WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (DECEMBER 26, 2012) – As part of its Classics Series, the Winston-Salem Symphony under the baton of Maestro Robert Moody, Music Director, will present a concert featuring several works by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in honor of Mozart’s birthday (January 27, 1756). The Symphony will present Mozart’s Concerto for Bassoon and Orchestra in B-flat Major and Symphony No. 39 in E-flat Major. Guest artist Saxton Rose will perform the bassoon concerto. In addition, the Symphony will perform Igor Stravinsky’s Symphony in C.
The concerts will take place on Saturday, Jan. 12 at 7:30 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 13 at 3:00 p.m. and Tuesday, Jan. 15 at 7:30 p.m. at the Stevens Center of the University of North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA) at 405 W. Fourth Street. Tickets range from $15 – $62 and are available in advance by calling the Symphony Box Office at 336-464-0145 or online.
Stravinsky is one of the twentieth-century’s most influential composers. He is perhaps best known for his ballet scores composed for Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballet Russes in the early 1910s. Inspired by Beethoven and Haydn, Stravinsky’s Symphony in C resonates with those great composers’ influences but also includes modern elements, including dissonant harmonies and angular melodies, which are clearly Stravinskian.
Mozart composed the Concerto for Bassoon and Orchestra in B-flat major when he was 18 years old. This beautiful and lyrical piece demonstrates a profound understanding of the bassoon’s capabilities, highlighting the virtuosic and lyrical aspects of the instrument. His Symphony No. 39 in E-Flat Major was composed in the summer of 1788 along with Symphonies No. 40 and 41. Amazingly, considering their stature among the best symphonies ever composed, he seems to have written all three symphonies in rapid succession. Symphony No. 39 is grand, dramatic, at times exuberant and at other times melancholy—a rich work full of charm and beauty.
Guest artist Saxton Rose’s virtuosic interpretations of traditional repertoire and his dedication to new music have afforded him a prolific career as soloist, orchestral, and chamber musician. He is professor of bassoon at UNCSA, principal bassoonist of the Winston-Salem Symphony, and was recently named the new bassoonist of the award-winning New York-based wind quintet, Zéphyros Winds. Performances this season include engagements in China, Japan, the Netherlands, Belgium, Mexico, and numerous world premieres from composers such as Michael Gordon, Lawrence Dillon, John Orfe, Michael Rothkopf, Felipe Perez Santiago, and John Fitz Rogers.
Rose recently performed the Mozart Bassoon Concerto with the National Symphony of Colombia in Bogotá, a Vivaldi Bassoon Concerto with the Orquesta Sinfónica de Caldas, Colombia, and in Berlin at the Philharmonie with Alarm Will Sound, one of the world’s premier contemporary music ensembles. Other engagements as concerto soloist have been with the National Symphony of Panama and with the Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra.
The Saturday, Jan. 12 performance is part of the Kicked-Back Classics Series. These concerts are one hour, without intermission and include a more informal atmosphere with educational insights from Maestro Moody. This concert will include everything from the Classics performances (Sunday, Jan. 13 and Tuesday, Jan. 15) except the second and third movements of the Stravinsky Symphony and the first movement of Mozart’s Concerto for Bassoon and Orchestra. After each Kicked-Back concert, concert-goers can join the Maestro and members of the orchestra for Brews with Bob at a location that will be announced from the stage.
This concert and the Winston-Salem Symphony are sponsored by Season Presenting Sponsor Wells Fargo; Classics Series Co-Presenting Sponsors Bell, Davis & Pitt, P.A and Forsyth Medical Center as well as the Arts Council of Winston-Salem/Forsyth County and the North Carolina Arts Council and Kicked-Back Classics Presenting Sponsors Michael Morykwas and Christine Thornton. Guest artist Saxton Rose is sponsored by Marge and Jerry Silber.
