NOCCO: Virtuosity
$15-$25 (under 18 free)
Dorothy Chang — Virtuosities
Alfred Schnittke — Concerto for Piano and Strings
Jacques Ibert — Trois Pieces Breves
Cristina Valdes, piano
Ibert – Trois Pièces brèves for wind quintet
Dorothy Chang – Virtuosities
Schnittke – Concerto for Piano and Strings
Mozart – Symphony No. 29
The North Corner Chamber Orchestra (NOCCO) is delighted to announce the first in a series of four concert sets to take place over 2015/16, its second season of existence!
Led by violinist Victoria Parker, the conductorless ensemble comprises some of Seattle’s most dynamic and engaging performers who can be heard with the Seattle Symphony, PNW Ballet and Northwest Sinfonietta.
The concert will open with U.S. composer Dorothy Chang’s Virtuosities for string orchestra. Chang holds a DM from Indiana University and is currently Professor of Music at the University of British Columbia. Her music has been described in the Seattle Times as “evocative and kaleidoscopic.” This challenging work is dark, edgy, and ultimately brilliant. http://www.dorothychang.com/
UW Artist in Residence Cristina Valdés joins NOCCO as soloist in Alfred Schnittke’s Concerto for Piano and Strings (1979). Born in 1934 in the USSR, Schnittke was educated from the age of twelve to fourteen in Vienna and cites his influences as being more Mozart and Schubert than Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninov. Calling the mid-century style of serialism the "puberty rites of serial self-denial,” he developed a deeply personal and mystical approach to composition which he termed “polystylism.” Schnittke died in 1998 after suffering a stroke years earlier, and after having been declared clinically dead several times. He continued to compose throughout his lifetime.
Jacques Ibert's Three Short Pieces For Wind Quintet (1935) will feature NOCCO's brilliant principal wind players.
The program concludes with Mozart’s beloved Symphony No. 29 in A major, composed in 1774. Scored for two oboes, two horns and strings, the work is a lovely example of Mozart’s ability to fuse the intimacy of chamber music with a larger scale ensemble.
Admission: $25 general; $15 seniors/under 30; Free – under 18 and music students