the analysis and will present his findings on Friday, Jan. 14, 2011 at 8 p.m. at Martin Woldson Theater at The Fox. Preu will be assisted by gumshoe Mateusz Wolski on his trusty violin, and Dawn Wolski his soprano-singing sidekick.

Preu will his investigation off with a look at Ludwig van Beethoven, a composer well know for his eccentricities. His life was plagued by ongoing challenges, including encroaching deafness, and later blindness, and a series of legal and personal difficulties. Nevertheless, Beethoven enjoyed immense professional success and was surrounded by a circle of friends. The orchestra will present their findings before performing Leonore Overture No. 1, one of four overtures Beethoven wrote for his opera Fidelio.

French romantic composer Henri Duparc is best known for his melodies, or "art songs" with texts by poets, which many consider to be among the greatest compositions by any composer in this form. Unfortunately, a diagnosis of ‘neurasthenia’ at age 37 virtually ended is composition career. Aux Etoiles, an Entr'acte for an unpublished drama, was one of the few works published after this.

Antonin Dvorak spent many years as a struggling composer, earning most of his income from teaching piano and as a musician, first as a violist in the Bohemian Provisional Theater Orchestra, and then an organist at St. Adalbert’s Church in Prague. The beautiful Romance for Violin and Orchestra was composed just before he got his ‘big break’ when he came to the attention of Johannes Brahms and Simrock, one of the major European publishers.

Gustav Mahler wrote his Symphony No. 4 during his Vienna years, where he was conductor of the Hofoper (Vienna Court Opera), although it incorporates a song originally written years earlier. The song, "Das himmlische Leben", presents a child's vision of Heaven, and will be sung by soprano Dawn Wolski in the work's final movement.

Mateusz Wolski has served as concertmaster for the Spokane Symphony since the fall of 2007, having previously served as concertmaster of the Annapolis Symphony. He has had a distinguished career in the United States and abroad. He came to the U.S. to attend Manhattan School of Music in 1996. It was there, with full scholarship, that he completed his bachelors and masters degrees under the tutelage of Glenn Dicterow, concertmaster of the New York Philharmonic. An enthusiastic chamber musician, Wolski has appeared in New York City at Carnegie Hall, Merkin Concert Hall, 92nd Street Y, and the Kosciuszko Foundation. Abroad, his performances have included Wigmore Hall in London and the Mozarteum in Salzburg, as well as numerous engagements throughout Poland, Italy, England and Germany.

A recent finalist of the 2010 Liederkranz Opera Competition (New York) and a winner in the 2008 Zara Dolukhanova International Art Song Competition (Russia), soprano Dawn Marie Wolski's clear, brilliant tone has been delighting audiences throughout the opera, operetta, and concert worlds alike. While earning her Master's degree at Manhattan School of Music, her portrayal of Lucia in The Rape of Lucretia was described as "exquisite" in a review in Opera News. Of Ms. Wolski's performance of the Brahms Requiem with Stamford Symphony, Stamford Advocate said "she delivered lines...with an elegance that produced chills;" and of Carmina Burana with New York City's Collegiate Chorale, Classics Today wrote she was "ravishing, all the way up to a crystal clear high D." Ms. Wolski has performed around the world, including the US and Canada, Europe and Russia, and China. She has recorded for Albany Records.

Tickets for C.S.I. Spokane: Neurotic Composer are $10, $20, and $30. Tickets are available in advance at the Spokane Symphony Ticket Office, located at Martin Woldson Theater at The Fox, 1001 W. Sprague, or by calling 509-624-1200. Tickets may also be purchased online at www.spokanesymphony.org Tickets are also available at all TicketsWest outlets or by calling 1-800-325-SEAT.

This concert has been underwritten by Frank and Sherry Knott.

CALENDAR LISTING:

C.S.I. Spokane: Neurotic Composers, Eckart Preu conducts the Spokane Symphony, Mateusz Wolski, violin and Dawn Wolski, soprano, Friday, Jan. 14, 2011 at 8 p.m. at Martin Woldson Theater at The Fox. Tickets are $10, $20, and $30. Tickets are available in advance at the Spokane Symphony Ticket Office, located at Martin Woldson Theater at The Fox, 1001 W. Sprague, or by calling 509-624-1200. Tickets may also be purchased online at www.spokanesymphony.org Tickets are also available at all TicketsWest outlets or by calling 1-800-325-SEAT.