Monday, Jan. 29, 7:30 pm, ODU Chandler Recital Hall
This Norfolk Chamber Consort performance celebrates the birth centennial of Leonard Bernstein, a great American composer, conductor, and music personality.
Bernstein’s works are featured in the context of his rich cultural surroundings.
The concert begins with Bernstein’s Sonata for Clarinet and Piano performed by clarinetist Kevin Clasen and pianist Andrey Kasparov, NCC’s artistic co-director. Composed in 1942, this Sonata is the composer’s first published composition. While the initial critical reception was mixed, the Sonata is now a popular piece in the clarinet repertoire.
The program continues with a selection of piano pieces that includes those by Bernstein dedicated to his friends, Aaron Copland and Paul Bowles. Performed by Oksana Lutsyshyn, NCC’s artistic co-director, this part also includes pieces by Virgil Thomson, Bernstein’s friend and mentor. Composed as tributes to Copland and Bowles, these characteristic miniatures are followed by the brilliant and virtuosic Cunegonde’s Aria Glitter and Be Gay from Bernstein’s operetta Candide as performed by dramatic coloratura Elizabeth Hogue, accompanied by Kasparov. The first half concludes with three pieces by Bowles for two pianos—Night Waltz, Nocturne and Turkey Trot—performened by the award-winning Invencia Piano Duo, formed by Kasparov and Lutsyshyn.
The Invencia Duo opens the second half with two pieces by Copland: Danzón Cubano and Danza de Jalisco. Cailin Crane, runner-up of the 2015 Lisa Relaford Coston Voice Competition, continues the program with two of Bernstein’s art songs—Piccola Serenata and Silhouette (Galilee)—as well as My New Friends, a song from the musical The Madwoman of Central Park West. The program concludes with Bernstein’s Halil: Nocturne for Flute, Percussion and Piano. Composed in 1981, this work is dedicated to flutist Yadin Tanenbaum who, in the composer’s words, “at the height of his musical powers was killed in his tank in Sinai” in 1973. Wayla Chambo, NCC’s associate artistic director and host of WHRO 90.3 FM’s Afternoon Delights, will be a flute soloist, joined by David Walker, Sarah Williams, and Jon Wudijono on percussion, as well as Oksana Lutsyshyn and Nichole Dorobanov on piano under the baton of Andrey Kasparov.
A pre-concert discussion by Wayla Chambo will take place at 7:15 pm. A free reception after the concert will be provided by The Green Onion, a Ghent restaurant.
Tickets are $25; $10 student. For more information, go to www.ncconsort.org or call 757-785-7086.