Greater Newburgh Symphony Orchestra

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Demetrius Spaneas
Composer & Saxophonist

THE MAGIC CARPET
Saturday, Sept. 22, 2012

     Woomyung Choe and the Greater Newburgh Symphony Orchestra begin their 18th season with a big, exciting, people-pleasing program on Saturday, September 22, 7:30 p.m. at Aquinas Hall, Mount Saint Mary College, Newburgh. Showcased are works by two masters of orchestration, both influenced by the fairy tale world of Russian folklore, plus a world premiere of a brand new concerto performed by its composer.

Stravinsky's "Berceuse” and “Finale," from the 1919 suite adaptation of his lush and imaginative breakthrough ballet, The Firebird,and Rimsky-Korsakov’s magic carpet of a symphonic suite Sheherazade are far and away their most popular works.

GNSO is also delighted to introduce Three Dialogues for Saxophone and Orchestra, a world premiere by award-winning composer and virtuoso multi-wind performer Demetrius Spaneas.

    Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971) first achieved international fame with three ballets commissioned by the impresario Sergei Diaghilev and the first, performed in Paris in 1910, was The Firebird. The ballet is based on Russian folk tales of a magical glowing bird of the same name. Even though Stravinsky moved on to more radical and astringent styles, he conducted the 1919 suite hundreds of times for nearly six decades. An interesting aside is that one of Stravinsky's classmates at the university was Vladimir Rimsky-Korsakov, son of the composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov to whom Stravinsky became apprenticed.

    Guest composer and soloist Demetrius Spaneas travels the world as a musical ambassador, connecting classical, jazz, and traditional music throughout the US, Eastern Europe, and Asia to create international understanding through artistic collaboration. He has worked with such diverse artists as John Cage, Ray Charles and Kyrgyz traditional musicians, and has been featured soloist and composer at major concert venues and international festivals on three continents. His composition, Three Dialogues
for Saxophone and Orchestra in three movements, is not a concerto in the traditional sense, but a conversation between the soloist and orchestra. The movements represent the progression from a first meeting to a love affair.

    The folk song, the Orient and the sea were the three inspirations for Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908), and he never got very far from any of them. Composed in 1988, Sheherazade, Symphonic Suite, Opus 35 is based on “One Thousand and One Nights,” sometimes known as “The Arabian Nights,” and it will transport you to another world. After his death, a ballet adaptation opened in Paris in 1910, the same year and place where his pupil’s The Firbird premiered. Passages from the symphonic suite were also adapted for the ballet scene that closes the motion picture Song of Scheherazade, in which Yvonne De Carlo was the lead as well as the principal dancer. The plot was a heavily fictionalized story of the composer's early career in the navy. He was played by Jean-Pierre Aumont.

    The Shacklett Preview at 6:30 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.

This project is made possible, in part, with Public Funds from the New York State
Council on the Arts’ Decentralization Program administered by Arts in Orange.