Stravinsky & Silverman

Event Details:

Location: Paramount Theatre

Date: Friday, May 20, 2016

Time: 8 pm

Program:

Stravinsky Symphony of Psalms
Oakland Symphony Chorus
Lynne Morrow, Director

Barber Knoxville: Summer of 1915

Nicole Joseph, soprano
James Toland Vocal Arts Competition – 2014 winner

John Adams The Dharma at Big Sur

Tracy Silverman, electric violin

Ravel La Valse

Program Notes

Michael Morgan

Music Director Laureate

Dr. Lynne Morrow

chorus director

Nicole Joseph

soprano

Tracy Silverman

electric violin

Bay Area composer John Adams composed The Dharma at Big Sur for the opening of Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles in 2003, with Tracy Silverman as its electric violin soloist. In addition to an unusual solo instrument, its playful orchestration includes electronic samplers, ten gongs and two flower pots. Dharma’s sinuous solo passages and descriptive orchestral writing emerge as if from a fog into crystal clear phrases in homage of American composers Lou Harrison and Terry Riley. Adams composed it to evoke what he calls the “shock of recognition” that happens when reaching the end of a continental land mass in a spectacular place like Big Sur, California.
Stravinsky’s neoclassical choral symphony and Ravel’s ebullient, impressionistic dance-hall romp are the perfect bookends to Adams’ amazing concerto.

Pre-Concert Activity:

ON STAGE:

7:00 – 7:30 pm
John Kendall Bailey discusses the music on the program.

IN THE LOBBY:

7:05 – 7:40 pm
Lobby performance by Oakland Spirit Orchestra

Audio and video clips:

Stravinsky Symphony of Psalms

Led by the composer, this one is in several parts on You Tube so you have to play them in order.

Barber Knoxville: Summer of 1915

Here's a performance by soprano Barbara Hendricks conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas.

John Adams The Dharma at Big Sur

This is part 1 of 2 with John Adams conducting and our own soloist Tracy Silverman.