Romance your special someone with Chopin and Schumann

Feb 4, 2011

For Immediate Release

Contact: Annie Matlow 464-7071

SPOKANE— Music Director Eckart Preu will conduct the Spokane Symphony performing a cornucopia of romantic music on Saturday, Feb. 12 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, Feb. 13 at 3 p.m. at Martin Woldson Theater at The Fox.  The program will feature the “Spring” symphony by Schumann, and a concerto by the master of Romantic piano: Chopin. American pianist Orion Weiss will delight audiences with his critically acclaimed playing: “Every so often, a talent comes along that is so natural, genuine and exciting you can hardly believe your ears. Such was the case when Orion Weiss took the piano bench.” Cincinnati Enquirer

In honor of Valentine’s Day, the symphony has made available a special Romance package, the perfect add-on for romancing that special somebody and making your date at the symphony a gloriously memorable one. The package consists of a long-stemmed rose and a small box of Boehm Chocolates.

The concert will begin with Verklänte Nacht, an early work in the Wagnerian style by Arnold Schoenberg. Verklärte Nacht, or Transfigured Night, is based on a poem of the same title, a celebration of new life, both literally and figuratively. The music is filled with the passion Schoenberg experienced upon meeting Mathilde von Zemlinsky, the sister of his teacher, and future wife; the music was composed within three weeks of their meeting. Although Schoenberg found inspiration the poem, his aim was not to tell a story but to portray the human feelings underlying the drama. In so doing, he enraptures the listener with the music."

Frederic Chopin was a master of the piano, both as a composer and performer. As a result, his Piano Concerto No. 1 is a pianist’s concerto with all the frills and furbelows for the soloist, but it also contains the kind of poignantly lyric melodies that were to characterize the composer’s subsequent music for solo piano. The orchestral backing is carefully and deliberately written to fit in with the sound of the piano, and that the simplicity of arrangement is in deliberate contrast to the complexity of the harmony. Chopin described the music as “...a kind of reverie in the moonlight on a beautiful spring evening.”

The concert will conclude with Robert Schumann’s Symphony No. 1, known as “Spring”. Inspired by “his spring of love”, Schumann composed this work at breakneck speed, sketching the symphony in only 4 days in late January, and completing the orchestration within a month. The work was premiered under the direction of Felix Mendelssohn and was warmly received. A fascinating feature of this symphony is the interpolation of the "spring" theme into three of the four movements. The slow introductory fanfare on the trumpets and horns should sound, according to the composer, “as if from above, like a call to awaken.” Schumann’s wife, Clara, heard within it “the little buds, the scent of the violets, the fresh green leaves, the birds in the air.”

The solo will be played by Orion Weiss, one of the most sought-after soloists and collaborators in his generation of young American musicians. His deeply felt and exceptionally crafted performances go far beyond his technical mastery and have won him acclaim from audiences, critics and colleagues in a wide range of repertoire and formats. In September 2010, Weiss was named the Classical Recording Foundation’s Young Artist of the Year, and will release a recital album of Dvorak, Prokofiev and Bartok. He is also recording the complete Gershwin works for piano and orchestra. Known as a collaborator, Weiss performs regularly with his wife, pianist Anna Polonsky, with the Pacifica Quartet and multiple recital partners.

In recent seasons, Weiss has performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony, New World Symphony, National Arts Centre Orchestra, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and with the New York Philharmonic.  He has won an impressive list of awards includes Juilliard William Petschek Award, the Gilmore Young Artist Award, an Avery Fisher Career Grant, the Gina Bachauer Scholarship at the Juilliard School and the Mieczyslaw Munz Scholarship. A native of Lyndhurst, OH, he attended the Cleveland Institute of Music.  In 2004, he graduated from the Juilliard School, where he studied with Emanuel Ax.

This concert has been underwritten anonymously in support of the Immaculate Heart Retreat Center.

Tickets for either performance are $22, $32, $40, and $44. 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.

CALENDAR LISTING:

Romantic Chopin and Schumann, Eckart Preu conducts the Spokane Symphony, Orion Weiss, piano on Saturday, Feb. 12 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, Feb. 13 at 3 p.m. at Martin Woldson Theater at The Fox. Tickets are $22, $32, $40 and $44. 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.