Nanaimo Chamber Orchestra, "Essence of Spring"

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Sunday, March 20th, 2016
2:30 PM to 4:30 PM

Ah sweet bliss! As Spring dawns with the March equinox, what better celebration than a Mozart Piano Concerto played by one of Canada’s premier pianists, Sarah Hagen.

The Nanaimo Chamber Orchestra is very pleased to have Sarah as guest artist on the program, “Essence of Spring”, to play Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 12., K 414. Sarah is well-known to Nanaimo audiences for her Classical Coffee Concert Series at the Port Theatre, in which she displays her talent, her talented playing partners and her wit.

The program also features 4 other works that present different moods and provenance. Torelli’s “Concerto Primo, Op 8, No. 1” is an eminently Baroque work that features a solo quartet alternating with the full orchestra (tutti). “Sarabande is a triple-meter dance of Spanish origin, normally performed at a slow tempo. Saint Saēns’ version, scored for strings and incorporating a prominent violin solo, has a particularly expressive melody. “Two Swedish Folk Melodies”, from around 1878 by Norwegian, Johan Svendsen, Beneath the Dome of the Sky (Allt Under Himmelens Fäste)and You Ancient, You Fresh, You Mountains of the North (Du Gamla,Du Friska, Du FjellHöga Nord), are melodic Scandinavian favourites. “A Very English Music”, composed in 2002 by Paul Carr, sketches the bucolic English countryside of Sussex, then Cornwall and concludes with a fox hunt in Wiltshire.

Performances are set for March 19th, 7:30 pm at Brechin United Church and March 20th, 2:30 pm at St. Edmunds Anglican Church (Parksville).

Tickets are $20, adults; $5, students; under 12 free, at the Port Theatre Box Office or at the door. See www.nanaimochamberorchestra.com for further information.