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The last concert of the season will be on June 5th, not the 3rd, which is what it says on the side panel on the left of this message.
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Message from Jason

In June Omaha Consort continues its cycle of nonets featuring the finest examples of the genre.  Last season we presented the nonet that started it, Louis Spohr's 1813 Nonet.  In the concert we performed Joseph Rheinberger's Nonet, composed in 1885.  Both were Omaha premieres of these masterpieces.

In our upcoming nonet program, Dressed to the Nines, we present the missing link, which connects the Spohr and Rheinberger.  While residing in Vienna Franz Lachner, a friend of Schubert, discovered Spohr's Nonet and in 1857 he composed his own after moving to Munich.  Lachner's brilliant composition student, Rheinberger, was then exposed to the genre.  Lachner's Nonet is essentially an early Romantic symphony for nine players.  It features beautiful writing for the winds and lush harmonies in the strings.  A century following the Lachner Nonet comes the 1959 Nonet of Czech composer, Bohuslav Martinu.  The work was composed in his final year of life and came as the composer was dying from cancer.  It is a colorful neoclassical work that was commissioned to celebrate the 35th year of the Czech Nonet, a group of nine musicians founded after resurrecting the Spohr Nonet from complete obscurity and exploring the powerful genre.  The nonet is truly a "symphony of nine".

Along with the Omaha premieres of the Lachner and Martinu there is also a world premiere of Phill Smith's Dark was the Night, Cold was the Ground, a work featuring the typical nonet scoring of violin, viola, cello, bass, and wind quintet plus electric guitar!  Composer and guitarist, Phill Smith,  will join musicians of Omaha Symphony to present a full spectrum look at the growth of the nonet over three centuries.

Everyone got the joke

Mozart was a practical joker and he wrote his “joke” composition to sound as if the musicians had never seen the music before and would never be asked back to play again. Now everyone knows that the best humor sounds effortless and that this can only be achieved by people that are talented and very experienced. Last night the Omaha Consort nailed it. The musicians, with smiles on their faces, took the audience on a wild ride through dissonances, musical clichés and random tempo changes, all interspersed with passages of lyrical beauty when they got it “right”.

It was an “insider” joke by a musical genius, and the audience loved it.

Jason reveals all

If you saw the film Amadeus you will know that Mozart was a prankster all his life. What you may not know was that he also played "insider" jokes within his music. Come along to the next Omaha Concert performance on Thursday 23rd May and be let into the secret side of Mozart's genius. Make sure you get there early and listen to Jason Dewater's talk where he will reveal all.
We shall also be taking in a bit of Beethoven... so good for the soul...and another World Premier by Phill Smith.
Come at 6:00 when the doors open and relax with a complimentary glass of wine with hors d'oeuvres and get a front row seat at 6:30 when Jason starts his talk.
For those of you who can't wait to hear Jason speak...he will also be giving the pre-concert talks for the Omaha Symphony Masterclass concerts this weekend at the Holland Center.