The final spring concert will be honoring Leonard Bernstein’s, an American composer, conductor and music lecturer, 100th birthday anniversary. Chichester Psalms is one of his most important works, written in 1965 for Chichester Cathedral in England.
The concert is today, April 26, at 7:30 p.m. in UW’s Buchanan Concert Hall and will begin with an overture by Bernstein in spirit of the anniversary of his birthday.
Nicole Lamartine, Director of Choral Activities, will be conducting the choral works. Michael Griffith, Director of Orchestral Activities will be conducting the overture and the concerto.
“Final concerts are always very exciting,” Griffith said. “When you do the last concert of the year you want it to be special for many reasons. Like for the students who may be having their last concerts as they are about to graduate so you want to leave them with a good memory.”
The concert season has been building up to this final show.
“A season is not just a bunch of different concerts, you try to think of the whole orchestra’s year as one great big performance so you want the ending to be special and these people may not hear another orchestra concert till next fall so you want to leave them with a really good remembrance,” Griffith said.
The Lysander Piano Trio will be playing Beethoven’s “Triple Concerto” for piano, violin and cello. The university choirs will join the orchestra for two choral works: Leonard Bernstein’s “Chichester Psalms” and Johannes Brahms’ “Nӓnie.” The concert will commence with the overture to Bernstein’s “Candide.”
“This year, the way we managed to make it special is it’s not just an orchestra but we have a trio playing. They are outstanding and it’s Beethoven which is always dramatic” said Griffith. “In the first half of the concert, we’re doing two pieces with the choir so it’s not just the orchestra students but also vocal students.”
As per their tradition this year they are continuing the “tweet seats” for audience members who like to stay connected on social media. These seats are available in the back two rows.
“We allow our audience in the back two rows to have their cellphones on, in silent mode, to take pictures to post online, for people who like to stay connected,” Griffith said. “We did a small compromise by having it in the back so the light from their phones won’t distract other audience members.”
UW student Suyasha Pradhanga said, “I really enjoy the concerts that our school puts up and the new concept of allowing us to have phones is very innovative. It gives us a chance to connect to our friends and show them what they are missing.”
Tickets are available at the Buchanan Center and UW Union box offices or you can call them at 766-6666.
