October 8, 2008
LJS&C Launches 54th Season—The DNA of Music—With Different Concepts of Time and Special Guests red fish blue fish
La Jolla, Calif. (October 6, 2008) — The La Jolla Symphony and Chorus (LJS&C) presents its first concert of the 54th season the first weekend of November. Music Director Steven Schick, conducting, will take the audience around the world and through different conceptions of time, part of a season-long exploration of the "DNA of Music"&mash;the fundamental building blocks of the musical experience. On the program: Bedrich Smetana's Vltava ("The Moldau"), Toru Takemitsu's From me flows what you call Time, and Johannes Brahms' Symphony No. 2.
Smetana's tone poem depicts the mighty river that flows through Prague, capturing the fluidity and inexorability of time. "Time seems to be at the base of every musical experience. Nothing presents 'time' better than a river--always moving and never going anywhere," says Maestro Schick.
UCSD's resident percussion ensemble, red fish blue fish, joins the orchestra in Takemitsu's concerto for five percussionists and orchestra. As the name suggests, From me flows what you call Time evokes a special sense of time—the timelessness of ritual.
Brahms' second symphony is one of his "most 'open' works," says Schick. It was written after a summer in the Alps, and "seems to capture a sense of an exploration with plenty of time to stop and enjoy the moment. Even the score itself, with its preponderance of white notes and larger values, looks open. It's really an idyll."
The orchestra will also perform Charles Ives' The Unanswered Question in memory of Music Director Emeritus Tom Nee.
The performances take place November 1–2, 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 or visit www.lajollasymphony.com.
Rooted in San Diego for over 50 years, the La Jolla Symphony and Chorus enriches our lives through affordable concerts of ground-breaking, traditional and contemporary classical music. San Diego's oldest and largest community orchestra and chorus, the LJS&C features a 110-person orchestra and 130-person chorus. During the 54th season, Maestro Steven Schick shares the podium with Choral Director David Chase, performing four premiere works and familiar masterpieces.
