Symphony Of The Lakes Performs Oct. 2 With New Conductor
September 22, 2021 at 3:54 p.m.
Symphony Of The Lakes Performs Oct. 2 With New Conductor
By Staff Report-
The program will include a newer work by composer Caroline Shaw, a piano concerto with guest pianist Phoenix Park-Kim and a performance of Johannes Brahms’ Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Opus 68.
Tickets for the performance are $10 each and may be purchased at the door, from the Wagon Wheel box office, or online at the website https://www.wagonwheelcenter.org/events/sotl-newbeginnings/.
The first piece on the program will be “Entr’acte” (2011) by contemporary composer Caroline Shaw, who won the Pulitzer Prize for Composition in 2013, making Shaw the award’s youngest recipient ever at the age of 30. Shaw composed “Entr’acte” after hearing the Brentano Quartet play Haydn’s Op. 77 No. 2. Like that minuet and trio from Haydn, Shaw has structured “Entr’acte” in three large sections, closing the form with a return to her gentle opening.
The first half of the program will also include Frederic Chopin’s “Andante spianato et grande polonaise brillante in E-flat major, Op. 22,” with guest pianist Phoenix Park-Kim. The Polonaise was composed by Frederic Chopin between 1830 and 1834. In 1834, Chopin wrote an “Andante spianato in G, for piano solo,” which he added to the start of the piece, and joined the two parts with a fanfare-like sequence. The combined work was published in 1836.
Pianist Phoenix Park-Kim is an active soloist and avid chamber musician whose performances have taken her throughout the world, winning top prizes at numerous competitions. Born in Seoul, South Korea, Phoenix began playing the piano at the age of 5 and gave her first public performance at 7 years old. She graduated from Yonsei University in Seoul (B.A. in English/B.M. in piano performance), then completed her graduate work at Miami University (M.M.) and at the University of Missouri – Kansas City, Conservatory of Music (D.M.A.). Phoenix is currently a professor of music at Indiana Wesleyan University in Marion, and serves as the artistic director of Carmel Klavier International Piano Competition and Festival.
After intermission, the program will conclude with Johannes Brahms’ memorable Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Op. 68. Brahms spent at least 14 years completing this work, whose sketches date from 1854. Brahms himself declared that the symphony, from sketches to finishing touches, took 21 years, from 1855 to 1876. The premiere of this symphony, conducted by the composer's friend Felix Otto Dessoff, occurred on Nov. 4, 1876.
The long gestation of the C minor Symphony, which would eventually be his first, may be attributed to two factors. First, Brahms's self-critical fastidiousness led him to destroy many of his early works. Second, there was an expectation from Brahms's friends and the public that he would continue "Beethoven's inheritance" and produce a symphony of commensurate dignity and intellectual scope – an expectation that Brahms felt he could not fulfill easily in view of the monumental reputation of Beethoven.
It was probably 1868 when Brahms finally realized what would become the final structure of his first Symphony. In September of that year, he sent a card to his lifelong friend Clara Schumann sketching the Alphorn tune which would emerge in the symphony's Finale, along with the famous message "Thus blew the shepherd's horn today!"
Despite the evidence of the work's development, the symphony would not premiere for eight more years.
The newly-appointed conductor for the Oct. 2 program will be Dr. Jason Thompson, who is professor of strings and music history at Indiana Wesleyan University.
Thompson has a B.S. in violin performance and conducting from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, an M.M. in orchestral conducting from Bowling Green State University and a doctor of music degree in music history and choral conducting from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music.
The Wagon Wheel Symphony of the Lakes operates under the auspices of the Wagon Wheel Center for the Arts, a non-profit omnibus arts organization for the northern lakes area.
The program will include a newer work by composer Caroline Shaw, a piano concerto with guest pianist Phoenix Park-Kim and a performance of Johannes Brahms’ Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Opus 68.
Tickets for the performance are $10 each and may be purchased at the door, from the Wagon Wheel box office, or online at the website https://www.wagonwheelcenter.org/events/sotl-newbeginnings/.
The first piece on the program will be “Entr’acte” (2011) by contemporary composer Caroline Shaw, who won the Pulitzer Prize for Composition in 2013, making Shaw the award’s youngest recipient ever at the age of 30. Shaw composed “Entr’acte” after hearing the Brentano Quartet play Haydn’s Op. 77 No. 2. Like that minuet and trio from Haydn, Shaw has structured “Entr’acte” in three large sections, closing the form with a return to her gentle opening.
The first half of the program will also include Frederic Chopin’s “Andante spianato et grande polonaise brillante in E-flat major, Op. 22,” with guest pianist Phoenix Park-Kim. The Polonaise was composed by Frederic Chopin between 1830 and 1834. In 1834, Chopin wrote an “Andante spianato in G, for piano solo,” which he added to the start of the piece, and joined the two parts with a fanfare-like sequence. The combined work was published in 1836.
Pianist Phoenix Park-Kim is an active soloist and avid chamber musician whose performances have taken her throughout the world, winning top prizes at numerous competitions. Born in Seoul, South Korea, Phoenix began playing the piano at the age of 5 and gave her first public performance at 7 years old. She graduated from Yonsei University in Seoul (B.A. in English/B.M. in piano performance), then completed her graduate work at Miami University (M.M.) and at the University of Missouri – Kansas City, Conservatory of Music (D.M.A.). Phoenix is currently a professor of music at Indiana Wesleyan University in Marion, and serves as the artistic director of Carmel Klavier International Piano Competition and Festival.
After intermission, the program will conclude with Johannes Brahms’ memorable Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Op. 68. Brahms spent at least 14 years completing this work, whose sketches date from 1854. Brahms himself declared that the symphony, from sketches to finishing touches, took 21 years, from 1855 to 1876. The premiere of this symphony, conducted by the composer's friend Felix Otto Dessoff, occurred on Nov. 4, 1876.
The long gestation of the C minor Symphony, which would eventually be his first, may be attributed to two factors. First, Brahms's self-critical fastidiousness led him to destroy many of his early works. Second, there was an expectation from Brahms's friends and the public that he would continue "Beethoven's inheritance" and produce a symphony of commensurate dignity and intellectual scope – an expectation that Brahms felt he could not fulfill easily in view of the monumental reputation of Beethoven.
It was probably 1868 when Brahms finally realized what would become the final structure of his first Symphony. In September of that year, he sent a card to his lifelong friend Clara Schumann sketching the Alphorn tune which would emerge in the symphony's Finale, along with the famous message "Thus blew the shepherd's horn today!"
Despite the evidence of the work's development, the symphony would not premiere for eight more years.
The newly-appointed conductor for the Oct. 2 program will be Dr. Jason Thompson, who is professor of strings and music history at Indiana Wesleyan University.
Thompson has a B.S. in violin performance and conducting from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, an M.M. in orchestral conducting from Bowling Green State University and a doctor of music degree in music history and choral conducting from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music.
The Wagon Wheel Symphony of the Lakes operates under the auspices of the Wagon Wheel Center for the Arts, a non-profit omnibus arts organization for the northern lakes area.
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