Concert Season
Past Concerts
Concert Season
Masterworks Series I ~ BIG BANG
Kelowna Community Theatre, Friday, October 16, 8:00 p.m.
Penticton Cleland Theatre, Saturday, October 17, 7:30 p.m.
Vernon Performing Arts Centre, Sunday,October 18, 7:00 p.m.
Program:
Overture to Die Meistersinger von Nuremburg, Wagner; Symphony No. 5, Tchaikovsky; Romantic Concerto, Ernst Schneider; Nimrod, Elgar
Guest Artists:
Arnold Draper, piano
A Word from Rosemary. . . .
I am full of excitement for the opening show of our 50th Anniversary. Wagner’s great tribute to song in Die Meistersinger is a brilliant showcase for the orchestra and a great celebration of music in community. We highlight the Okanagan’s own Arnold Draper in the first of three world premieres this season with Ernst Schneider’s lush piano concerto. Elgar’s Nimrod Variation is the piece that orchestras around the world play to give tribute to the memory of one of their own. We will offer homage to Don Cowell, a long-time member of the OSO violin section, with this heartbreaking music. Finally, I’ve been contemplating the 5th Symphony of Tchaikovsky a great deal these last few weeks since our program change. This symphony, for me, is a perfect way to mark fifty years. The recurring fate theme that winds its way through all four movements leads listeners from one memory to the next. By turns relentless, whimsical and fiery, it is the perfect piece to help us reflect on past glories, past challenges and the promise of a magnificent future.
Rosemary Thomson, Music Director & Conductor
Wagner's 1867 overture to his penultimate music drama "Die Meistersinger" expressing his themes("leitmotifs") of persons and ideas was completed and played to appreciative audiences long before the opera itself was finished. Strong and robust themes of longing, love, competition, and march combine and build to an exhilarating finale exploiting the vast orchestration in a magnificent celebration.
Tchaikovsky's Fifth Symphony(1885) drew its inspirations for skilled orchestrations and themes from the opera and ballet. The composer's lifelong obsession with man's fate here reflects on the process of "betterment", evolving from minor to major and darkness to light in a symphony full of melodic invention and dramatic tension. The second movement opens with a horn solo that has become one of the most famous melodies in history, and the third movement's waltz is considered to be Tchaikovsky's absolute best. The work continues to inspire generations of listeners.
Ernst Schneider's work has been performed worldwide, including in the Okanagan, where he now makes his home. The OSO premiered his "Celebration and Reflection" in 2008. Arnold Draper, a much-loved and admired performer living in Kelowna since 1989, comes from a family of eminent British musicians. He was a member of the music faculty at Cardiff University from 1974 to 1989, when he moved to Kelowna. In 2005, Mr. Draper received the Okanagan Scorpion Classical Artist of the year award.
Open dress rehearsal...
Kelowna Community Theatre, from 2-4:30 pm on Friday, October 16. Admission is free.
Pre-concert talks...
One hour before each mainstage concert (except Christmas and The Andrew Lloyd Webber Experience) our Music Director and Conductor Rosemary Thomson will greet ticket holders with an in-depth discussion and Q&A session on each mainstage concert. Just plan on joining us in the theatre one hour before showtime, and enjoy and learn from this in-depth presentation on that evening's music, compositions, and composers.
Afterthoughts...
In every city, Rosemary invites the concert's guest artist/s to join her onstage post-concert with one or two musicians from the orchestra to share questions and thoughts with the audience.
