Past Seasons | 2008-2009
Summary
As we entered a mile-marker year, we invited you to explore a cornucopia of terrific music, great soloists, and the artistry of the Bay-Atlantic Symphony for the 2008-09 season!
"Lyric and Epic" - November 2008
Our subscription series began in November with Romanticism writ large. The program, Lyric and Epic shows two very differing facets to this movement. In the intimacy of Schumann’s Cello Concerto, we showcased the lyricism and poetry of young Russian cellist Christophor Miroshnikov. The program opened with a bold-lettered New Jersey premier Chasing Light... by renowned American composer Joseph Schwantner, sponsored by Ford-Made in America. We concluded with one of the most epic AND lyric symphonies in repertoire, Tchaikovsky’s powerful Symphony No. 5.
Chasing Light… (New Jersey Premier)…………………Joseph Schwantner
Concerto for Cello and Orchestra…………………….Robert Schumann
Christophor Miroshnikov, cello
Symphony No. 5……………………………………….Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
"Phantoms and Fire" - January 2009
January brought us a delicious combination of ballet music by Spaniard Manuel de Falla. You will recognize much of his rich score to El Amor Brujo, such as the “ritual fire dance.” We featured the electric mezzo soprano, Fenlon Lamb, who ignited our audiences performing Rigoletto. Fenlon opened the concert with songs and arias that explore some of the same themes in El Amor Brujo, in a program not to be missed called, “Phantoms and Fire.”
Spanish and other Songs and Arias
Fenlon Lamb, mezzo soprano
El Amor Brujo (Love, the Magician)………………………Manuel De Falla
Fenlon Lamb, mezzo soprano
"Shadows and Light" - March 2009
Our program in March explored two contrasting sides of one of the greatest composers of symphonic form, Johannes Brahms. His First Piano Concerto opened with more bluster and anguish, perhaps than any other, while his Second Symphony is arguably his most contented and even ebullient work. We were delighted to welcome to our stage concert pianist Marian Hahn from the staff of Peabody Conservatory.
Piano Concerto No. 1 in d minor……………………….Johannes Brahms
Marian Hahn, piano
Symphony No. 2 in D major…………………………….Johannes Brahms
"Let’s Play!" - May 2009
We brought young Corsican Olivier Cangelosi to perform Beethoven’s bold and innovative Third Piano Concerto, and match that work with two effervescent and youthful works by Prokofiev: A Summer Day (Children’s Suite), and one of his best-know works, the Classical Symphony. This work is notorious for requiring an orchestra of supreme virtuosity. We called this program, “Let’s Play!”
Piano Concerto No. 3 in c minor…………………………Ludwig van Beethoven
Olivier Cangelosi, piano
A Summer Day (Children’s Suite)………………………..Sergei Prokofiev
Classical Symphony……………………………………….Sergei Prokofiev