RI PHILHARMONIC PERFORMS TCHAIKOVSKY S PATHÉTIQUE, STRAVINSKY WITH RETURNING VIOLINIST PHILIPPE QUINT

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1 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: February 26, 2014 CONTACT: Kyle Phipps, Marketing Manager / kphipps@riphil.org RI PHILHARMONIC PERFORMS TCHAIKOVSKY S PATHÉTIQUE, STRAVINSKY WITH RETURNING VIOLINIST PHILIPPE QUINT ORCHESTRA TO MAKE LIVE RECORDING OF THE SHATTERED MIRROR: SUITE February 26, 2014 East Providence, RI Violinist PHILIPPE QUINT joins Music Director LARRY RACHLEFF and the RHODE ISLAND PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA for STRAVINSKY S VIOLIN CONCERTO on Saturday March 22. The orchestra will also perform TCHAIKOVSKY S SIXTH SYMPHONY, the passionate Pathétique. The rarely-heard suite from Udow s virtuoso percussion piece The Shattered Mirror (1999) begins the program. The concert takes place Saturday March 22 at 8:00pm at The Vets in Providence. The concert and Mr. Quint s appearance are sponsored by Robert and Lynn Manning. Mr. Quint s appearance is also sponsored by Barbara Dreyer. WPRO News Talk 630 is the media sponsor. Tickets (starting at $15) are available at riphil.org/tickets, by phone at , and in person at the RIPO box office, 667 Waterman Ave., East Providence. The AMICA RUSH HOUR performance, featuring a full performance of Tchaikovsky s Sixth Symphony and selections from the Stravinsky Violin Concerto, is Friday March 21 at 6:30pm. LARRY RACHLEFF, music director, said: Tchaikovsky s brooding, optimistic, and plungingly passionate Sixth Symphony, the Pathétique, is no less a warhorse than his colossal Fifth Symphony, which we performed last season. Beginning quietly in the darkness of the human soul, ending quietly in that same darkness, on the way Tchaikovsky offers us the light of his most famous tunes, his great feeling for waltz, and his lopsided march in 5/4 time. Rachleff continued: Paired with the Pathétique, we have another Russian work, Igor Stravinsky s rarely heard Violin Concerto, with Philippe Quint returning after his fabulous performance of the Korngold concerto in Stravinsky s concerto was certainly influenced by his Hollywood times: angular, rhythmic, full of dance. Rachleff concluded: We re excited to open the concert with an American work, Michael Udow s The Shattered Mirror Suite. This work is a fabulous amalgam mixing the sounds of romantic opera and a gamelan orchestra, so full of timbres and noises, shocking at one moment and with great Javanese beauty the next. Happily, we are also recording The Shattered Mirror Suite. Violinist PHILIPPE QUINT created a sensation in his 2010 debut with the Rhode Island Philharmonic. He is a multi-faceted artist whose wide range of interests has led to several Grammy nominations, performances with major orchestras throughout the world and a leading role in a major independent film, Downtown Express. In demand worldwide, recent appearances include performances with the orchestras of Chicago, Detroit, Indianapolis, New Jersey, Minnesota, Bournemouth, Houston, China National, Orpheus, Berlin Komische Oper and Cape Town Philharmonic, among many others. He has given solo recitals and chamber music performances at the Mostly Mozart, Caramoor, Ravinia, Aspen, Lincoln Center, and Chautauqua festivals. After studying and performing as a child in Russia, he earned Bachelor s and Master s degrees from Juilliard. He is Founder and Artistic Director of the Chamber Music Series at Mexico Festival in Mexico City, as well as the Quint Quintet, a group dedicated to the music of Astor Piazzolla and Argentine tango. The Philharmonic s season features eight Classical concerts on Saturday nights at The Vets. Four are preceded by Amica Rush Hour concerts on Friday, and four have Friday Open Rehearsals. The Amica Rush Hour Series offers

