Remembrance

Sunday, November 2, 2pm, MassBay Community College, 50 Oakland St, Wellesley

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1849-1893) - Capriccio Italien

William Grant Still (1895-1978) - Symphony No. 3, The Sunday Symphony

Pyotr Tchaikovsky - Piano Concerto No. 1, Taige Wang, piano

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Our November concert features two great works by Pyotr Tchaikovsky: Capriccio Italien, his love letter to Rome after his vacation there, and his epic Piano Concerto No. 1, which premiered almost exactly 150 years ago with the Boston Symphony.

Capriccio Italien begins with the bugle call that Tchaikovsky heard outside his hotel room while in Rome. This is followed by several delightful tunes reflective of what he heard at a local carnival and around the city. This piece has become an audience favorite the world over.

At the premier of his Piano Concert No. 1 in the "comparatively small town like Boston" (as described by Tchaikovsky) in 1875, the audience demanded the concerto's finale to be repeated as an encore. Since then, this dramatic composition has become one of the most popular of all piano concertos. We are very lucky to have Young Steinway Artist Taige Wang as soloist. Taige has won numerous piano competitions, and has performed with The Cleveland Orchestra and at many prestigious venues, including Carnegie Hall.

Between these two pieces, we present William Grant Still's Symphony No. 3 - "The Sunday Symphony" William Grant Still is one of the most important American composers, showing great skill and imagination in combining many genres of American music, including jazz and the blues, into symphonies, operas, and music of all forms. His Symphony No. 3 depicts the Sunday life of a devout worshiper. Still demonstrates the spiritual nature of the day, but also shows that one can be devout and still have fun.

Please join us. MassBay is very easy to find, with plenty of free and convenient parking and his minutes away from the fine dining and shops of Wellesley.