It has been another wonderful year of music making with the orchestra and a you to present these performances to the enthusiastic audiences in Port Townsend, Jefferson County, and the region. Always happy and grateful for your presence, support, and encouragement.
I have always been fascinated with composers and pieces that are not often heard and this program is an example.
The Afro-American Symphony by William Grant Still is the first symphony composed by an African-American composer. It was, in his time, performed by a number of leading American orchestras but has not been regularly performed in the past few decades.
The Overture by Fanny Mendelssohn is the only orchestra-alone work she wrote, although she has written several oratorios. The Overture was not published until 1994, almost 150 years after her death. For this reason, the Overture is only available for rental if an orchestra is interested in performing it. This is yet another reason to support our orchestra: so we can keep playing pieces that are rarely heard.
Lastly, Erich Korgold was one of the most important film composers of his time. He was very influential in film scoring and was respected by film directors and musicians. Outside of film composing he wrote a beautiful violin concerto, which is how I was first introduced to him. Unfortunately, he is not often performed and I decided to bring his Sea Hawk Suite to our audience. I hope that in the future we will also perform his violin concerto.
Although this is our last full symphony performance of the 2018-2019 season, we still have two chamber orchestra concerts in June. The program for these concerts includes: a West Coast Premiere of a concertina concerto by James Cohn, performed by Otto Smith, Edvard Grieg’s Holberg Suite, and Tico Tico by Zequinha de Abreu.
I look forward to seeing you at our concerts!