The performance will be at Bennington College, in Greenwall Auditorium in the VAPA building. Admission and parking are free and the building is handicapped accessible.
The performance will be followed by a reception with harp music, hosted by Karl Brosch and Ralph Thomas, then our annual dinner of tasty home-made dishes. The offeribngs include vegetarian lasagna, turkey, ham, salads, vegetable dishes and luscious desserts prepared by the Board of Sage City Symphony, with wine. The cost will be $20 per person.
We have a new event this year, a raffle of gift certificates to area restaurants. We will be selling raffle tickets at the door and drawing the winners after the concert. Participating restaurants are Allegro, Bennington Station, Bistro Henri, Brown Cow Cafe, Hannaford's, Kevin's (2 gift certificates), Love a Bagel, Madison Brewing Company, Pangaea's, Ploughman's Lunch, Publyck House, Rattlesnake Café and South Street Bakery and Café. Ticket prices are $1 a ticket, $5 for 6 tickets and $10 for an arm's length.
Allen Shawn (born 1948) is an American composer, pianist, educator, and author currently teaching composition at Bennington College. Shawn has written nine orchestral works, two operas with his brother, playwright Wallace Shawn, much incidental music for theater (including scores for the New York Shakespeare Festival, La Jolla Playhouse and Lincoln Center Theater), the film score for My Dinner With André, and commissioned works for Atlanta Ballet, Lucinda Childs Ballet, Greenwich Symphony, Vermont Symphony, Sage City Symphony, Aspen Wind Quintet, clarinetist Benny Goodman, and many other organizations and ensembles.
Richard Strauss wrote Death and Transfiguration at the age of 25, a seemingly young age to compose such an inward looking piece. There has been much speculation about the genesis of this work, unresolved by Strauss's own writings. He conducted the premiere of this work himself on June 21 1890 in Eisenach. Colorado Public Radio aired this work in April of 2010.
The program will feature two operatic arias. Per Questa Bella Mano by Mozart will be performed by Keith Kibler, bass, with Robert Zimmerman playing the double bass solo. Che Gelida Manina by Puccini, from Act 1 of La Boheme, will be performed by Alex Diaz, tenor.
Prelude and Fugue by Arcady Dubensky is a double bass quartet. It will be performed by Robert Zimmerman on double basss with Harrison Dilthey, Patrick O'Connell and Deb Spohnheimer.
Arcady Dubensky (1890-1966) studied violin, composition and conducting at the Moscow Conservatory before emigating to the US in 1921. He joined the New York Symphony Orchestra and then the New York Philharmonic as a violinist. He was a fairly prolific composer and among his most famous works are The Raven, for narrator and orchestra (1931) and the Fugue, for 18 violins (1932). The Prelude and Fugue for Four Double Basses is the first double bass quartet, and was premiered by the Philadelphia Orchestra bass section in 1934.
Robert Zimmerman's grandfather, Oscar Zimmerman, played in the 1934 premiere. Robert Zimmerman discovered the manuscript upon his grandfather's death, and will be publishing the quartet this June. Today marks the first performance of Dubensky's Prelude and Fugue since its debut.
More information is available on the individual performers by clicking on their name, or here.
