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The Greater Newburgh Symphony Orchestra
presents
SIZZLING SIBELIUS
with Steven Zynszajn, violin
plus the
World Premiere of
RAPID FIRE
by Paul Yeon Lee
Saturday, March 12, 2011, 3 p.m.
Snow date is Saturday, March 19, 3 p.m.
Woomyung Choe and the Greater Newburgh Symphony Orchestra have an answer to the winter doldrums on Saturday, March 12, 2011 at 3:00 p.m. in the Newburgh Free Academy High School Auditorium, 201 Fullerton Avenue. The three warming offerings are an exciting World Premiere of Rapid Fire by Korean-American composer Paul Yeon Lee; Jean Sibelius’s imaginative and unique Concerto in D minor performed by guest violinist Steven Zynszajn, praised for his expressive musicianship and beautiful sound; and Antonin Dvorák’s masterpiece Symphony No. 8 in G Major. [The snow date is Saturday, March 19 at 3:00 p.m.]
The concert begins with a piece of music that its composer describes as ferocious, wild and hypnotic, a piece that will lead the listener to a fantasy world of sound and energy. Rapid Fire was commissioned by Woomyung Choe and is dedicated to composer Paul Yeon Lee’s good friend William A. Verdone. Lee is committed to writing the most poignant, eloquent and passionate music that he can imagine and, in this case, challenged himself to compose a concert opener similar to a fanfare but without the heavy brass instruments you would expect. Lee’s music has been performed by many renowned musicians and ensembles throughout the United States, Europe and Asia. He has also received numerous commissions, honors and awards.
Jean Sibelius (1865-1957) was a Romantic, but what makes him different from other composers is that he was a Romantic in a Finnish way. When the Concerto for Violin in D minor, Opus 47 was first heard in 1904, in the words of Sibelius’s biographer, "a red-faced and perspiring Viktor Novácek fought a losing battle with [the] solo part." The work was overhauled and, though still demanding extreme virtuosity and physical stamina, it was performed in Berlin a year later with none other than Richard
Strauss conducting. It was introduced to the United States in 1906 at a New York Philharmonic concert in Carnegie Hall. And on the afternoon of March 12, Steven Zynszajn will perform the Concerto for us.
Zynszajn, born in Evanston, Illinois, grew up in France and has performed throughout Europe and the United States and appeared at musical festivals on both sides of the Atlantic. He was showcased in the off-Broadway play “Two,” playing movements of the Beethoven Violin Concerto, and featured with the Brooklyn Philharmonia Chorus in a program of Gershwin songs. As the founder and director of Lautreamont Concerts, he has appeared at the French Consulate, New York Historical Society and Chelsea Art Museum. Mr. Zynszajn’s broadcasts include WNYC in New York, Radio Classique in France, and “Good Morning America” on ABC. He performs on a Cremonese violin made in the 18th century by Aegidius Barzellini.
Antonin Dvorák 1841-1904) was also a composer from the Romantic era who let his cultural roots shine through his music, and we will hear his Symphony No. 8 in G Major after intermission. The Eighth Symphony, written in 1889, is a classic example of a piece of music in which a simple and direct exterior hides a very sophisticated and multi-layered interior. It is all too easy to take this highly original work for granted. Often described as “sunny,” as well as “songful,” “warm,” and “optimistic,” it is all of those things. However, it is also his most harmonically and structurally ambitious symphonic work, his most modern, and beneath its sunny exterior are moments of great pathos and even grotesquerie.
The Shacklett Preview at 2:00 p.m. is a pre-concert introduction to the evening’s music by Gordon Shacklett. Ticket prices are $25 for reserved seating, $20 for general admission, $15 for seniors, $10 for students, and children under 7 are admitted free of charge. Tickets may be purchased at the door or reserved. (845) 913-7157 or www.newburghsymphony.org.
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