August 2009 Symphony Season - Program 9
Saturday, August 22, 2009 - Festival Finale
Tribute to Leonard Bernstein
Victor Yampolsky, conductor
Bernstein: Facsimile
Bernstein: Serenade
James Ehnes, violin
Bernstein: Symphonic Dances from West Side Story
Bernstein: Candide Overture
Music Director Victor Yampolsky will lead a ten minute Q&A encore after the concert.
The 2009 Peninsula Music Festival comes to a close with a program devoted to compositions of a unique and vital contributor to the world of music in so many ways, Leonard Bernstein. A mentor to countless musicians, a effective communicator and advocate for music, champion of Mahler, pioneering American conductor of the New York Philharmonic, he was also a gifted composer for the concert hall and Broadway stage. James Ehnes, a favorite of Festival audiences, returns for his fifth appearance. Mr Ehnes last appeared in the August Festival in 2007 in a performance of Bartok's Violin Concerto #2 and in Door County in February 2009 with his Trio in a chamber concert.
The concert opens with Facsimile, a brief ballet expressing Bernstein's concern about the relationships and spiritual state of humanity. The Serenade for Violin, String Orchestra, Harp, and Percussion is inspired by Plato's Symposium, a depiction of a banquet where the guests, in turn, share their thoughts on the nature of love. The rousing Symphonic Dances from West Side Story showcase the best known Bernstein creation, a contemporary setting of Romeo & Juliet. The concert, and the 57th Festival Season, closes with the Candide Overture. If it sounds familiar and you don't know why, were you a fan of the Dick Cavett show?
To hear more about the concert, including some discussion about the period and other artistic expressions of the themes heard in this concert, click here for a video preview by Music Director Victor Yampolsky and Associate Conductor Stephen Alltop.
Program Notes for this concert
This concert is sponsored by Fran & Paul Burton