Rehearsing With Cynthia Yeh

Our general manager, Beth Hoover, managed to get this shot from last Wednesday's rehearsal with Cynthia Yeh.  Here she is shown rehearsing a new work that was written just for her!  It's the "Concerto for Vibraphone and Orchestra" by Richard Kvistad.  

The orchestra loved the piece!  It's unusual, yet amazingly beautiful . . . in a modern idiom!

Cynthia Yeh is the Principal Percussionist of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, which means she is a colleague of Jay Friedman, who is Principal Trombone of the CSO.  Also, it means she beat out many, many players for this position, which means she is a phenomenal musician!

This piece will be performed at our concert on May 18, 2014.  It's a World Premiere!

SHOP FOR YOUR SWEETIES 

WITH THE SYMPHONY!

 TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 11 from 6 - 9 p.m.

When you mention you are a friend of the S/OP&RF we will receive 15% of the sale at these stores:

American Artworks Gallery  

Yearbook

deedee & edee 

Manouche 

Camille et Famille (closing at 8 PM) 

Gallery Etcetera 

House of Red

(10% of the sale to the orchestra, open until 10 p.m.)

 

All on Madison Street in Forest Park.

Start out the evening at American Artworks Gallery for refreshments at 6 PM and later join us at House Red for an after shopping party at   9 PM! 

We rehearsed Paganini variations with Mio last night!  Exciting.  I slipped up..my memory told me that the famous variation was var. 24 but it is actually var. 18!

The new website is live!

Hello to all of the Symphony community! 

We had our Concerto Competition last Saturday, which was won by Henry Belcaster from Oak Park.  He will perform Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue with the Symphony on Sunday May 19.  Also on that program will be famous orchestral hits:  Finlandia, The Moldau, Les Preludes, and Bolero.  What a program!

But before that concert, don't forget Spring Rhapsody on Sunday April 21.  Pianist Mio Nakamura will make her third appearance with us.  You may remember her from her performances of the Tchaikovsky First Concerto and the Liszt Totentanz.  This time she will perform the Rachmaninov Variations on a Theme of Paganini.  This is a truly inventive piece, in which the composer takes the famous Paganini Caprice and does all kinds of stuff with it, including turning it upside down and slowing it down into the beautiful and famous 24th variation.  But there are all sorts of other great variations, including a combination with Dies Irae (just like in Totentanz!).  Along with Mio will be Beethoven's Eighth Symphony and the Die Fledermaus (The Bat!) Overture.   The overall mood of this concert will be light-hearted and cheerful -- perfect for spring (if it ever comes this year!).  Beethoven himself loved his 8th -- he must have had a lot of fun writing it.  Come and see (and hear!).  We will have a Preview of this concert at the Arts Center, 200 N Oak Park in Oak Park on Wed night prior to the concert (April 17) at 7:30.  This will be a free open rehearsal.  There will be a good will offering for the Animal Care League.  And refreshments...........