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.