Austin Orchestra Presents Evening Of Beethoven, Strauss

In an evening of Beethoven and Strauss, Maestro Peter Bay joins the Austin Symphony Orchestra in welcoming Brenda Harris, soprano; Mela Dailey, soprano; and Jennifer Lane, mezzo-soprano for this performance. Alcoa and Bank of America proudly sponsor this concert.

PROGRAM

Beethoven - Symphony No. 7 in A Major, Op. 92
R. Strauss - Vier Letzte Lieder (Four Last Songs)
R. Strauss - Der Rosenkavalier: First Sequence of Waltzes
R. Strauss - Der Rosenkavalier: Act 3 Trio and Finale

Maestro Peter Bay opens the concert with Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony No. 7 in A Major. Beethoven completed nine symphonies, works that influenced the whole future of music by the expansion of the traditional classical form. This is the Austin Symphony Orchestra's 7th stop on its journey through the Beethoven symphonies, begun last season in conjunction with its journey to the new Long Center for the Performing Arts. This journey ends with the Austin Symphony Orchestra's final concert later this season in the Long Center with performances of Beethoven's Eighth and Ninth Symphonies.

Next, the Austin Symphony Orchestra welcomes soprano Brenda Harris to center stage for a performance of the Vier Letzte Lieder (Four Last Songs) of Richard Strauss. Composed in 1948, one year prior to his death, Strauss set the poetry of Joseph von Eichendorff and Hermann Hesse. With a pervading mood of death and transience thought to mirror Strauss' own last days, the Four Last Songs premiered took place in London's Royal Albert Hall in 1950 with Norwegian soprano Kirsten Flagstad. The Austin Symphony Orchestra's performance features American soprano Brenda Harris. Familiar to Austin audiences, Harris has appeared with the Austin Symphony as well as in roles with the Austin Lyric Opera, most recently in the ALO's "Simply the Best" concert in November. Ms. Harris has appeared in leading roles with opera companies and symphony orchestras throughout the world.

After a short intermission, Maestro Bay leads the orchestra in the first sequence of waltzes from Richard Strauss' opera Der Rosenkavalier. Rosenkavalier (The Knight of the Rose) remains the best known of the operas of Richard Strauss, familiar in excerpt from its famous concert waltz sequence performed this evening. Ms. Harris then returns to the stage, accompanied by soprano Mela Dailey and mezzo-soprano Jennifer Lane to perform the Act 3 Trio and Finale of the opera. As a composer, Richard Strauss was influenced by the work of Richard Wagner. He developed the symphonic or tone-poem to an unrivalled level of expressiveness, and after 1900 achieved great success with a series of impressive operas, including Der Rosenkavalier. Strauss composed the three principal roles for two sopranos and bass, The Marschallin, Sophie and Octavian (though the role of Octavian is now regularly sung by a mezzo-soprano). Critics of the opera at the time of its premiere in 1911 considered the storyline immoral: this is only in its suggestiveness, no more.

Concert goers can enjoy "Concert Conversations" with Bob Buckalew at 7:10 p.m.in the concert hall. These discussions provide an in-depth look at the composers and works being performed, including commentary on the social climate in which they were composed. -- www.austinsymphony.org