For Immediate Release – April 6, 2007
For further information contact: Kathy Myrick, 970.382.9753
sanjuansymphony@musician.org
San Juan Symphony to Highlight “Tales
of the East”
in Season’s Closing Concert
Durango, CO -- On Saturday, April 21st at
7:30 p.m. in Durango at the Community Concert Hall at Fort Lewis
College, and Sunday, April 22nd at 3 p.m. at the Farmington Civic
Center, the San Juan Symphony continues its 2006-07 Sensations
and Destinations journey to what may be the most exotic destination
of all as the spirited melodies and piquant harmonies of Tales
from the East take concertgoers down the silk road in luxury and
splendor.
”Ever since the Venetian explorer Marco Polo discovered
China in the 14th century, Western society has been intrigued by
exotic lands, particularly the Near and Far East,” writes
Music Director Arthur Post. In
Europe, the latter years of the 18th century brought a fascination
with certain sounds from the Near East including the powerful music
created by a band including the oboe, trumpet, bells, triangle,
bass drum and cymbals.
Prominent composers of the time used various
techniques, including percussion, to imitate the Turkish military
bands of the day. A
prime example of the Turkish influence on Western music is the
Symphony’s rousing entree, Mozart’s Turkish March.
The
second piece on the program, Arutiunian’s Trumpet Concerto,
composed in 1950, will shine the spotlight on guest trumpeter,
Ryan Anthony. Internationally acclaimed as a member of the Canadian
Brass, Anthony has played in the trumpet sections of the Cleveland
Orchestra, New York Philharmonic and Israel Philharmonic. He has
recorded for all major television networks and film studios, and
in 1998, his solo in “Farewell” was heard nightly as
NBC’s “Must See TV” theme. Anthony currently
serves as Interim Principal Trumpet with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra.
The
Arutiunian piece is definitely Anthony’s favorite solo
piece. “It lets me do everything the trumpet can do
and allows me to play to the audience in a very personal way. There's
nothing like it," Anthony said.
Sure to strike a familiar note
is the program’s graceful
third offering, reminiscent of imperial Russia’s pomp and
pageantry, Tchaikovsky’s jaunty Neapolitation Dance from
the Swan Lake Suite.
In 1912, American composer Charles Thomlinson
Griffes’ interest
in oriental culture and poetry led to his composing the fourth
piece in the program, The Pleasure Dome of Kubla Khan, based on
the Samuel Coleridge poem of the same name. With evocative
impressionist music, Griffes’ piece is a Western fantasy
of the luxury and languor of the Orient, and the East’s capacity
for revelry and decadence.
Aram Khachaturian’s Suite from
Spartacus and Phrygia, the program’s muscular closing number,
straddles the cultural divide between East and West with warm sweeping
melodies and rich harmony. His music has an Oriental vitality
arranged in classical European patterns. “If the selection
sounds familiar, it is. The score has been used in numerous films
and television shows, proof positive of our enduring appetite for
musical spices from the East.” Arthur Post concludes.
Tickets
for this exotic musical journey are available by calling the Farmington
Civic Center at 505.599.1148 for the Farmington concert, or the
Community Concert Hall at Fort Lewis College at 970.247.7657 for
the Durango concert. Discounted tickets
are available for seniors and students.
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