Concord Orchestra's 60th Anniversary: A Sneak Peek at the Season Schedule

The following was provided by the Concord Orchestra. 

Richard Pittman, music director of the Concord Orchestra, has announced the orchestra’s 60th anniversary season. 

The season begins with the world premiere of a newly commissioned work, Fantasy Concerto: Concord Conversations, a triple concerto composed by Eric Sawyer.  The soloists are members of the piano trio Triple Helix.  They are Bayla Keyes, violin; Rhonda Rider, cello; and Lois Shapiro, piano.  The instruments in the concerto represent the voices of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Margaret Fuller, and Bronson Alcott, all central figures in Concord’s transcendentalist movement. 

“Loosely speaking, the piano represents Emerson, the violin Fuller, and the cello Alcott,” writes Sawyer.

The program also includes the Unanswered Question by Charles Ives and the Symphonie Fantastique by Hector Berlioz, who was a contemporary of the Concord transcendentalists.

Joyce Kulhawik will be the special guest at the Family Holiday Concert.  Ms. Kulhawik will narrate The Snowman, a story in pictures by Raymond Briggs set to music by Howard Blake.  The program includes other seasonal favorites, such as Irving Berlin’s White Christmas, Gene Autry’s Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, and Leroy Anderson’s arrangement of Jingle Bells.

Continuing with the Concord theme, the January concert will feature Joyce Mekeel’s Toward the Source, which was commissioned by the Concord Orchestra in 1975.  But the star of the program will be the winner of the 2014 Ehlers Young Artist Competition, who will perform a concerto with the orchestra.  Competition runners up will give pre-concert recitals.  Also on the program is Dvořák’s Symphony No. 9, From the New World.

In March, Associate principal horn of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Concord native Richard Sebring comes “home” to perform the Horn Concerto No. 2 by Richard Strauss.  The program also includes Night Train to Perugia by Boston composer Michael Gandolfi andScheherazade by Rimsky-Korsakov.

New York jazz vocalist Marlene VerPlanck will return to Concord for the Pops concert in May. She will perform songs from the great American songbook by Cole Porter and bossa nova songs by Brazilian song writer Antonio Carlos Jobim. Barbara Shinn-Cunningham, English Horn soloist, will perform The Swan of Tuonela by Jean Sibelius.  As always, there will be table seating with refreshments.

Triple Helix will offer a special pre-season performance to benefit the Concord Orchestra on Sunday, September 15 at 2 p.m. The theme of the concert is “Writing Under the Influence: Music looking beyond itself for inspiration.” On the program is Variations on “Ich bin der Schneider Kakadu,” Op. 121a by Ludwig van Beethoven; Trio for Violin, Cello, and Piano by Charles Ives; and Trio for piano, violin and cello by Maurice Ravel.

“Each piece evokes an image or idea, which served as the creative spark behind the work itself,” said trio member Lois Shapiro, explaining the theme of the program. “The influences--a silly little opera tune in the case of Beethoven's ‘Kakadu’ variations, a little-known poetic form for Ravel, life growing up in New England for Ives--yielded sublime works of art far outstripping the peculiarities of the borrowed materials.”

Season subscriptions are now on sale. Subscriptions include the fall, winter and spring concerts, the family concert in December, and the Concord Orchestra Pops in May. Special early bird pricing is in effect through August 31 is $90 for adults, $75 for senior citizens, and $35 for students. After September 1, prices are $100 for adults, $85 for senior citizens, and $35 for students. Subscriptions may be purchased by mail or on line.

For more information about the 2013-14 season, visit the Concord Orchestra's website. To request a season brochure, please call 978-369-4967 or email tickets@concordorchestra.com.