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concert schedule Blood, Sweat & Tears | Monsters in the Park | ATribute Concert | Music at the Millpond | Radiohead Transcribed | The "A" Team | Island of Innocence monsters in the park Saturday, August 2 Featuring the Cabrillo Festival Orchestra, conducted by Marin Alsop; Michael Daugherty: Rosa Parks Boulevard Michael Hersch: Symphony No. 2 (West Coast Premiere) Wladyslaw Szpilman: Ballet Scene HK Gruber: Frankenstein!! Monsters in the Park. What lurks in the wings on Saturday night, August 2nd at the Civic is a program of darkly evocative works followed by a wild and wooly ride. Michael Daugherty’s Rosa Parks Boulevard pays homage to the woman who, in 1955, helped set in motion the movement toward modern civil rights. It features the trombone section echoing the voices of generations of African-American preachers, and fragments of the melody Oh Freedom, Parks‚ favorite spiritual. And just as Parks fought the horrors of racism in America, so Wladyslaw Szpilman lived through the terrors of the Holocaust. The Polish musician’s survival in the hell of the Warsaw ghetto from 1940-45 was the subject of "The Pianist," the award-winning film by Roman Polanski. Szpilman went on to perform and compose, and this evening Marin will pay tribute with a work by the composer titled Ballet Scene. Michael Hersch, who seems to fight only his inner demons, first came to the Cabrillo Festival at 25-years-old for the World Premiere of his Prelude and Fugue for Orchestra. He returned in 2000 for the West Coast Premiere of his Symphony No. 1, and now joins us for the West Coast Premiere of his Second Symphony. At the ripe old age of 32, Hersch’s works are now performed across the globe, his awards are ever mounting, and he receives accolades such as this one from the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: "Hersch’s expressive powers make him one of the most promising composers in the world…" Then comes the chilling fun of Frankenstein!!, a "pan-demonium for chansonnier and orchestra." Joseph Ribeiro, of local Shakespeare Santa Cruz and Cabrillo Stage fame, reprises his role as baritone/narrator in a work he presented for the South African premiere. This cheerfully macabre piece by H.K. Gruber is a setting for children’s rhymes by Viennese poet H.C. Artmann. In the texts, Frankenstein and Dracula find themselves in the midst of James Bond, Batman, and other familiar heroes, all of who are allegorical. And although these menaces are not real, the fears they inspire in adults are. With over 1000 performances, this piece has become an almost cult classic. (A Talkback session with Marin and members of Festival Orchestra members follows the concert.)
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