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2009-2010 Concert Season
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Rhapsody in Paris
April 11, 2010
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American Mosaics III
May 21, 2010

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Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 6, 2010
Contact: Jane Stojak
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(215) 760-0230

Philadelphia Classical Symphony Premieres Wissahickon Scenes by Philadelphia Composer Maurice Wright

Concert also features Appalachia Waltz and Strings and Threads by two-time grammy-winning composer Mark O’Connor

MauriceWright, Composer, Wissahickon Scenes

Hirono Oka, Violin, Philadelphia Orchestra,Guest soloist, Wissahickon Scenes

Jason Depue, Violin,Philadelphia Orchestra, Guest soloist, Strings & Threads

Karl Middleman, ArtisticDirector, Philadelphia Classical Symphony 

WHAT:

 

AmericanMosaics III

Our third annual concert focusing on the breadth of America’s musical heritage

 

PROGRAM:

 

Maurice Wright, WissahickonScenes (world premiere)

Mark O’Connor, AppalachiaWaltz

Mark O’Connor, Stringsand Threads

David Diamond, Rounds

Johann Freidrich Peter, Symphony in D (arr. From Quintet in D by Karl Middleman)

WHEN & WHERE:

Tuesday,May 18, 2010, 7:00 PM

FREE Admission

Large Auditorium

Delaware County Community College

901 South Media Line Road

Media, PA 19063-1094

[Abbreviated program includes Wright’s Wissahickon Scenes, O’Connor’s Strings &Threads, and

movements from Diamond and Peter.]

 

Friday, May 21, 2010, 8:00 PM

Tickets $20: For tickets, visit www.classicalsymphony.org or call 800-595-4849.

Church of the Holy Trinity

1904 Walnut Street

Philadelphia, PA 19103-5733


DETAILS:

Philadelphia Classical Symphony features a world premiere of Philadelphia composer Maurice Wright's Wissahickon Scenes with guest violin soloist Hirono Oka in its third annual American Mosaics concert focusing on America's musical heritage.  The composition based on Lenape songs will be performed on Tuesday, May 18 at Delaware County Community College and at 8:00PM on Friday, May 21 at the Church of the Holy Trinity in Rittenhouse Square.

Wissahickon Scenes is based on songs of the Lenape Indians who populated the eastern seaboard from southern New York to Delaware and west to the Lehigh Valley through the 18thCentury.  Karl Middleman, PCS ArtisticDirector, found the songs, recorded in 1928, in the audio archives of the American Philosophical Society.  "The wax cylinder recording system contributed significant surface noise - a constant grinding sound plus a rhythmic pinging sound," said Wright, the Laura H.Carnell Professor of Music Composition at Temple University's Boyer College of Music and Dance.  "I used computer sound processing techniques to produce altered recordings.  A short snippet of the recording can beheard in the final movement of Wissahickon Scenes."

Wright transcribed five songs he used as the basis for the concerto for violin, string orchestra and harp. Three movements depict three periods in Lenape history - Lenape Dances, for a time in the 18th Century when the Lenape flourished; Trail of Tears, for the exodus of the Lenape; and The Invisible People, suggesting the Lenape situation in the present day.

"The remnants of the Lenape culture are obscured by the colonial culture that usurped it," Wright observed. "This is similar to the way the surface noise of the Dictaphone recordings obscured the music within."

Also featured in the concert is music by two-time Grammy winner and one of country music's favorite musicians, Mark O'Connor.  O'Connor is well known for his compositions blending classical, jazz and country fiddling. His 1996 album Appalachia Waltz featured O'Connor playing with violin virtuoso Yo-Yo Ma.  He was named the Country Music Award's Musician of the Year six times in a row.

"Classical composers of all eras have often woven folk tunes into classical composition," said Karl Middleman, PCS' Artistic Director.  "O'Connor's vibrant music follows along tradition with composers as diverse as Gershwin, Dvorak, Brahms and Bartok."

Jason Depue, violinist with the Philadelphia Orchestra and a member of the popular local bluegrass group "Time for 3" will be perform as guest soloist on O'Connor's Strings and Threads.

The program is rounded out with compositions by 18th Century American composer Johann Freidrich Peter, one of the first American classical composers, and early 20th Century composer David Diamond, who was considered one of the pre-eminent composers of his generation. 

Founded in 1993 by Karl Middleman, the Philadelphia Classical Symphony is a 20-member professional chamber orchestra committed to making concert-going exciting againby discovering new interactive ways to tell the history of music to today's audiences.  This program has been funded by The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage through the Philadelphia Music Project.

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Karl Middleman

 Karl Middleman, Artistic Director


Maurice Wright

Maurice Wright

 

Hirono Oka

Hirono Oka 

 
 
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