Music Director Joana Carneiro and Berkeley Symphony continue their 2012-2013 Season on Thursday, February 7th at 8:00 pm in Zellerbach Hall with the world premiere of Alfama by Portuguese composer Andreia Pinto-Correia. Internationally renowned cellist Lynn Harrell joins the orchestra as soloist for the Witold Lutoslawski's Concerto for Cello. Rachmaninoff’s Symphonic Dances, Op. 45 completes the program. Click here to purchase tickets on-line.
Born in Lisbon, Portugal, Andreia Pinto-Correia began her studies in her native country at the Academia de Amadores de Musica and at the Escola Luis Villas Boas, and received her Masters of Music degree in jazz composition at the New England Conservatory, where she studied with legendary jazz composer Bob Brookmeyer. Ms. Pinto-Correia has worked privately with such luminaries as John Harbison, William Bolcom, Colin Matthews and Steven Stucky and is currently a teaching fellow at the New England Conservatory.
Upcoming world premieres include an opera co-commission by the Companhia Opera do Castelo and Drumming GP slated for 2014. Other past premieres include commissions by the Borromeo String Quartet at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, Grammy-Award nominee Derek Bermel, Spanish virtuoso percussionist Miquel Bernat and the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble.
Lynn Harrell is known throughout the world as a soloist, chamber musician, recitalist, conductor and teacher. He is a champion of Witold Lutoslawski's Concerto for Cello. This work was commissioned in 1970 for Mstislav Rostropovich, the force behind many significant 20th Century concertos for the instrument. Rostropovich inspired Lutoslawski to adopt the old-fashioned, “anti-modernist” format of the concerto in a way that gave the composer’s imagination complete free reign. John Cage-inspired passages include chance methods to be played in an improvisational, ad lib fashion, though within a specified time frame. In addition to the Western avant-garde style, Lutoslawski’s music incorporates aspects of folk music as well as unique orchestral color and sonic texture.
Symphonic Dances, Op. 45 was Rachmaninoff’s last composition and one of only a handful that he composed during the final 25 years of his life. In the aftermath of the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, he became an exile from his native Russia, eventually settling in the United States. This left him emotionally unmoored, homesick and financially burdened which contributed to a sense of creative paralysis and a dwindling compositional output. Written in 1940, the work includes numerous self-quotations from his earlier works, in addition to themes derived from Russian sacred chant, forming a nostalgic reflection of pre-Revolutionary Russia.
ABOUT BERKELEY SYMPHONY
Recognized nationally for its adventurous programming, Berkeley Symphony has established a reputation for presenting major new works for orchestra alongside fresh interpretations of the classic European repertoire. Berkeley Symphony has been recognized in eight of the past ten seasons with an Award for Adventurous Programming from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP). In addition to its subscription concerts and Under Construction New Music Series, Berkeley Symphony partners with the Berkeley Unified School District to produce the award-winning Music in th Schools program, providing comprehensive, age-appropriate music curriculum for more than 4,000 local elementary students each year. In addition, the Orchestra regularly partners with Cal Performances, the performing arts presenter and producer of the University of California, Berkeley, to provide music for visiting artists.
Comments