Hi, All:
Greetings from Texas and Louisiana where I am visiting family for holiday.
A very busy December has wrapped up a very busy year for the Omaha Consort.
Our first show of the new year takes place on January 10th at the Scottish Rite Theatre downtown.
The musicians:
Alexandra Rock, oboe
Robert Jenkins, oboe
Carmelo Galante, clarinet
Thomas Aber, clarinet
James Compton, bassoon
Jeff McCray, bassoon
Jason DeWater, horn
Steve Schultz, horn
Bill Ritchie, bass
Regular Consort patrons will notice the familiar names on the musicians roster. Since our 2011 pre-season series we have had the pleasure to have musicians like Alexandra, Robert, Carmelo, James, and Bill join us for some very memorable concerts. This will be our first time to hear Thomas, Jeff, and Steve with the Consort but the names are familiar because they all play with the Omaha Symphony.
This will the first concert presented by the Omaha Consort in official partnership with the Omaha Symphony. It's a big deal because it's an innovative way for two arts organizations to collaborate in such a way. The Consort and Symphony represent the finest quality of their respective niché. It makes sense for the two groups to present large-scale chamber music together. The partnership will mean that the Consort will have the finest musicians and the Symphony will be part of presenting rarely performed masterpieces for mixed chamber ensemble.
The music:
Josef Mysliveček, 1737-1781; Czech
Octet for Winds no. 3 in Bb Major; Composed 1777-78
Antonio Rosetti, 1750-1792; Bohemian
Partita in D Major: Kaul II/8; Composed 1781
Intermission (20 minutes)
Phill Smith, b. 1990; Omaha's Own
Four Quartets after Eliot; Composed 2012 (World Premiere)
Ludwig van Beethoven, 1770-1827; Austrian
Partita Octet in Eb Major, Op. 103; Composed 1792-93
The first half features two new composers for the Consort. Both Rosetti and Mysliveček were top composers of their era. Contemporaries of Haydn and Mozart they both had great command of their craft and found employment in top posts in Europe as highly sought after masters. Today their music rarely makes the trip overseas to modern US audiences. That's a shame and it's precisely this kind of music that we hang our hat on. Both of these works are composed for large wind ensemble (8-9 musicians with bass) and are as fine as any work composed by Mozart, Haydn, and Beethoven in the genre. These two works are essentially classical-era symphonies composed for octet.
The second half features two very familiar composers to the Consort crowd. We've heard two world premiere performances of works by Phill, along with encores of his fantastic music, and Ludwig is certainly no stranger to our audience. We have focused on early Beethoven in our first two seasons. He wrote such fantastic music for harmonieband and mixed ensemble groups! We've heard his Mozartesque Sextet for winds, the masterful Septet for winds and strings, and now we present the timeless Partita for eight winds. It's his take on the partita genre for wind octet. This work is whimsical, energetic, and (as always with Beethoven) powerful. There is much humor in it, too, as Beethoven utilizes these wind instruments in a most virtuosic way. It is quite a show to witness live, up close and personal.
Phill's Four Quartets after Eliot is composed for pairs of oboe and bassoon. It was just finished a couple of days ago and the parts have just been printed and sent off for rehearsal. I can't wait to hear it. I'm told it is some of his finest work to date. That's saying something as we witnessed standing ovations and crazy applause for his music for brass quintet and solo horn in past concerts. We are proud to have him as our Composer in Residence and jump at the chance to present his work. How rare a treat to have a modern composer that audiences can't get enough of?!
In the end, three of four works on the program will receive their Omaha premiere on January 10. One will be a world premiere. The rarely-performed Beethoven will join to make this one very special Partita Party!
Come join us. Doors open at 6p. Pre-concert talk at 6:30p. Music starts at 7p. Wine and cheese before and after the concert.
The location:
202 South 20th Street Omaha, NE 68102
Robert Jenkins, oboe
Carmelo Galante, clarinet
Thomas Aber, clarinet
James Compton, bassoon
Jeff McCray, bassoon
Jason DeWater, horn
Steve Schultz, horn
Bill Ritchie, bass
Regular Consort patrons will notice the familiar names on the musicians roster. Since our 2011 pre-season series we have had the pleasure to have musicians like Alexandra, Robert, Carmelo, James, and Bill join us for some very memorable concerts. This will be our first time to hear Thomas, Jeff, and Steve with the Consort but the names are familiar because they all play with the Omaha Symphony.
This will the first concert presented by the Omaha Consort in official partnership with the Omaha Symphony. It's a big deal because it's an innovative way for two arts organizations to collaborate in such a way. The Consort and Symphony represent the finest quality of their respective niché. It makes sense for the two groups to present large-scale chamber music together. The partnership will mean that the Consort will have the finest musicians and the Symphony will be part of presenting rarely performed masterpieces for mixed chamber ensemble.
The music:
Josef Mysliveček, 1737-1781; Czech
Octet for Winds no. 3 in Bb Major; Composed 1777-78
Antonio Rosetti, 1750-1792; Bohemian
Partita in D Major: Kaul II/8; Composed 1781
Intermission (20 minutes)
Phill Smith, b. 1990; Omaha's Own
Four Quartets after Eliot; Composed 2012 (World Premiere)
Ludwig van Beethoven, 1770-1827; Austrian
Partita Octet in Eb Major, Op. 103; Composed 1792-93
The first half features two new composers for the Consort. Both Rosetti and Mysliveček were top composers of their era. Contemporaries of Haydn and Mozart they both had great command of their craft and found employment in top posts in Europe as highly sought after masters. Today their music rarely makes the trip overseas to modern US audiences. That's a shame and it's precisely this kind of music that we hang our hat on. Both of these works are composed for large wind ensemble (8-9 musicians with bass) and are as fine as any work composed by Mozart, Haydn, and Beethoven in the genre. These two works are essentially classical-era symphonies composed for octet.
The second half features two very familiar composers to the Consort crowd. We've heard two world premiere performances of works by Phill, along with encores of his fantastic music, and Ludwig is certainly no stranger to our audience. We have focused on early Beethoven in our first two seasons. He wrote such fantastic music for harmonieband and mixed ensemble groups! We've heard his Mozartesque Sextet for winds, the masterful Septet for winds and strings, and now we present the timeless Partita for eight winds. It's his take on the partita genre for wind octet. This work is whimsical, energetic, and (as always with Beethoven) powerful. There is much humor in it, too, as Beethoven utilizes these wind instruments in a most virtuosic way. It is quite a show to witness live, up close and personal.
Phill's Four Quartets after Eliot is composed for pairs of oboe and bassoon. It was just finished a couple of days ago and the parts have just been printed and sent off for rehearsal. I can't wait to hear it. I'm told it is some of his finest work to date. That's saying something as we witnessed standing ovations and crazy applause for his music for brass quintet and solo horn in past concerts. We are proud to have him as our Composer in Residence and jump at the chance to present his work. How rare a treat to have a modern composer that audiences can't get enough of?!
In the end, three of four works on the program will receive their Omaha premiere on January 10. One will be a world premiere. The rarely-performed Beethoven will join to make this one very special Partita Party!
Come join us. Doors open at 6p. Pre-concert talk at 6:30p. Music starts at 7p. Wine and cheese before and after the concert.
The location:
202 South 20th Street Omaha, NE 68102
