The Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra Presents: THE WORLD OF VAUGHAN WILLIAMS

    KALAMAZOO, MI, September 20, 2014 /24-7PressRelease/ -- For its first concert of the 2014-2015 The World Of series, The Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra presents The World of Vaughan Williams. Led by Music Director Raymond Harvey, the orchestra pays homage to the incredible breadth of the composer whose work touched nearly every musical genre of his time. New KSO concertmaster Susie Park performs as soloist for the composer's ethereal The Lark Ascending, emphasizing why Ralph Vaughan Williams is celebrated as one of the greatest British composers of all time.

In The World of Series, Maestro Raymond Harvey takes audiences on an entertaining journey through composers' lives using stories, photographs, maps, and more to uncover their thoughts, influences, and inspirations behind some of the greatest works of the orchestral repertoire.

"One of the goals of this series is to get a total picture of what the composer was really like - his upbringing, environment, family life, and musical legacy," said Harvey.

The program opens with two works from the 1912 play, The Wasps, written by the ancient Greek "Prince of Ancient Comedy," Aristophanes. The production itself was a political satire, ridiculing Athenian politics and its law courts. The opening work performed by the KSO, Overture, is a sprightly piece, interjected with a slower, lyrical passage in the middle. The March Past of the Kitchen Utensils follows on the program. This short, lively work accompanies one of the sillier scenes of The Wasps, in which two dogs engaged in a legal dispute about stolen cheese have kitchen utensils serve as witnesses for the defense (hence the title of the work). Despite the music having been written for an Ancient Greek production, both pieces are quintessential Vaughn Williams - characteristically infused with English influence throughout.

Inspired by Victorian novelist and poet George Meredith's poem of the same name, Vaughan Williams' ethereal work, The Lark Ascending, follows on the program and invites the KSO's new concertmaster Susie Park to center stage. A critic's comment from the composition's 1920 premiere gives a succinct, unadulterated account of the work: "It showed serene disregard for the fashions today or yesterday. It dreamed itself along." The remark remains applicable, even by today's standards, as The Lark Ascending is continuously named a favorite by music lovers around the world - from Britain, to New York City, to New Zealand.

The Overture to The Poisoned Kiss, the fourth opera composed by Vaughan Williams, was completed in 1929, but did not see its stage premiere until 1936 (after quite a few revisions by the composer). Subtitled A Romantic Extravaganza, the opera is based on short stories by Richard Garnett and Nathaniel Hawthorne (whose story the former's was based on), and tells a whimsical tale of two lovers who are seemingly destined for tragedy, but despite all odds, triumphantly find their "happily ever after" in the end.

After writing several works for church music, Vaughan Williams composed Rhosymedre in 1920 as the second work in his Three Preludes founded on Welsh Hymn Tunes. The composition is based on an 1800s hymn tune by a Welsh Anglican priest, who named the piece after the Welsh town where he served as vicar. Rhosymedre remains one of Vaughan Williams' most popular works for organ.

For the program's finale, The Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra is joined by vocalists from the WMU School of Music for Vaughan Williams' Serenade to Music - the vocals for which incorporate words and phrases from Act V, Scene 1 (Lorenzo's speech) of Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice. Vaughan Williams composed the work in 1938 as a tribute to his friend and conductor, Henry Wood - one of England's most distinguished musicians and founder of the famous London "Proms" concerts - for Wood's 50th Anniversary of his first concert, for which he gathered musicians and soloists from all of London for a celebratory concert. So exquisitely beautiful and tender, the work moved the famous composer and pianist Rachmaninoff to tears at its premiere. Fittingly, the piece calmly ends, "Soft stillness and the night / Become the touches of sweet harmony."

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Raymond Harvey
With an immediately noticeable style that has been described as "elegant, but suffused with energy," Raymond Harvey (conductor) has garnered critical acclaim on symphonic podiums throughout the United States. Maestro Raymond Harvey has served as Music Director of the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra, and recently renewed his commitment to the KSO for an additional four years. Mr. Harvey was previously Music Director of the Springfield Symphony in Massachusetts and the Fresno Philharmonic in California.

Equally at home in the world of opera, Mr. Harvey served as Artistic Director of the El Paso Opera in Texas. Among the many productions he has conducted are Carmen, Tosca, Madama Butterfly, La Boheme, Turandot, Aida, La Traviata, The Tales of Hoffman, The Marriage of Figaro, and Cosi Fan Tutte.

Recognized as an outstanding pianist, choral conductor and teacher, Raymond Harvey holds a Bachelor's and Master's degree from Oberlin Conservatory of Music and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the Yale School of Music. He has been a frequent guest teacher for the Conductors Institute at Bard College, and for the American Symphony Orchestra League's Conducting Workshops. This year he will also serve as an adjunct faculty conductor with the University of Houston's opera department.

Susie Park, violin
Hailed as "prodigiously talented" (Washington Post) and praised for her "freedom, mastery and fantasy" (La Libre, Belgium), Australian Susie Park has gained worldwide recognition for her searing emotive range and dynamic stage presence. Concertizing around the world, she has appeared as soloist with the Vienna Symphony, Royal Philharmonic, Pittsburgh Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony, Memphis Symphony, Orchestra of St. Luke's, major Australian orchestras including those of Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Tasmania, West Australia and Canberra, Korea's KBS orchestra, the Lille National Orchestra under the direction of Yehudi Menuhin in France and the Wellington Sinfonia, New Zealand.

Among her numerous awards and honors, Miss Park won top prizes at the International Violin Competition of Indianapolis and the Wieniawski Competition (Poland), and was winner of the Yehudi Menuhin International Competition (France), resulting in performances and re-engagements throughout the US and Europe. She won the Richard Goldner Concerto Competition and the Ernest Llewellyn String Award, took top prize in the National String Division of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Young Performer's Award and her performance with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra was televised nationally, earning her the Victorian Premier's Award.

A passionate chamber musician, Miss Park was the violinist of the Eroica Trio from 2006 to 2012. Highlights include releasing the Trio's Grammy -nominated eighth CD for EMI featuring all-American music, "An American Journey", and embarking on international tours in countries including New Zealand, Brazil and Denmark, Germany with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the US with Vienna Symphony Orchestra in venues including New York's Avery Fisher Hall and Chicago's Millennium Park. Miss Park's interest in music of all genres has led to collaborations with various artists including jazz trumpeter Chris Botti, with whom she performed forty-one consecutive shows at the Blue Note Jazz club in New York.

Miss Park earned her Bachelor of Music degree from the Curtis Institute of Music and an Artist Diploma at the New England Conservatory. Miss Park served as Concertmaster of the Curtis Symphony and the New York String Orchestra in Carnegie Hall.

Visit www.kalamazoosymphony.com for up-to-date information, details and schedules. Prices, artists, dates, time and program are subject to change without notice.

The Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra receives major support from the Irving S. Gilmore Foundation, the Kalamazoo Community Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs. The Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra also receives generous support from other local, state and national foundations, as well as private and corporate support. For more information, visit www.kalamazoosymphony.com.

About the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra
Founded in 1921, the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra is Southwest Michigan's premier musical organization, providing musical enrichment to over 80,000 adults and youth per year. The third-largest professional orchestra in the state, the KSO has won numerous awards and grants, including the Met Life Award for Arts Access in Underserved Communities, the National Endowment for the Arts for its extensive education programs, and a major Ford Foundation grant to found its innovative Artist-in-Residence program.

# # #