March
26, 2006
MEDIA RELEASE
CONTACT
Connie Gotsch
Imagination on Board
3101 Centenary Avenue
Farmington, New Mexico
87402
505 326 4969
For Immediate Release
SAN JUAN SYMPHONY PRESENTS THE LAST ROMANTIC
The San Juan Symphony and its Music Director, Arthur Post present a concert
called ‘The Last Romantic,’ at 7:30 p.m. Sat., April 22 at the
Community Concert Hall at Fort Lewis College.
Celebrating the wildly imaginative, emotive, nature
of romantic music, the program features Sergei Rachmaninoff’s ‘Concerto
No. 3 for Piano and Orchestra,’ a romantic blockbuster.
Because
of its technical difficulty, the Rachmaninoff Third has a reputation
of mythic proportions among musicians. Many famous pianists have obsessed over
performing it. Vladimir Horowitz and Vladimir Ashkenazy each recorded the piece
four times.
The 1996 film ‘Shine’ told the true story of a young
pianist, Daniel Helfgott, who suffered a nervous breakdown trying to master
the piece. He never
fully recovered.
Pianist Ilya Itin will perform the work with the SJSO. A
Russian now making his home in New York, Mr. Itin worked with Arthur
Post in Berlin in the 1990s.
The soloist originally slated to appear,
Norman Krieger, withdrew from the performance for artistic reasons.
Mr. Itin has played with orchestras across Europe and America,
including the London Philharmonic, and the Prague Symphony. He
has appeared at international
festivals from Aldeburgh to Tel Aviv to Toulouse, made recordings and broadcasts;
and taught master classes.
In 1996, he won all the prizes at the renowned
Leeds International Pianoforte Competition. He has garnered awards
in the Robert Casadesus, William Kappell,
Rachmaninov, Arthur Rubinstein, Gina Bachauer, and Taipei competitions.
A
BBC TV commentator said, “I’d go and hear him play
the phone book.” A French writer added, “he plays marvelously
with all his body and his soul: a very great pianist and musician.”
With
the Rachmaninoff Third, the San Juan Symphony will also perform
American composer, Samuel Barber’s ‘Adagio for Strings,’ Richard
Wagner’s ‘Siegfried’s
Rhine Journey,’ from the opera ‘Goetterdaemmerung,’ and
Franz Liszt/John Adams’ ‘The Black Gondola.’
An American
icon, Barber’s beautiful and solemn ‘Adagio for Strings
is is often played on occasions of public mourning. In addition, it has
provided powerful moments in films like ‘The Elephant Man,’ ‘Platoon,’ ‘Lorenzo's
Oil,’ and ‘Amélie.’
Wagner’s ‘Siegfried’s
Rhine Journey’ is part of The
Ring Cycle, four operas that present a mythical magical multimedia adventure,
a predecessor of Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings stories. His ideas
concerning morality, magic, adventure, drama, plot, and story still influence
composers,
artists and writers.
The final piece on the SJSO’s ‘The Last Romantic’ program, ‘The
Black Gondola,’ mourns the death of Richard Wagner. Written for
piano by Franz Liszt, and orchestrated by American composer, John Adams,
the work
depicts a funeral gondola gliding through canals in Venice.
According
to the legend surrounding ‘The Gondola,’ Liszt dreamed
that Wagner died in Venice. A few weeks later, Wagner actually did.
Adult single tickets for the San Juan Symphony "The Last Romantic’ concert
at the Fort Lewis College Community Concert Hall cost $47 for Plaza
seats, $42 to sit in the Orchestra, and $31 for Balcony seating. Senior
discounts
are available.
Student tickets cost $22 Orchestra, and $15 Balcony.
All tickets can be bought at the Community Concert Hall at the
Fort Lewis College box office. The phone number is 970-247-7657.
