Composer

This program features two American works—one by Duke Ellington, and the other written with you in mind by our Composer in Residence, Trey Makler! The River is yet another ballet score, written for Alvin Ailey and the American Ballet Theater in 1970. This fabulous work uses the progress of a river, from a tiny spring to the ocean, as a metaphor for life. Like the other two seldom-heard ballet scores we present this season, this is a work of huge invention, and a reminder (as if any of us need it), that the “Duke” is one of our very greatest composers. Violin virtuoso Cordula Merks completes our traversal of 19th-century concertos with the warmhearted Mendelssohn.

EPSG:4326

The River

The Empress Theatre

Left Coast Chamber Ensemble (LCCE) continues its 30th anniversary concert series with Wild Music, where music and nature beckon us through the darkness of winter. Igor Stravinsky's own brilliant arrangement of The Rite of Spring for piano four hands will be performed alongside three newly commissioned companion works inspired by Stravinsky’s iconoclastic work. Leoš Janáček's deeply personal connection to nature and memory completes the evening with his tender and mysterious piano cycle, On an Overgrown Path. Wild Music is made possible with the generous support of the Ross McKee foundation. 

Wild Music — Nature beckons us in the darkness of winter

Berkeley Piano Club

San Francisco Conservatory of Music

Hear live chamber music and talk with musicians & composers in a relaxed setting, all while enjoying light refreshments. We take the music apart, reassemble it, and answer your questions about how it all works. A great time for all!

Sounds Delicious #3

Steinway Piano Gallery

We open our season with “Pixie,” a spritely, delicious treat by Trey Makler, VSO’s Composer in Residence. We are excited to introduce Trey to you and honored to present the premiere of this new work. Next, Pianist Jared Redmond plays the first of three luscious piano concertos scheduled for this year: the Piano Concerto in F-Sharp Minor by Alexander Scriabin, a contemporary and classmate of Rachmaninoff. Scriabin’s concerto combines the passionate technique of Rachmaninoff with the grandeur and finesse of Chopin in a rapturous tour-de-force that will sweep you off your feet. Beethoven’s innovative Symphony No. 5 anchors the program. Its magisterial four-note theme has been described as “the sound of Fate knocking on the door.” The winds of revolutionary fervor blow through this early 19th-century work, in which Beethoven broke new ground that would transform the world of music forever. 

Trey Makler

Composer

Events

20 - 21 May, 2023

The River · Vallejo Symphony

29 - 30 Jan, 2023

Wild Music — Nature beckons us in the darkness of winter · Left Coast Chamber Ensemble

Jan 28, 2023

Sounds Delicious #3 · Left Coast Chamber Ensemble

18 - 19 Jun, 2022

Fate · Vallejo Symphony

About

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