Also included on this program is Isaac Albeniz' Suite Espagnola. These performances are on Saturday, February 3 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, February 4 at 2:30 p.m. at Kleinhans Music Hall.
Isaac Albeniz brought the Spanish zest for "alegria" to the fore with its sense of lush, darkly hued melodies, a trace of Moorish intonation, fiery accents and pulsing rhythms. His Suite Espagnola is a tonal carnival of Spanish effects. This BPO program features three of the best known movements, Sevilla, Asturias, and Aragon, all splendidly orchestrated by the conductor Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos in 1933.
The program continues with Richard Strauss' brash and beautiful setting of Cervantes' hapless Don Quixote, featuring BPO principal cellist Roman Mekinulov as the lovable, ever inspiring tragic knight. Before the intermission, Maestro Falletta will provide a commentary that musically introduces the most important characters in the story, providing a "map"Â before one hears the piece in its entirety.
JoAnn Falletta - Acclaimed by the New York Times as "one of the finest conductors of her generation,"Â Ms. Falletta serves as the Music Director of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, the Virginia Symphony Orchestra, and Artistic Advisor to the Honolulu Symphony. An effervescent and exuberant figure on the podium, she has been praised by the Washington Post as having "Toscanini's tight control over ensemble, Walter's affectionate balancing of inner voices, Stokowski's gutsy showmanship, and a controlled frenzy worthy of Bernstein."Â Both on and off the podium, she is a vibrant ambassador for music and an inspiring artistic leader.
Roman Mekinulov - This native of St. Petersburg, Russia, began cellos studies at the age of five at the Leningrad Music School, winning prizes throughout his studies before emigrating to the United States in 1989. As an active recitalist, chamber musician and concerto soloist, Roman has preformed extensively throughout the United States, Italy, Austria, Hungary, Germany, France Greece, Denmark, Switzerland, as well as his native Russia. A principal cellist of Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra since 2001, he has been featured numerous times as a soloist with the orchestra, and has appeared in over 60 concerts of chamber music around Western New York as well as with Jupiter Chamber Players in New York City.
Valerie Heywood - Born in Detroit, Michigan Ms. Heywood began her viola studies with Walter Blumenau and Nathan Gordon of the Detroit Symphony. She received her Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Michigan, studying with Frances Bundra on full scholarship. She then received her Master of Music degree from the Juilliard School of Music as a scholarship student of noted viola pedagogue Lillian Fuchs. Ms. Heywood has been principal viola of the Buffalo Philharmonic since 1991 and has recorded for Deutsche Grammophone, RCA, Musical Heritage Society, and Atlantic records. She has been professor of viola and chamber music at the University of Toledo (Ohio) and since coming to Buffalo has been on the faculties of both SUNY universities at Buffalo and Fredonia. She has participated in the Grand Teton Music Festival in Jackson Hole, Wyoming and spent several summers in Santa Fe, New Mexico as a member of the Santa Fe Opera orchestra. -- www.bpo.org
Posted January 30th, 2007 by ruzik_tuzik
