Magical Masterpieces

There are so many exciting aspects to our next concert; Magical Masterpieces, it’s hard to list them all! To start with, Colombian born conductor, Germán Gutiérrez, currently Director of Orchestras and Associate Professor of Orchestral Studies at Texas Christian University will be conducting the orchestra. We are thrilled to welcome him on his visit to South Africa, to conduct both the Free State Symphony Orchestra and the ECPO. The programme is aimed at attracting a younger audience, with works we hope will be exciting and different. Bach’s Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor was composed for the organ, and was often played by the young organist, Leopold Stokowski. In later years, as the well known conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic, Stokowski transcribed a number of Bach‘s works for full orchestra, including his Passacaglia and Fugue. He describes the Passacaglia as “...in music, what a great Gothic cathedral is in architecture – the same vast conception” His score calls for 18 woodwinds and 17 brass players to replicate the great sound of the organ – and we will be supplementing our orchestra with young students and scholars to perform this fabulous work! Our unusual and equally exciting concerto is Piazzolla’s Bandoneón Concerto. Piazzolla’s name immediately conjures up images of the tango, which he transformed from the popular dance into sophisticated orchestral music. Piazzolla himself started playing the bandoneon (or button accordion) aged 8, and as a teenager was already making a name for himself playing in the smoky clubs of Buenos Aires. His revolutionary approach to composition gave rise to the term nuevo tango – borrowing elements from jazz and classical music. The concerto, requiring only strings, piano, harp and bandoneon is also known as Aconcagua – the highest peak of the Andes Mountains; and the highest point of his creative output. Bulgarian accordion player Stanislav Angelov, now based in Cape Town, will be the soloist for this dramatic work. To complete the programme we will be performing Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade – and to make it even more accessible for younger members of the audience, Roy Williams will be narrating the story of 1001 nights between movements. While researching previous performances of this work with narration, we found references to a wonderful performance by the Boulder Symphony Orchestra in Colorado, using a specially written text by the author Douglas Penick. They have kindly agreed to let us use this text, and through this correspondence we have initiated a new, and potentially very special connection with the Boulder Symphony. Magical Masterpieces takes place on Sunday 5 August at 3pm in the Feather Market. Tickets are available from Computicket at R95 and R80, with a limited number of pensioners’ and scholars’ tickets at R60. We look forward to welcoming you at the Feather Market again!