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Dan Coren
A taste of the contemporary, coming soon
DAN COREN
Concert alert:
On Saturday, February 24, Brad Smith will conduct the University of Pennsylvania Orchestra as it performs the Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique, Jennifer Higdon’s Blue Cathedral, and John Adams’s Short Ride in a Fast Machine (Irvine Auditorium, 8 p.m.)
Either by design or luck (I’m pretty sure it’s luck), the Philadelphia Orchestra will repeat the Adams on Thursday, March 29 and the Berlioz on April 26 through May 1. Until very recently, it would have been unthinkable for Penn’s orchestra to attempt the same repertory as it professional counterpart, and the student performance isn’t likely to exhibit the polish of the Orchestra’s. But judging by how well the Smith’s charges played Brahms’s Second Symphony last spring, I’m confident that they’ll play well enough for anyone to enjoy the music as music, not as a valiant effort by students. And at Penn, you’ll only pay $5 for a ticket.
The Higdon and Adams together will take less than 20 minutes, just a taste of music by two of America’s leading young(ish) composers. In April, though, you’ll have an opportunity to hear much more of Adams and the Minimalist style in which his music is rooted. On April 19 at the Perelman Theater, the Kronos Quartet will devote an evening to the music of Terry Riley, who can be called the father of Minimalism. That same night, and the following Friday and Saturday, the Philadelphia Orchestra will play Adams’s Harmonielehre, a truly thrilling work from the 1980s that has convinced me that the large-scale classical symphony is alive and well.
Oh, yes. On Friday, April 20, William Parberry will lead the Penn Orchestra and Chorus (of which I am a member) in a performance of Verdi’s Requiem (Irvine Auditorium, 8 p.m.). That will be quite a weekend!
DAN COREN
Concert alert:
On Saturday, February 24, Brad Smith will conduct the University of Pennsylvania Orchestra as it performs the Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique, Jennifer Higdon’s Blue Cathedral, and John Adams’s Short Ride in a Fast Machine (Irvine Auditorium, 8 p.m.)
Either by design or luck (I’m pretty sure it’s luck), the Philadelphia Orchestra will repeat the Adams on Thursday, March 29 and the Berlioz on April 26 through May 1. Until very recently, it would have been unthinkable for Penn’s orchestra to attempt the same repertory as it professional counterpart, and the student performance isn’t likely to exhibit the polish of the Orchestra’s. But judging by how well the Smith’s charges played Brahms’s Second Symphony last spring, I’m confident that they’ll play well enough for anyone to enjoy the music as music, not as a valiant effort by students. And at Penn, you’ll only pay $5 for a ticket.
The Higdon and Adams together will take less than 20 minutes, just a taste of music by two of America’s leading young(ish) composers. In April, though, you’ll have an opportunity to hear much more of Adams and the Minimalist style in which his music is rooted. On April 19 at the Perelman Theater, the Kronos Quartet will devote an evening to the music of Terry Riley, who can be called the father of Minimalism. That same night, and the following Friday and Saturday, the Philadelphia Orchestra will play Adams’s Harmonielehre, a truly thrilling work from the 1980s that has convinced me that the large-scale classical symphony is alive and well.
Oh, yes. On Friday, April 20, William Parberry will lead the Penn Orchestra and Chorus (of which I am a member) in a performance of Verdi’s Requiem (Irvine Auditorium, 8 p.m.). That will be quite a weekend!
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