November 13, 2008
December 6-7 Concert Features Lux Boreal, Young Artist Winner, and Composer Evan Ziporyn
La Jolla, Calif. (Nov. 13, 2008) — The La Jolla Symphony and Chorus (LJS&C) presents its second concert of the 54th season, “Motion,” continuing a season-long exploration of the “DNA” of music. Music Director Steven Schick conducts a program that includes the West Coast premiere of Evan Ziporyn’s Balinese-inspired Frog’s Eye, featuring Tijuana dance troupe Lux Boreal; Dmitiri Shostakovich’s Cello Concert No. 1 with soloist Margaret Zhou, the 2008 LJS&C Young Artists Competition winner; and Igor Stravinsky’s endearing ballet, Petrushka.
Evan Ziporyn, a clarinetist and member of Bang on a Can All-Stars, has emerged as a powerful compositional voice. Frog’s Eye mixes Ziporyn’s diverse interests: Balinese Gamelan, minimalism, and unorthodox textures. It is both repetitive and lyrical, coming across with an emphasis on movement. The performance will be accompanied by Lux Boreal Contemporanea Danza in an original choreographed work performed behind a scrim in “shadow-puppet” silhouette.
One of the great cello concertos of the 20th century was written by Shostakovich in 1959 for Mstislav Rostropovich, who gave the premiere in Leningrad on October 9, 1959. Soloing with LJS&C in Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto No. 1 is sixteen-year-old Margaret Zhou, winner of the 2008 LJS&C Young Artists Competition.
Petrushka is a story of a Russian puppet made of straw and a bag of sawdust that comes to life and has the capacity to love, a story reminiscent of Pinocchio. Stravinsky composed the music during the winter of 1910–11 for Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes. His orchestration and rapidly changing rhythms depict the hustle and bustle of the Shrovetide fair in Saint Petersburg, where the story begins. Petrushka is a work that fuses music, ballet, choreography, and history in perfect balance.
The performances take place December 6–7, 2008 in Mandeville Auditorium at UCSD. Concert times are 8:00 p.m. on Saturday and 3:00 p.m. on Sunday. Individual tickets are $26 general, $22 senior, and $15 student. Group discounts are available. Parking is free. A pre-concert lecture is offered one hour prior to concert times. To purchase tickets or for more information, call the LJS&C office at (858) 534-4637.
The La Jolla Symphony & Chorus, San Diego’s oldest and largest community orchestra and chorus, is a non-profit musical performing group dedicated to inspiring San Diego with the joy of music. Its 110-person orchestra and 130-person chorus perform groundbreaking orchestral and choral music along with traditional favorites from the classical repertoire. During the 54th season, maestro Steven Schick shares the podium with David Chase, LJS&C choral director, performing works by Mahler, Stravinsky, Shostakovich, Copland, Elgar, and more.
