Concert Season
Past Concerts
Concert Season
The Russians are Coming ~ to the Okanagan Valley
MAY 2ND | KELOWNA | 8.00 PM
MAY 3RD | PENTICTON | 7:30 PM
MAY 4TH | VERNON | 7.00 PM
Gifted Canadian Pianist Michael Kim journeys to the Okanagan Valley to lead the charge alongside Music Director Rosemary Thomson and the Okanagan Symphony in the May concert-season closer "The Russians are Coming".
Kim will perform the "pinnacle of virtuosity for pianists", the huge Piano Concerto No. 3 by Rachmaninov. This towering concerto is only accessible to true virtuosi, and Michael Kim will keep audience members glued to their seats as he executes this work characterizing great human struggle and achievement. An
audience favourite, Kim held the Vladimir Horowitz Piano Scholarship at Juilliard and has toured and recorded extensively.
The May program opens with Mikhail Glinka's "Russlan & Ludmilla Overture". The libretto to the opera of the same name was to have been written by celebrated Russian poet Aleksandr Pushkin – but, Pushkin was killed in a duel as he began the work. The composer Glinka is credited as a pioneer of exotic musical vocabulary, and is seen as a forerunner of Debussy. This bright and colourful overture is a real party piece
for orchestra.
The final work on the program is the melodramatic and highly satisfying Symphony No. 4 in F minor by Tchaikovsky. It begins famously, without strings: horns and bassoons sound in unison, joined by the winds and trumpets. Blasts of fortissimo are followed by silences, until the strings join in. The symphony is by turns, questing, weeping and sparkling, and was conceived by Tckaikovsky as a musical autobiography. It moves audiences from the depths of despair through to the promise of hope and a brighter future.
Tchaikovsky is considered the most "western" of the famed Russian composers, but still listeners hear the richness of 19th century Russia in each of the four movements of this well-known, well-loved symphony. This Rachmaninov piano concerto, written in 1909, had a profound influence on his contemporaries.
Audience members will recognize it as the music from the 1996 academy-award winning movie, "Shine". Colloquially recognized as "Rach 3", the public generally thinks of this piece as "The" Rachmaninov piano
concerto.
At this, the last concert of the 2007-2008 Okanagan Symphony mainstage series, the Symphony, along with Michael Kim, will perform three times, in Kelowna, Penticton and Vernon.
There is a special free Open Dress Rehearsal in Kelowna on Friday, May 2nd, at 2:00 p.m. in the Kelowna Community Theatre. Students and members of the public are welcome. Special student and seniors discounts are available for the regular concerts at Ticket Master for Kelowna shows (call 860-1470) or visit the Towne Centre Mall for tickets.
In Penticton, tickets are available at the Cleland Theatre box office, or at the Grooveyard on Main Street, or
by calling Ticket Master at 490-2426. The show is at the Cleland Theatre.
In Vernon, for tickets, the public can call Ticket Seller at 540-7469, or visit the box office at the Vernon Performing Arts Centre, where the shows are held.
Leonard Camplin, Conductor Laureate
PO Box 20238, Kelowna, BC V1Y 9H2
Tel: 250.763.7544 Fax: 250.763.3553
In all three cities, Conductor Rosemary Thomson holds a free pre-concert talk sharing her insights into the
concert program, one hour before show time, open to ticket holders. And, immediately after the concert,
Thomson hosts "Afterthoughts" onstage with Guest Artist Michael Kim and symphony musicians, for all
interested audience members.
The Okanagan Symphony will announce its upcoming season: 2008-2009 at the May shows, and tickets
will go on sale shortly thereafter.