2 an early start time 6:30pm on remaining Fridays March 21 and April 11. These shorter, informal, accessible concerts feature full performances of select repertoire from the Saturday Classical concerts. Open Rehearsals, including this season s final on Friday May 9 at 5:30pm, offer insight into the collaboration between the conductor, guest artists and orchestra musicians as they prepare for the upcoming classical concert. Subscriptions are on sale now. Please call the Philharmonic box office at , or visit AT A GLANCE: Tchaikovsky s passionate Pathétique Saturday March 22 at 8:00pm UDOW STRAVINSKY TCHAIKOVSKY The Shattered Mirror: Suite Violin Concerto, D major Symphony No.6, B minor, op.74, TH 30 (Pathétique) AMICA RUSH HOUR performance: Friday March 21at 6:30pm STRAVINSKY TCHAIKOVSKY Violin Concerto, D major, (selected movements) Symphony No.6, B minor, op.74, TH 30 (Pathétique) TICKETS: starting at $15, with discounts for students and groups in select sections online: 24/7 by phone: Philharmonic box office: ; Monday-Friday 9 4:30 in person: Philharmonic box office, Carter Center, 667 Waterman Avenue, East Providence, Monday-Friday 9 4:30 OR Vets box office, Avenue of the Arts, Providence, concert Friday 2 showtime; concert Saturday 3:30 showtime This is a low-resolution thumbnail! Click here for a hi-resolution version of this image.

3 ABOUT THE PROGRAM: stories behind the music The Shattered Mirror Suite by Michael Udow ( ) Unique sound: One of the season s most unusual colorful works is Michael Udow's The Shattered Mirror Suite for percussion ensemble, using both pitched and non-pitched instruments. A world-renowned percussionist and award-winning composer, Udow was principal percussionist of the Santa Fe Opera for over 40 years and Professor of Percussion at Michigan State University. As the duo Equilibrium, he and his wife Nancy, a solo modern dancer, have performed his compositions all over the world. Big show: The Shattered Mirror began as a chamber opera for soprano, tenor, baritone, a chorus, dancers, piano, synthesizer and nine percussionists, and premiered at the Percussive Arts Society International Convention in A critic wrote: Musically, it was a fantastic creation, expertly orchestrated and dominated by a swirling, ethereal sound suggesting what might result if a Far Eastern gamelan orchestra were crossed with an opera by Puccini." The 30-minute suite is a successful concert work. Violin Concerto in D by Igor Stravinsky ( ) Better not to know: When Stravinsky accepted the commission for a violin concerto in 1931, he was concerned he was no violinist himself. He wrote: To know the technical possibilities of an instrument without being able to play it is one thing; to have that technique in one's finger tips is quite another I consulted Hindemith, who is a perfect violinist. I asked him whether the fact that I did not play the violin would make itself felt in my composition. Not only did he allay my doubts, but he went further and told me that it would be a very good thing, as it would make me avoid a routine technique and would give rise to ideas that would not be suggested by the familiar movement of the fingers. Back to Bach: Bach's Two-Violin Concerto was an influence on this concerto. Stravinsky s movement titles Toccata, Aria and Capriccio have a neo-baroque ring, and a variety of Baroque elements can be heard, such as the fugato section in the Toccata. Like a true Baroque concerto, there is no full-blown cadenza for the soloist. Stravinsky writes, I did not write a cadenza for the reason that I was not interested in violin virtuosity. Virtuosity for its own sake plays little part in my concerto Symphony No. 6 in B Minor, Op. 74 (Pathétique) by Peter I. Tchaikovsky ( ) Guess if you can: Tchaikovsky wrote: I destroyed a symphony that I had partly composed and orchestrated [Then] the idea came to me for a new symphony. This time with a program; but a program of a kind that remains an enigma to all let them guess it who can. 20th-century research turned up this sketch from the composer: The ultimate essence of the plan of the symphony is LIFE. First part all impulsive passion, confidence, thirst for activity. Must be short. (Finale DEATH result of collapse.) Second part love; third disappointments; fourth ends dying away (also short). Pathétique journey: The Adagio lamentoso emerges from the orchestral depths. The Andante second theme is one of Tchaikovsky s most famous melodies. The second movement is gracefully waltz-like, but the music is in the asymmetrical 5/4 time instead of the traditional 3/4. Delicate pathétique emotion characterizes the Trio section. The finale sounds more like an epilogue, the antithesis of Beethoven s victorious finales. The resolution of its two themes brings a climax of pathetic emotion. In its dying moments, the symphony returns to where it began in the depths of the orchestra.

