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Join Emily Ray for a dazzling evening of musical adventures, featuring the Bay Area native, Ashu and award winning
composer, Lee Actor.
| February 14th, 2010, 7:30pm |
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Valentine's Concert: Diamonds and Dreams |
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Mendelssohn |
Overture to A Midsummer Night's Dream |
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Avshalomov |
Diamond Variations |
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Actor |
Saxophone Concerto, world premiere |
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Mozart |
Symphony no. 34 |
| About Ashu |
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| Ashu was born and raised in California and began playing the saxophone at age 10.
Regularly appearing as soloist with renowned orchestras throughout the USA and Europe,
recent invitations include the Vienna Chamber Orchestra and Metropolitan Orchestra of Lisbon,
in such venues as Carnegie Hall and the Vienna Konzerthaus. Earning a reputation for his engaging stage presence,
critics have raved that he's "just as much fun to watch as he is to listen to"
(Dallas Morning News) and "Riveting, Brilliant, Pizzazz to Burn!" (NPR).
While most people have never heard the saxophone in a symphonic setting,
Ashu has begun to change this. He says, "It's really an incredible instrument.
It can play with such emotional intensity, sing like a voice, and effortlessly project
in the largest of halls. It's capable of a lot of really beautiful things."
With the unique ability to captivate general as well as classical audiences,
Ashu has shown that the concert saxophone can reach beyond stylistic
categorization to a large range of people. |
| For more details about Ashu, visit his website. |
| About Lee Actor |
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| Composer and conductor Lee Actor (b. 1952 in Denver, Colorado) has won a number of
awards for his compositions, most recently for Redwood Fanfare , a winner of the 2009 Ridgewood
Symphony Orchestra Fanfare Competition, and Concerto for Horn and Orchestra, the First Prize
Winner in the 2007 International Horn Society Composition Contest. Actor’s orchestral music is
characterized by its dramatic impact and emotional expressivity, featuring a striking use of harmony,
counterpoint, motivic development, and lyricism with a fresh, modern flavor. A former violinist with the
Albany (N.Y.) Symphony Orchestra, Actor has advanced degrees in both engineering, from Rensselaer
Polytechnic Institute, and music composition, from San Jose State University. |
| For more details about Mr. Actor, visit his website. |
| About David Avshalomov |
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| David Avshalomov, born in New York in 1946, is following in the footsteps of his famous father,
Jacob, and grandfather, Aaron. As a student he sang in choruses, studied piano, music theory and percussion,
and played timpani in school. After receiving a B.A. in music at Harvard, he became a professional chorister,
performing in oratorios and madrigals. His compositions range from band and orchestra works to chamber music,
vocal music and oratorio. As a conductor he studied with Leonard Bernstein, Seiji Ozawa and others. |
| For more details about Mr. Avshalomov, visit his website. |
| Felix Mendelssohn’s "Overture to A Midsummer Night’s Dream" |
| When he was only 17, Mendelssohn was inspired to write this overture to Shakespeare's famous play.
A true work of the romantic period, it depicts fairies, the mystery of the forest, and a village dance,
complete with donkey braying. |
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| David Avshalomov’s Diamond Variations
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| Co-commissioned by Tracy Rush for the Dubuque Community Orchestra (Iowa) and by
Emily Ray for the Mission Chamber Orchestra, the set of variations for strings and
harp grew from the “seed crystal” of an original theme with two other variations
on it written in the early 1990’s for the Gemological Institute of America, as
theme music for an audiobook course about diamonds.
The simple theme which widens melodically in an angular way,
by moving from its first note up a step, then down a third, up a fourth,
down a fifth, etc. to the octave, suggests the clean triangular or trapezoidal
faces that are found both on full-formed rough diamond octahedra, and the many
tiny facets that cutters grind onto the surface of a fashioned stone to reveal
the total brilliance of a full-cut gem. This brilliance is both beauty and a
snare: the variations portray beauty, friendship, yearning, and romance, but
also greed, smuggling, theft, and the violence sometimes associated with the mining,
movement, and ownership of diamonds.
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Lee Actor’s Concerto for Alto Saxophone and Orchestra
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| “One of my goals in writing this piece," said composer Lee Actor,
“was to exploit the considerable dramatic and expressive possibilities
of the saxophone. The first movement, marked Andante appassionato,
begins with an intense, declamatory statement in the high cellos
accompanied by a counterpoint in the low violas, over a pedal G in
the timpani and basses. The second movement, Adagio, begins with the
saxophone playing a lonely solo. The finale, Allegro molto, is colorful
and full of energy and high spirits. The result is a piece that expresses
a full range of emotions, from intensely dramatic to poignantly lyrical to
slyly humorous to triumphantly joyful. Concerto for Alto Saxophone and
Orchestra was commissioned by the Mission Chamber Orchestra, dedicated to
saxophonist Ashu, and is tailored to his uniquely personal style of performance."
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Wolfgang A. Mozart’s Symphony no. 34
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| This is the last symphony Mozart wrote while living in Salzburg.
It is somewhat unusual in that it has only three movements, missing
the minuet that was standard for symphonies of that time.
It also exhibits traits of his Symphony no. 31, written for
the Paris orchestra, and gives greater prominence to the viola than is typical.
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| What to listen for |
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| Mozart Symphony no. 34, Mvt 1 - Listen for the contrasts between bold, sinister and delicate sections. |
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| Mozart Symphony no. 34, Mvt 2 - This is a heartfelt song performed by just the string section.
Listen for how the tender melody of the first violins is often echoed by the 2nd violins and
violas as they create a perfect harmony. |
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| Mozart Symphony no. 34, Mvt 3 - Listen for the calming sound of the pair
of oboes amidst the turbulence of the boisterous running notes in the strings. |
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| Avshalomov Diamond Variations - Notice the way the intervals in the theme widen as the theme progresses.
The harp adds "sparkle" to this theme and to later variations. |
| Getting to Le Petit Trianon |
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| Le Petit Trianon is located in downtown San Jose, near the Rotunda.
Free parking is available across the street from the theater
in a new, well-lit parking garage. Click here
for more information about the theater. |
| Enjoy Downtown San Jose |
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| Downtown San Jose has a number of pre- and post-concert options for cocktails, dining and entertainment.
MCO recommends Eulipia Restaurant, a few short blocks from the theater. Be sure to make reservations for February 14th. |
Buy Your Tickets!
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| Ashu |
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| Featured Composers |
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Lee Actor |
David Avshalomov |
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| Listen to Mozart's "Symphony no. 34, Mvt 1" |
Click here |
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| Listen to Mozart's "Symphony no. 34, Mvt 2" |
Click here |
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| Listen to Mozart's "Symphony no. 34, Mvt 3" |
Click here |
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| Listen to Avshalomov's "Diamond Variations" |
Click here |
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