Concerts - November 2009

Emily and George Hayes

Sonorous Strings

  • November 14, 2009 - Laxson Auditorium, Chico, 7:30 pm
  • November 15, 2009 - Cascade Theatre, Redding, 2:00 pm

Conductor Kyle Wiley Pickett will give a free pre-concert talk one hour before each concert begins.

Tickets now available ONLINE!

 

George Hayes, violin

A native of Colusa, George Hayes began to study violin at age 4 with Ingrid Gaston in Yuba City. Since he was 12, George has studied with William Barbini, former concertmaster of the Sacramento Symphony. Concertmaster of the Sacramento Youth Symphony Premier Orchestra for 3 years, George also soloed with SYS in the Tchaikovsky and Beethoven Concerti; played Mozart and Bach Concerti with the Yuba-Sutter Symphony and the Tchaikovsky Concerto with the Sacramento State University Symphony. Now Principal Second Violin of the Folsom Lake Symphony, George performs regularly with the Sacramento Philharmonic, Sacramento Choral Society, North State Symphony, Modesto Symphony, and Camerata Capistrano. As a chamber musician, Hayes has appeared with the Chamber Music Society of Sacramento and has participated in the Eisenstadt Music Festival in Austria; the Mendocino Music Festival, Bear Valley Music Festival, and Tafelmusik Baroque Summer Institute in Toronto, Canada. George is pursuing a Bachelor of Music degree at California State University, Sacramento. His other interests include soccer, which he has played at the high school and competitive levels. In High school George was also the kicker for the Colusa varsity football team, and participated on the varsity track and cross country teams.

Emily Hayes, piano

Thirteen-year old Emily Hayes began her musical studies at the age of two with Suzuki violin lessons under the tutelage of Ingrid Gaston of Yuba City. She began studying the piano at age five and has studied with Dr. Jana Olvera of Woodland for the past seven years. She recently performed Mozart's piano concerto No. 21 (Allegro maestoso) with the Yuba-Sutter Symphony conducted by Corey Kersting. Emily also enjoys learning and performing in small chamber music ensembles as a student in the Sacramento Youth Symphony Summer and Winter Chamber Music programs. Emily is enrolled in the Colusa Home School Program in the eighth grade. In addition to music, Emily also enjoys playing soccer, reading, and shopping.

 

Antonio Carlos Gomes – (1836-1896)
Sonata

I. Allegro animato
II. Allegro scherzoso
III. Largo
IV. Vivace

Brazilian genius, A. Carlos Gomes created a music bridge between western music in the 19th-century, and the traditional music of his homeland. Learning music fundamentals from his father in Brazil, Gomes earned a scholarship for musical study in Italy.

He was twenty eight years old when he brought his Brazilian experience to Europe. This dual education is evident in his compositions. While remaining true to his roots, Gomes frequently composed in the European form of dramatic opera. His contemporary Verdi influenced him greatly.

Gomes toured and became extremely popular in America, though his music sounded unusual to listeners. Following his son’s tragically contracting tuberculosis, Gomes was forced to choose between remaining in Italy and returning to Brazil. Ill himself, and with the knowledge that he would want to die in his beloved country, Gomes accepted a position in Brazil and passed away later the same year.

Sonata was composed in 1894, two years before his death, when Gomes was still heavily involved in opera. It has been transcribed for guitar quartet.

 

Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847)
Concerto for Violin, Piano and Strings

I. Allegro

Mendelssohn, heavily influenced by Mozart and Beethoven, by the age of twenty was one of the most acclaimed German prodigies of the 19th-century. His music represents a complex tension between classical and romantic-era music.

Mendelssohn wrote in numerous genres: symphonies, keyboard music, operas, dramatic and vocal works. In the category of concertos, Mendelssohn focused on his own two instruments, the piano and violin. Between the years 1822-1824, Felix composed five concertos involving the two instruments. Some are solo concertos, one is for two pianos and one for both – the Concerto for Violin, Piano and Strings.

This Concerto (1823), still considered one of his “youthful” concertos, was composed at age fourteen. A distinctive quality of the Concerto is that the orchestra, instead of merely playing an accompanimental role, plays a more involved part in the concerto. The first movement, Allegro, begins with a tutti introduction (soloists and orchestra playing at the same time), and does not have any cadenzas.

The Mendelssohn family home was a frequent location for concerts. It is believed that Mendelssohn performed this Concerto with his violin teacher, Eduard Reitz at one of these private home concerts in 1823. Felix also toured and performed with his sister, Fanny, from an early age. The shock over Fanny’s death of may have led to his own early death, at age thirty eight. In 2009 the musical world celebrates the bicentennial of Mendelssohn’s birth, and remembers the young prodigy who continues to make a mark on the world with his music.

 

Béla Bartók (1881-1945)
Divertimento

I. Allegro non troppo
III. Allegro assai

Primarily known today as a composer, Bartók was also recognized in his lifetime as an ethnomusicologist and pianist. One of his major contributions to 20th-century music was his involvement in the movement to use folk melodies in composed music, an aspect of his interest in ethnomusicology. Together with Zoltán Kodály, Bartók gathered and catalogued the music of many Slavic countries. As a Hungarian composer, Bartók had immense influence on Hungarian musical culture and is considered his country’s greatest composer.

In the 1930’s, an increasingly successful Bartók received several commissions to write new works. One of these was his Divertimento, in 1939. At the same time, however, the rise of Fascism in Hungary and elsewhere in Europe led Bartók to moved to the United States. He never returned to Hungary.

Bartók’s many works for piano and his string quartets, written throughout his career, are perhaps his most illustrious creations, but never abandoned his focus on teaching and folk music.

Divertimento was composed for the Basle Chamber Orchestra in Switzerland, a group comprised of only strings. Though the title of the piece refers to a classical form, the piece is modern but tonal. In the Allegro non troppo, the timbre of solo instruments is juxtaposed against the rich texture of the orchestra as a whole. The third movement, Allegro assai, is pressed forward by a shimmering rhythmic pulse as it concludes the work.

 

Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958)
Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis

Known as one of the great English composers of his generation, Vaughan Williams was also interested in the folk music of his country, as Bartók was in Hungary. Although he studied with foreign teachers including Maurice Ravel, Vaughan Williams recognized that his own musical culture was important and that he would not be successful if he only replicated foreign ideas. He also always held to the idea that his music was composed for the people, and this interest in the human situation led to his popularity.

In 1906, he was asked to assume editorship of The English Hymnal, where he selected tunes to be included in the book. Through research, he was drawn to a modal melody by Thomas Tallis – the ‘Third Psalter Tune.’ The grandeur and beauty of the melody melded easily with Vaughan Williams’ compositional style. It was this theme that became Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis, considered the masterpiece of his early work.

The Fantasia was written for the Three Choirs Festival in 1910 and Vaughan Williams used three groups of strings within the orchestra to achieve wonderful sonorities and contrasts. In the introduction of the work, there are hints of the major themes to follow. Statements of all themes follow as do fantasias exploring those themes. Toward the end, the themes are restated and the work is concluded with a captivating charm typically Vaughan Williams, who refreshed ancient melodies with modern chords.

-- Lauren Sharkey