Philadelphia Classical Symphony Announces 2008-09 Season

Worldly fencing masters, Parisian partygoers and Peruvian marathoners vie for center stage at the 2008-09 concerts of the Philadelphia Classical Symphony.

Philadelphia Orchestra Principal Violist C.J. Chang headlines the season opener, Generals Eclectic, on Friday, October 31st  8:00 p.m. at First Unitarian Church,  21st and Chestnut Street in Philadelphia. Chang’s partner in Mozart’s effervescent Sinfonia Concertante K. 364 for Violin and Viola with orchestra is Classical Symphony concertmaster Hirono Oka. According to artistic director and conductor Karl Middleman, Mozart’s showpiece is but the iceberg’s tip of a wide array of late 18th Century works inspired by the Olympic-quality orchestra in Mannheim, Germany. The show-off pieces were intended to display great violinist-composers whose techniques were often compared to the heroics of Caesar, Alexander the Great, and Napoleon.

The program also features harpist Madeline Blood making her professional debut as soloist in Boieldieu’s Harp Concerto. Other composers include Johann Stamitz, Franz Beck and Chevalier Saint Georges, an Afro-French fencing master and conductor sometimes referred to as the Black Mozart. 

The second program of the season, Americans in Paris, and all that Jazz is presented on Friday, March 20th 2009, at 8:00 p.m. also at the First Unitarian Church at 21st and Chestnut Streets. The program  spotlights the influence of America’s greatest musical export, jazz, on the classical music of American, French and Russian composers. Program selections include two reference works of the period, Milhaud’s cheeky, primitive, The Creation of the World and Gershwin’s sassy ever-popular Rhapsody in Blue. Philadelphia’s Hugh Sung, faculty member at the Curtis institute, is piano soloist. Rounding out the program are Antheil’s Concerto for Chamber Orchestra, Piston’s Divertimento and Stravinsky’s Ragtime.

Following the concert, the Classical Symphony musicians roll up their sleeves and host a Parisian-style cabaret. The program includes French cabaret-style songs by Gershwin and Porter and features local celebrities Sheila Weiller (soprano) and Tom Baust (piano) and guest performers from the Classical Symphony. The cabaret begins immediately following the concert and is also held at the First Unitarian Church. Wine, cheese and light snacks are offered at this program beginning at 10 p.m.

The season concludes with American Mosaics II on May 8, 2009 at the Church of St. Luke and the Epiphany at 13th and Spruce Streets in Philadelphia. A panoply of pan-American music represents diverse American musical traditions. The concert features the premier of Curt Cacioppo’s Lenape Refrains. Cacioppo, a professor at Haverford College, bases his musical impressions upon a historic American Elm tree found on the campus at Haverford College. Arborists will welcome the opportunity to both see the tree and hear Cacioppo’s homage in a repeat of the concert at Haverford College’s Roberts Hall on May 9 at 8:00 p.m.

Other natural phenomenon, the Andes Mountains, inspire Gabriela Lena Frank’s Leyendas: An Andean Walkabout. Frank, who is part Peruvian by birth, includes songs of courtship, travel and mourning in her musical reminiscence. The program concludes with Copland’s Clarinet Concerto featuring Clarinetist phenomenon David Krakauer. Copland’s jazzy work will be familiar to Philadelphians of long memories for the 1950 premier by Benny Goodman and the Philadelphia Orchestra. 

Former principal clarinetist with the New Haven Symphony, Krakauer is a uniquely versatile performer, richly represented on major label recordings, who now divides his time equally between jazz, klezmer and the classics, making him a true heir to Goodman’s crossover tradition. According to Krakauer, Copland’s Concerto mixes transcendentalism with in-the-street funkiness. “I really like Copland’s mixture of soulful song with jazz, and look forward to my debut with the Philadelphia Classical Symphony.”

Founded in 1993 by artistic director Karl Middleman, the Philadelphia Classical Symphony is a professional chamber orchestra, widely acclaimed for its concerts and educational programs organized around specific themes that illuminate the history of music while promoting awareness of the cultural diversity that shapes America’s musical traditions.

Tickets are $35, $30 and $15. Tickets for full-time students are $10 and are available in advance or at the door. Cabaret tickets are $25 and must be ordered in advance. For more information on the Philadelphia Classical Symphony’s season of events visit www.classicalsymphony.org or call 215-228-2224.