PROGRAM NOTES AND COMPOSER FEATURE

Michael Stern is back with another program that stirs the imagination. With creative genius that shines across the centuries, Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 1 announced to the world that it was no longer business as usual for symphonic music. Time has not dimmed the freshness and innovative quality of this music, and you will want to hear how it’s new all over again.

NRO musicians are superbly talented, and we love to feature them in solo roles. Harpist Daniel Benedict will delight you with the rhythmic vibrance and Spanish-inspired colors of Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s Concertino for Harp. Sometimes playful, often passionate, this music will seduce you with its beauty.

Vivian Fung is one of the most original voices in the musical firmament today, and Prayer reflects her thoughtfulness and superb skill. Fung translates a chant by the medieval abbess and visionary Hildegard von Bingen into an ethereal contemplation for our time.

The first symphony of another creative genius — Dmitri Shostakovich — closes out this program. Composed to fulfill graduation requirements at the Leningrad Conservatory when Shostakovich was only 18 years old, his Symphony No. 1 is no student exercise but rather a confident work that earned him international fame and displayed the exceptional voice that would infuse all of his music. Relish the sharp wit, pungent textures, melancholy reminisces, and agitated melodies that fill this exceptional symphony.

© Eric T. Williams

Riverwalk Center, Breckenridge

Wednesday, July 12 at 6:00 PM

Robin Hadley Philanthropy Award – Barbara and Jim Calvin

Michael Stern conductor

Daniel Benedict, harp

ON THE PROGRAM

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)

Symphony No.1 in C major, Op. 21

I. Adagio molto – Allegro con brio

II. Andante cantabile con moto

III. Menuetto: Allegro molto e vivace

IV. Adagio – Allegro molto e vivace

Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco (1895-1968)

Concertino for Harp and Chamber Orchestra, Op. 93a

Daniel Benedict, harp

I. Moderato, quasi Passacaglia

II. Andante, quasi Recitativo

III. Finale spagnolo. Ritmo de Jota

-INTERMISSION-

Vivian Fung (b. 1975)

Prayer

Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975)

Symphony No. 1 in F minor, Op. 10

I. Allegretto – Allegro non troppo

II. Allegro

III. Lento

IV. Allegro molto

Composer Feature

Vivian Fung

JUNO Award-winning composer Vivian Fung has a unique talent for combining idiosyncratic textures and styles into largescale works, reflecting her multicultural background. NPR calls her “one of today’s most eclectic composers.”

Highlights of upcoming performances include the premiere of Vivian Fung’s fifth String Quartet by Canada’s Lafayette String Quartet and a new piece for Houston’s ROCO; international performances of her pandemic elegy, Prayer; and the European premieres of A Child’s Dream of Toys and Baroque Melting. Mary Elizabeth Bowden tours her Trumpet Concerto, and Fung is 2023 Composer-in-Residence at Alba Music Festival Composition Program in Italy.

Born in Canada, Fung received her doctorate from The Juilliard School and currently lives in California.