Four Seasons with a Latin Twist!
The Stockton Symphony presents the popular Four Seasons at its fourth Classics concert of the season on March 14 and 16, but these tango-infused works in the “tango nuevo” style, entitled Four Seasons of Buenos Aires, from Argentinian composer Astor Piazzolla, are vivid musical portraits of the bustling Argentine metropolis.
The Piazzolla Seasons offer a heady, colorful and highly entertaining mixture of ingredients: tango, jazz, Romanticism and Impressionism, all liberally spiced with saucy humor and playful contemporary techniques. Expressive dissonances and abrupt shifts in tempo and meter are elements of his style that demand the audience's concentration and yet continually delight the imagination. Various special effects on the instruments required to perform this work continually entertain and amaze.
Classics IV: Dance Rhythms will be performed at Warren Atherton Auditorium on the San Joaquin Delta College campus in Stockton on Thursday, March 14, 2013, at 8:00 p.m. and again on March 16, 2013, at 6:00 p.m. Guest artist is the Stockton Symphony Concertmaster Christina Mok, who will be performing Piazzolla’s Four Seasons of Buenos Aires.
An active performer, violinist Christina Mok has become a familiar figure in the classical music scene in Northern California. She devotes herself equally to solo performance, chamber recitals, and orchestral leading. As mentioned in the San Jose Mercury, “She [Mok] was a spellbinder as she dug in and let it fly…There was no need to long for Itzhak Perlman or Gil Shaham.”
Program
The opening piece in this Classics installment, Takemitsu’s Three Film Scores, is masterful in its variety and contrast—from the jazzy blues in the opening, to highly moving and meditative, to wistfulness and nostalgia in the final score. The closing piece, Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 4, celebrates the concert’s title, Dance Rhythms, where it combines influences from the leaping saltarello and the weaving lines from the tarantella.
Purchase tickets online at www.stocktonsymphony.org or call the Symphony office at (209) 951-0196. Tickets begin at $22; tickets for children and students with an ID are half price.
Meet the Maestro
Audience members are encouraged to attend a free pre-concert talk by the Music Director, Peter Jaffe, beginning 45 minutes before the “Dance Rhythms” concert.
More information
For further information about the Stockton Symphony, including future performances, guest artists, and how to volunteer, please visit www.stocktonsymphony.org. Be sure to follow us on Facebook and Twitter! To purchase tickets on performance Saturdays, please call or visit the Atherton Auditorium box office at 209-954-5110.
Background
Founded in 1926, the Stockton Symphony is California’s third-oldest orchestra and the only professional symphony orchestra in San Joaquin County. The Symphony’s mission is to engage, educate, and inspire the community through a commitment to excellence in its performances and programs. For more information about Symphony concerts and education and community programs call (209) 951-0196 or visit www.stocktonsymphony.org.