BEACH CITIES

SYMPHONY

NEWSLETTER

 

VOLUME VIII, NO. 3   APRIL  2001

 

LINDA WANG, VIOLIN SOLOIST

 

RUSSIAN EASTER OVERTURE

 

AUDIENCE SURVEY RESULTS

 

MEMBERS PARTY

 

2001 CONCERT SCHEDULE

 

NEW MEMBERS

 

LINDA WANG, VIOLIN SOLOIST:

Praised by critics since her debut with the New York Philharmonic under Zubin Mehta at the age of nine, violinist LINDA WANG has appeared repeatedly with that group. Since then she has appeared as soloist with the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival Orchestra under Sir Georg Solti; the Virginia, Corpus Christi, Cedar Rapids, and Macon Symphonies; the Salzburg Chamber Orchestra; the Paris Sinfonietta; and Germany's Vogtland Philharmony, among others. As soloist and recitalist, Ms. Wang has performed in such celebrated musical centers as Carnegie Hall, Beurs van Berlage (Amsterdam), and the Berlin Schauspielhaus.

Her festival appearances include Aspen, Spoleto, and Salzburg. Her performances have been televised nationally on PBS, A&E, ZDF in Germany, and NHK in Japan. On radio, she has been heard in broadcasts for NPR's Performance Today, KUSC and KMZT (Los Angeles), WQXR (New York), WFMT (Chicago), MDR (Germany), Leipzig Rundfunk, and Deutschland Radio (Berlin).

Born in New York, Ms. Wang currently resides in Los Angeles where she is active as a performer and teacher. Her students have appeared in our annual Artists of the Future concerts, most recently in 1998. Also in 1998 she performed the Beethoven violin concerto with the West Los Angeles Symphony, conducted by Maestro Barry Brisk.

Ms. Wang will be featured at our April 13 concert in Dvorak’s Violin Concerto in A Minor, first performed in 1883. Music historian Uwe Kraemer notes some "highly individual features" about this concerto, which was influenced by the Romantic Movement as well as by the nationalist idiom of the composer's native Bohemia. For instance, the first movement resembles a sonata by introducing the solo violin after a mere four bars of orchestral exposition, in the style of Mendelssohn. Unlike the "passionate emotion" of the opening section, the second movement "radiates a marvelous calm" which sets off the dance-like energy and excitement of the finale.

 

THE RUSSIAN EASTER OVERTURE:

RIMSKY-KORSAKOV'S "SPIRITUAL MERRIMENT"

Peter Carl Fabergé, goldsmith to the last Czars of Russia, presented the first Imperial Easter egg at the court of Alexander III in 1885.  Made of matte white enamel lined with gold and decorated with rubies and diamonds, the egg opened to display a little golden hen within its golden yolk. For the next 32 years the famed jeweler created a series of superbly crafted and decorated Easter eggs for the Imperial Family, a tradition that died with the Romanovs themselves in the Revolution of 1917.

Consider the paradox of the Fabergé eggs. Their breathtaking opulence and exquisite design recall the worldly, self-serving, and ultimately doomed rulers that commissioned them. Yet since early times the egg has symbolized life, rebirth, renewal, and in Christian times the Resurrection of Christ. A similar paradox can be found in Pascha (Easter), which is the most important celebration of the Orthodox Church year. Beginning with Forgiveness Sunday followed by seven weeks of fasting during Lent (no meat, fish, or dairy products; no wine or oil for the strictly observant), the Orthodox faithful relive the Passion of the Lord from the burial on the evening of Good Friday to the Resurrection celebrated at Easter midnight.

As the church is darkened on the stroke of twelve, the only light comes from the eternal flame on the altar. The priest lights the Paschal candle from that source and calls the people forward to light the tapers they are holding with these words: "Come, receive the light from the unwaning light, and glorify Christ Who is risen from the dead."  "Angels sing of your resurrection in heaven, Christ Savior," responds the choir. The church bells peal joyfully as the cantor proclaims:  It is Pascha, the Lord's Passover; for Christ God has 5 carried us over from death to life, from earth to heaven, as we sing a victory hymn.  At the conclusion of the worship service, the congregation breaks the Lenten fast with all the rich foods that have been specially prepared and brought to church for this celebration.

Three years after the first Fabergé egg was unveiled to Czar Alexander II, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov wrote and premiered his Russian Easter Festival Overture in St. Petersburg. The contradictions of the Easter season, from the opening Lento mystico of the woodwinds and strings, to the solemn trombones embodying the voices of the priests, to the piercing trumpets and joyously chiming bells of the conclusion, are represented in this radiant work. In his program notes to the published score, Rimsky emphasized the religious aspects of the piece, including the words of Psalm 68, "Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered," and the account of the women discovering the empty sepulchre in the gospel according to St. Mark. But in his autobiography, My Musical Life, the composer widened the range of his musical allusions:

In this Overture were thus combined reminiscences of the ancient prophecy, of the Gospel narrative, and also a general picture of the Easter service with its "pagan merry-making."  The capering and leaping of the Biblical King David before the ark, do they not give expression to a mood of the same order as the mood of the idol-worshippers' dance? Surely the Russian Orthodox chime is instrumental dance-music of the church, is it not? And do not the waving beards of the priests and sextons clad in white vestments and surplices, and intoning "Beautiful Easter" in the tempo of Allegro vivo, etc., transport the imagination to pagan times? And all these Easter loaves and twists and the glowing tapers--how far a cry from the philosophic and socialistic teaching of Christ! This legendary and heathen side of the holiday, this transition from the gloomy and mysterious evening of Passion Saturday to the unbridled pagan-religious merry-making on the morn of Easter Sunday, is what I was eager to reproduce in my Overture.