4 RHODE ISLAND PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA: CLASSICAL SEASON TO COME 7. Levin plays Mozart Robert Levin, piano IVES The Unanswered Question, S.50 MOZART Piano Concerto No.20, D minor, K.466 SHOSTAKOVICH Symphony No.5, D minor, op.47 Saturday April 12 at 8:00pm AMICA RUSH HOUR performance: Friday April 11 at 6:30pm 8. Season Finale: Beethoven with Alon Goldstein Alon Goldstein, piano The Providence Singers, Christine Noel, artistic director STRAUSS Don Juan, TrV 156, op.20 BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No.1, C major, op.15 RAVEL Daphnis et Chloé: Suites No.1 & 2 Saturday May 10 at 8:00pm Open Rehearsal: Friday May 9 at 5:30pm All programs and artists are subject to change without notice.

5 ABOUT THE ORGANIZATION The Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra & Music School is the largest fully integrated orchestra and music school in the United States. Our mission is to enrich and transform Rhode Island and our region through great music performance and education is the Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra s 69th Season, Music Director Larry Rachleff s 18th with the Orchestra. The season includes an eight-concert Classical Series with a roster of world-renowned guest artists that includes pianists Alon Goldstein, Cecile Licad, Jean-Philippe Collard and Robert Levin, violinists Jennifer Frautschi and Philippe Quint, cellist Colin Carr, and guest conductor Michael Christie. Our Amica Rush Hour Series offers an early start time 6:30pm on four Fridays (October 18, November 15, March 21, April 11). These shorter, informal, accessible classical concerts feature full performances of select repertoire from the Saturday Classical concerts. Our four Open Rehearsals, on Fridays at 5:30pm (September 20, January 17, February 21, May 9), offer audience members insight into the collaboration between the conductor, guest artists and orchestra musicians as they prepare for the upcoming classical concert. Special events include the perennial holiday favorite Handel s Messiah with The Providence Singers on Saturday, December 7 at 7:00pm. Resident Conductor Francisco Noya conducts Handel s Messiah, our Education Concerts and our Summer Pops Concerts. Now in its 26th year, the Rhode Island Philharmonic Music School serves approximately 1,500 children, youth and adults every week with lessons, classes, ensembles and community partnership programs, and an additional 13,000 students annually through partnerships, residencies, education concerts and in-school performances. Ensembles include five youth orchestras, two wind ensembles, eleven jazz ensembles and many chamber music ensembles and the RI Philharmonic Community Orchestra for adults. Information is available at TICKETS AND DISCOUNTS Tickets may be purchased 24/7 on the Philharmonic website: Tickets may also be purchased at the Philharmonic box office at 667 Waterman Avenue, East Providence, by phone ( ) or in-person Monday Friday 9am 4:30pm. On Open Rehearsal and Amica Rush Hour Fridays, ticket sales are also available at The Vets box office, from 2:00pm and 2:30pm respectively until showtime. On Saturday concert days, tickets are available onsite at The Vets box office from 3:30pm until showtime, or by calling Ticket prices start at $15 for adults, with discounts in selected areas of the hall for full time students and groups. Rush Hour concert tickets range from $15 to $50. Additional facilities and handling fees apply. Tickets for Open Dress Rehearsals are $15, inclusive of fees. There is free parking for all Philharmonic concerts at designated lots along Smith Street. For Saturday evening concerts, the Philharmonic provides a free shuttle service to and from the parking lots before and after the concerts. ###