DAZZLING DUTCHMAN
Opening Night Concert
Friday, August 5 8:00pm Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium
Tickets: $32 $28 $25 $20
Marijn Simons: Secret Notes (Marijn Simons, violin)
James MacMillan: A Deep but Dazzling Darkness( Marijn Simons, violin) [West Coast Premiere]
Frank Zappa: Be-Bop Tango
Marijn Simons: A Tí Te Toca (Paul Barnes and Emily Wong, pianos) [U.S. Premiere]
The Netherlands’ Haagsche Courant calls 22-year-old Marijn Simons, “The Dutch Mozart,” and Los Angeles Times music critic Mark Swed said of the violinist/composer during his Los Angeles Philharmonic debut, “...already a sensation in Europe…[Simons] appeared as a flamboyant soloist…in the premiere of his exuberant Second Violin Concerto, Secret Notes. He brought the house down…he proved irresistible.” Opening Night of the Festival begins with the World Premiere of the orchestral version of Simons’ Secret Notes. Then the virtuosic, Paginini-esque soloist will perform Scottish composer James MacMillan’s violin concerto, A Deep but Dazzling Darkness. MacMillan is Scotland’s preeminent composer—familiar to Festival audiences—and Simons’ teacher and mentor. The work explores the mysterious connections between compassion and music. Next will come an outrageous ride with Frank Zappa’s Be-Bop Tango, a piece which merges bebop jazz with tango, and reflects Zappa’s sophisticated explorations of Varese, Stravinsky, and Webern. The finale of the evening will feature piano soloists Paul Barnes and Emily Wong in the U.S. Premiere of Simons’ double piano concerto, A Tí Te Toca. The title comes from a Latin Jazz expression when translated means, “It’s your turn,” referring to when a bandmember takes a solo, and the work interweaves five Mexican and Cuban folksongs and dances. (Opening Night begins with a Pre-Concert Talk by Marin Alsop and a special dinner served alfresco at the Civic Auditorium.)