West Michigan Symphony's April "Women as Muses" Concert to Feature Guest Conductor Teresa Cheung and Violinist Elena Urioste

MUSKEGON, MI, April 06, 2013 (Press-News.org) West Michigan Symphony will feature music inspired by women as special guests Teresa Cheung and Elena Urioste take the stage for Masterworks concerts on April 19 and 20.

The "Women as Muses" performance will feature guest conductor Teresa Cheung:
George Tsontakis' "Clair de Lune;" the composer will join the Symphony for rehearsals and the performances
Felix Mendelssohn's Concerto for Violin, Op. 64 in E minor with violinist Elena Urioste
Robert Schumann's Symphony No. 2, Op. 61, in C Major

More information, as well as expanded program notes with audio samples, is available online at the Symphony's website. Both concerts will be held in the majestic Frauenthal Center for Performing Arts in downtown Muskegon at 7:30 p.m.

"I am pleased to entrust the baton to my respected friend and colleague, Teresa Cheung for these performances," said West Michigan Symphony Music Director Scott Speck. "West Michigan is in for a treat. Teresa has lent her talent to many other symphonies, including Mobile, Fort Wayne, Nashville and Phoenix, with powerful results."

Cheung is orchestra director and lecturer at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and also serves as music director and conductor of the Altoona Symphony Orchestra in Pennsylvania, and the resident conductor for the American Symphony Orchestra and the Bard College Orchestra in New York. Since 2004 she has been the assistant conductor for the Bard Music Festival and SummerScape, serving as rehearsal conductor for its opera and concert productions and a clinician for Lincoln Center's "Meet The Artist" program since 2007.

Cheung will begin the concert with Tsontakis' "Clair de Lune" The composer is planning to attend both performances, and will address the audiences at each concert. The award-winning composer's catalogue continues to grow dramatically as prominent orchestras and musicians commission and record new works. In recent seasons, his works have been heard with great frequency in concerts throughout the world, including dozens in Europe.

Tsontakis composed the two-movement piece in 2006 for the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, dedicating it to "my devoted and wonderful mother." The work pays homage to Debussy, whose works - not only "Clair de Lune" - are hinted at throughout.

The first part, titled "Moonlit," begins with two atmospheric motives that imbue the piece with a cool, but not chilly, opening. An ascending scale leads into what might be called the piece's second theme. The middle section increases the tempo, after which the piece returns to the more atmospheric mood of the opening. 

The second part, "Jeux," adopts another Debussy-like theme. Together, a spiky melody and bouncy rhythm present a slightly hysterical tapestry until things gradually slow down. By way of tying things together, Tsontakis brings back a variant of the principal melody of the first part. 

Mendelssohn's Concerto for Violin, Op. 64 in E minor will feature violinist Elena Urioste. A graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music and completed graduate studies at the Julliard School, Urioste is up to the challenge, Speck says.

Recently selected as a BBC New Generation Artist and featured on the cover of Symphony magazine, Urioste has been hailed by critics and audiences alike for her lush tone, the nuanced lyricism of her playing and her commanding stage presence.

Her first appearance with the Philadelphia Orchestra took place at age 13. Since that time, she has appeared with the Cleveland Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, the Boston Pops, the Buffalo Philharmonic and the Atlanta, Baltimore, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Richmond, San Antonio and Sarasota symphonies. In addition to her stateside appearances, Urioste has appeared with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Wurzburg Philharmonic and Hungary's Orchestra Dohnányi Budafok.

Urioste is the recipient of the inaugural Sphinx Medal of Excellence, London Music Masters Award, a Salon de Virtuosi career grant, and a first prize winner of the Sion International Violin Competition where she was also awarded the audience prize and the prize for best performance of the competition's newly commissioned work.

Mendelssohn's Concerto in E minor had a long gestation period, with the composer beginning the work in 1838 but not finishing it until six years later. Instead of the usual orchestral exposition of the main themes, the opening features the violin presenting the principal theme. Mendelssohn gives the second part of the theme to the orchestra and the winds.

The andante emerges out of a single quiet bassoon tone, emanating from the last chord of the opening movement. After a short transitional passage, the solo violin introduces a simple, almost religious theme. The middle section in the minor mode turns slightly darker. Another transition, based on the opening theme of the concerto, leads into the sparkling finale, which Mendelssohn saved to demonstrate the violin's virtuoso possibilities.

The concert will close with Schumann's Symphony No. 2, Op. 61, in C Major. Schumann looked to his beloved wife, Clara, for inspiration - although he felt an underlying professional envy of the brilliant concert pianist. The composer was emotionally unstable, surviving a suicide attempt at age 44 only to die two years later and leave his wife to support their eight children with a relentless series of concert tours.

The unusually long, slow introduction to the Symphony combines and interweaves two contrasting themes and an unorthodox acceleration in tempo that puts the audience on the edge of its seat. The tempo and tension of the introduction increase until the aggressive main allegro theme erupts, immediately incorporating the oboe duet from the introduction.

The following Scherzo theme is largely agitated and continues the battle of the contrasting moods. The runaway coda repeats the horn call from the first movement. The third movement is one of Schumann's most moving utterances. After the heart-felt adagio, the finale bursts forth with a joyous voice, corresponding to Schumann's statement that he was feeling himself again.

Single tickets for this concert are $15, $20, $35 and $45 and may be purchased online at http://www.westmichigansymphony.org; in person at the West Michigan Symphony Ticket Office, Suite 409 (4th floor) in the Frauenthal Center for the Performing Arts, 425 W. Western Ave., Muskegon; or by calling 231.726.3231. Student tickets are $5 for this concert but are not available online. College students must present a valid ID when they purchase tickets.

About West Michigan Symphony
As one of the few professional regional orchestras in Michigan, West Michigan Symphony has played a leading role in the region's cultural community for nearly 75 years. Founded as the West Shore Symphony Orchestra, WMS now serves a regional audience with eight pairs of concerts annually, along with dozens of educational and outreach activities for children and adults. WMS oversees operations for the West Michigan Youth Symphony. For more information, visit http://www.westmichigansymphony.org.

Contact: Carla Hill
West Michigan Symphony, 231.726.3231, ext. 22
or
Mary Ann Sabo
Sabo Public Relations, 616.485.1432