 

Rimsky concluded by admonishing his readers that "in order to appreciate my Overture even ever so slightly, it is necessary that the hearer should have attended Easter morning service at least once . . . in a cathedral thronged with people from every walk of life." However, since its first performance audiences have appreciated this stirring, brilliantly orchestrated work, regardless of their religious backgrounds.  Moreover, hearing Rimsky's sonic portrait of the Easter festival might well enhance the actual ceremony.  Our performance falls on Good Friday, April 13, and the Orthodox Easter vigil will begin the following night at 10 p.m. Two nights of spiritual celebration await you.

 

SURVEY RESULTS:

Those who attended our April 2000 concert may remember being handed a survey along with their program booklet. The purpose of the survey was to find out about our Beach Cities Symphony audience, and also to learn how our audience found out about us. While many of our assumptions were confirmed, we did have a few surprises as we sifted through the responses we got back.

Perhaps we were most surprised by the answers to the first two questions on the survey: "How did you first hear of the Beach Cities Symphony?" and "How did you last hear about the Beach Cities Symphony?" In spite of the multiple ways we try to promote attendance--including flyers and newsletters mailed and distributed by hand, newspaper publicity, street banners, radio announcements, ticket invitations, and e-mail reminders—we owe the majority of our audience to word-of-mouth invitation by a friend or relative. Another surprise concerns responses to questions about attending concerts by other local orchestras, including the Torrance, Long Beach, and Peninsula Symphonies, the L.A. Philharmonic, and the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra.  The majority of our audience, members and non-members alike, are extremely loyal to us and do not attend other classical music concerts. The next time we conduct a survey, we want to explore the reasons behind these and other responses.

We are still drawing conclusions about all the results and comments we received, including those about future programming and pre-concert lectures. Your input is valuable, and we want to continue the dialogue we began. If you would like to receive a copy of the handout summarizing the survey results that was distributed at our January concert, or make further suggestions about our programs, call our information line (310-379-9725) or e-mail Board Member Margaret McWilliams (MMcWRedondo@aol.com). Keep up the wonderful word-of-mouth campaign. Also please keep attending, and make it a priority to bring someone new each time you come to a concert. We appreciate and rely on your loyalty more than ever.

 

 

 

CELEBRATING OUR CULTURES:

JUNE 3, 2001

Our Members' Party this year will once again be held at the West End Racquet Club in Torrance. This annual event will have a special theme in keeping with the diversity of our South Bay audience: Celebrating Our Cultures. Refreshments will feature delicacies from around the world, and guests are encouraged to bring a dish which represents their culture or a country they have lived in, visited, or studied. Entertainment will include music, dance, and a Japanese tea ceremony, and all who attend are invited to wear cultural dress of their own or another ethnic group to enhance the party s theme.

A silent auction will take place from 2:30 to 3:30 p.m. Among the auction prizes this year will be a week for two at a dude ranch in the Bighorn Mountains of Wyoming. Other offerings will include tickets to concerts and sports events, restaurant vouchers, handmade crafts, and unique services provided by orchestra musicians and others. We need your help to make this season-ending party a success. Food coordinator Margaret McWilliams would like to know what dish(es) you plan to bring; call her at 310-379-9725, or e-mail her at MMcWRedondo@aol.com. Also let her know if you can present a dance or play an instrument representative of another country.  If you would like to donate items for the silent auction, contact Erin Prouty (310-376-5290) or Margaret McWilliams by May 27. Remember, all your auction contributions are tax-deductible. Invitations will be mailed to all members of the Association and program advertisers in May. Guests will be welcome, as will members of the orchestra. Be sure to highlight the afternoon of June 3 and start your summer in a festive key.

 

 

OUR 2001 CONCERTS:

All concerts are on Friday at 8:15 p.m. in Marsee Auditorium at El Camino College.

Pre-concert lectures begin at 7:30 p.m.

 

April 13

Danse                                                Claude Debussy (Orchestrated by M. Ravel)

Violin Concerto in A Minor, Op. 53                                                  Antonin Dvorak

Linda Wang, soloist

Good Friday Spell, from Parsifal                                                    Richard Wagner

Russian Easter Overture, Op. 36                                       Nikolai Rimsky-Korsako

 

 

May 25

An Outdoor Overture                                                                       Aaron  Copland

Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2                                                                    Franz Liszt

MTAC Artists of the Future soloists (to be announced)

 

 

 

WE WELCOME OUR NEW BCSA MEMBERS

Marian Anderson

Robert & Gloria Hargrave

Miki & Mike Ishikawa

Helen L. Matthews

Donald N. Pitts

Alan Rothholz

George & Judith Unrine

Marianne Younkheere

Charles Zamites

 

 

MATCHING FUNDS CORPORATIONS

Arco

Best Foods

Honeywell (Allied Signal)

Mattel

TRW

 

 

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