In celebration of its illustrious past and its 70th birthday year, the Norwalk Symphony Orchestra is planning a retrospective look from its first concert in 1939. Two pieces from that performance, Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony #1 and Reinhold Gliere's Russian Sailors Dance will be on the orchestra's program this Saturday night, October 17, 2009 at 8:00 p.m. The performance will be rounded out with Quinto Maganini's Tuolomne. Charles Ives Unanswered Question and Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto in D Major.
Although Quinto Maganini may not be a household name, he was not only an arranger, composer and flautist, but the first music director of the Norwalk Symphony. He led the symphony from 1941 to 1967 and was a strong proponent of new 20th century musical works. His 1927 composition Tuolomne which paid tribute to the Yosemite Valley is quite idiomatic and accessible. He won the Pulitzer Prize and the Bispham Medal for an opera The Argonauts which was based on the 1849 California gold rush.
Roderick MacDonald will appear as trumpet soloist in Tuolomne and the Unanswered Question. He has appeared with numerous orchestras including the Bach Collegium Munich, the Japan Philharmonic, the Kammerphilharmonic Leipzig, the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Virtuosi Saxonia, etc. He has served as principal trumpet with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra since 1989.
In keeping with the Norwalk Symphony's tradition of presenting new talent before they become huge media stars, 22-year-old Stefan Jackiw will be the featured violin soloist in the Tchaikovsky concerto. He made his debut in London at the age of 14 playing the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto with the Philharmonia Orchestra under Benjamin Zander and was acclaimed by The Strad as a "violinist who took the London music world by storm." Since then he has performed with Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Boston Symphony, the Chicago Symphony, the Cleveland Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, etc. He won the 2002 Avery Fisher Career Grant.
The Library invites you to check out these works before or after the concert.
