Funded in part by the National Endowment for the Arts, “We, The People”, Immigrant’s Stories Part 1, will include world premieres of Italian-American composer Ernesto Ferreri.
CONCERT PROGRAM:
Antiche danze et arie per liuto, Suite No.3 Ottorino Respighi
Anonymous: Italiana. Andantino - Jean-Baptiste Besard: Arie di corte. Andante cantabile - Anonymous: Siciliana. Andantino
Lodovico Roncalli: Passacaglia. Maestoso - Vivace
String Symphony (World Premiere) Ernesto Ferreri
Il Tramonto (Sunset) for Voice and Strings Ottorino Respighi
Octet for Chamber Orchestra Ernesto Ferreri
Overtura - Cafe Serenade
PROGRAM NOTES:
Symphony for Strings (1978-79)
In 1979, some 43 years ago, having finished formal composition lessons with Robert Ward, I wrote Symphony for Strings. It turns out, certain works need to be undertaken for personal growth. They enable all that is possible afterward and shape future sensibilities. A double fugue, concerned with fugal processes, the title also describes the element of symphonic thought that gives this work its particular character. I also must say something about the improbable circumstances that cause a work, unknown and unperformed for decades, to be dusted off and played. It is strange yet very gratifying! It makes sense therefore to dedicate Symphony for Strings to Maestro Adrian Sylveen and his Connecticut Virtuosi.
Octet (2013)
Some 10 years ago, I tuned in midway to a wonderful piece on the radio that was unfamiliar to me. In the end, the announcer said it was the Octet by Schubert, and I immediately got hold of the score and began studying it. I had been working on a compositional project and, after hearing the Octet, realized this material could benefit from being cast in the same instrumental combination; this became the "Overtura". The second piece, "Café Serenade", pays homage to the Viennese love of cafés, where Schubert (and other famous Viennese composers) held forth.
Ernesto Ferreri (b. 1954, NYC) studied with Robert Ward, Sherwood Shaffer and Charles Fussell at the North Carolina School of the Arts for his Bachelor’s Degree (1979). Two years later he studied further at Manhattan School of Music and then CUNY Flushing, with Henry Weinberg, receiving his Master of Arts in Musical Composition (1984). Ferreri is a recipient of the NC Composer Fellowship and resides in Wilmington, NC, where he teaches at Cape Fear Community College.
Mezzo-soprano Lynn Taylor (Il Tramonto, March 31) is a career singer at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City where she also performed as the Page in Rigoletto, the cousin in Madama Butterfly, and the Ancelli in Turandot among others. Previous roles include Tosca (OMTI), Chrysothemis in Electra (Deutsche Oper, NY), Marguerite in Faust (OMTI), Rosina in Barber of Seville while touring with the National Opera Company, and Cherubino in the Marriage of Figaro. Ms. Taylor debuted with the San Francisco Symphony as the mezzo soloist in Kodaly’s Te Deum under the baton of Seiji Ozawa and recently performed as the mezzo soloist in Mozart Requiem in Tuscany with Maestro Adrian Sylveen.
Adrian Sylveen enjoys a performing career in the United States and in Europe. He serves as Artistic Director of the Connecticut Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra, Connecticut Lyric Opera, and the Classical Orchestra of Pila in Poland. He is also a frequent guest conductor with several leading Polish orchestras. An active violin soloist, as well as conductor, he has performed concerts and recitals in Poland, Switzerland, Germany, the former Soviet Union, and the United States. Sylveen graduated with distinction from the Paderewski Music Academy in Poznan, Poland, and holds Master's and post-Master’s degrees from the Yale University School of Music. He is a winner of prizes and awards at competitions in Poland and in the United States and has participated in several international Festivals such as Weimar, Lancut, and others. Sylveen was awarded several prestigious scholarships and awards, including the “Primus Inter Pares” Award given by the President of the Republic of Poland. He was awarded a permanent United States residency for “Extraordinary Abilities in the Arts”.
