Past Seasons | 2009-2010
Summary
The BAS 2009-2010 season was rich, varied, and ambitious. We offered one of Mahler’s most cherished symphonies, a fun and frolicsome spoof of Italian comic opera in a New Jersey premiere, a heart-pounding depiction of human sacrifice in the Yucatan, and a double concerto featuring BAS Concert Master Ruotao Mao and Principal ellist Jie Jin. Our featured soloist for the Mahler 4th and Barber’s Knoxville Summer of 1915 was one of the most expressive sopranos on the scene, Ah Young Hong (BAS’s Gilda in Rigoletto in 2006), and our season opened with the internationally renowned Poulenc Trio. Along the way, the audiences were treated to favorites such as Mendelssohn’s Italian Symphony, Copland’s Appalachian Spring, and Rossini’s Barber of Seville Overture, as well as Bizet and Brahms. Our performance of this ballet was newly choreographed by Joshua Bisset for these premieres.
"Night at the Opera" - November 2009
Our 2009-10 opener was full of high spirits, soaring melody, and drama, as we plunged into symphonic works that embody the spirit of Italian Opera. Mendelssohn’s brilliantly-hued, infectious, and sunny masterpiece was paired with the second performance ever of Panariello’s homage to comic opera. The work, commissioned by our soloists—the brilliant Poulenc Trio—deftly recalled the wit, humor, and long-lined melody of the genre. One of Rossini’s most characteristic overtures led us into this world with humor and bite.
Overture to The Barber of Seville……………...Gioacchino Rossini
Triple Concerto (Homage to Opera Buffa)…….Gaetano Panariello
Poulenc Trio:
Irina Lande, piano
Vladimir Lande, oboe
Bryan Young, bassoon
Symphony No. 4, Op. 90, A major, Italian…….Felix Mendelssohn
"Rediscovering America" - January 2010
We continued our intimate and unusual formats for our January program that have become extraordinarily popular with our audiences. The Bay-Atlantic Symphony Brass Quintet connecte us with sounds familiar to Americans from across the generations. Then, we re-discovered Aaron Copland’s touchstone work, Appalachian Spring, in a brand new conception for dance. The piece was originally written without storyline as a ballet for Martha Graham. We returned to Copland’s original, more abstract conception as a starting point and shared brand new possibilities of interpreting the work with a world premiere dance performance to this American classic.
Selections from ....................... BAS Brass Quintet
Western Fanfare Eric Ewazen
American Brass Band Journal - G.W.E. Friederich
1. Hail Columbia
2. The Prima Donna Waltz
3. Lily Bell Quick-step / The Chevy Chase / Eubie Blake
4 Songs - Charles Ives
3 Piano Preludes - George Gershwin
Prelude I - Allegro ben Ritmico
Prelude II - Blue Lullaby
Prelude III - Spanish Prelude
Little Brown Jug - Duke Ellington
Selections from West Side Story - Leonard Bernstein
Washington Post March - John Phillip Sousa
Amazing Grace - arr. Luther Henderson
Appalachian Spring………………………………...Aaron Copland
(Complete Ballet, original version)
Newly choreographed by Joshua Bisset
"Disguised as a Child" - March 2010
“Disguised as a Child” was BAS’s most ambitious program for the season, despite the deceptive title. All the pieces spring from a childhood innocence, and yet are some of the richest works in the repertoire. Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915 was based upon James Agee’s prologue to his great novel A Death in the Family. Knoxville calls forth, in the most simple and evocative way, the state of consciousness that Agee so gently and powerfully conveys. Mahler’s Fourth Symphony presented a clarity of expression that is nonetheless bursting with emotion and more beautiful themes than perhaps any other of his symphonies. Bizet led us back to this world of seeming simplicity through his affectionate, perfect sketches of scenes we’d almost forgotten. Each piece was breathtaking.
George Gershwin.......................................Lullaby for strings (arr. Jed Gaylin)
Gustav Holst.............................................St. Paul Suite
Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky...............................Andante Cantabile
- Intermission -
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.........................Violin Concerto No. 4 in D Major
Stefan Jackiw, violin
"Retro & Barbaric" - April 2010
Faure’s Masques et Bergamasques was a sensually luminous and charmingly retrospective piece. Juxtaposed was a fierce contrast: Mexican composer Silvestre Revueltas’s primitive, obsessive depiction of Mayan sacrifice—explosive, yet filled with entrancing music in every bar. After intermission, BAS proudly presented Concert Master Ruotao Mao and Principal Cellist Jie Jin as brilliant soloists in a work that somehow synthesized the nostalgia and charm of the retro with power and urgency in Brahms’ timeless homage to baroque form.
Masques et Bergamasques…………………………...........…Gabriel Fauré
Night of the Mayas (chamber orchestra version)……..Silvestre Revueltas
Concerto for Violin & Cello, Op. 102, A Minor….........Johannes Brahms
Ruotao Mao, Violin
Jie Jin, Cello