Great Journey’s Features Program of Brahms, Ravel, and Rimsky-Korsakov
The University Symphony Orchestra will begin their spring 2015 semester on Wednesday, Feb. 11 at 7:30 p.m. with a concert entitled ‘Great Journeys’ in the Griffin Concert Hall at the University Center for the Arts, located at 1400 Remington St.
Tickets are $7 for CSU students, $1 for youth (under 18), and $12 for the public. Tickets are available at the University Center for the Arts (UCA) ticket office in the UCA lobby Monday through Friday, 3:30 – 5:30 p.m. and 60 minutes prior to performances, by phone at 970-491-ARTS (2787). Youth tickets must be purchased in person at the Ticket Office. All tickets are subject to a $1 ticket fee for both online and at-the-door purchases. Advance ticket purchase is highly recommended to avoid lines and further at-the-door fees.
Under the direction of Wes Kenney, the University Symphony Orchestra performs a concert entitled ‘Great Journeys,’ featuring influential works from around the turn of the 20th century with Brahms’ Symphony No. 1 in c minor, Ravel’s Rapsodie Espagnole, and Rimsky-Korsakov’s Russian Easter Overture.
“This concert is a terrific way to start out the semester,” said Wes Kenney, director of orchestras at CSU.
Despite his prolific production of chamber music, Johannes Brahms struggled to begin his symphonic works. Living in the shadow of Beethoven’s 9th Symphony masterwork, Brahms, who held great reverence for his predecessor’s music, took nearly 21 years to compose his first symphony.
While much of the public expected Brahms to continue Beethoven’s great musical legacy, Brahms was initially unsure that he could fill such monumental shoes. Noting the intentional musical nods to themes in Beethoven’s works, conductor and composer Hans von Bülow, fondly complimented Brahms’ c minor symphonic masterpiece as “Beethoven’s Tenth,” with Brahms himself noting his homage to his predecessor.
Brahms’ went on to compose three more symphonies after the c minor work. Critics argue that few symphonic composers have done so much with so few works, but Brahms’ four symphonies have lasted through the centuries thanks to their vigor, their freedom and their complexity.
About Wes Kenney
The 2007 Grand Prize Winner of the Varna (Bulgaria) International Conducting Competition, Wes Kenney is now in his tenth season as Music Director of the Fort Collins (Colorado) Symphony. Named in 2004 to an additional post as Music Director of Opera Fort Collins, he currently conducts three professional operatic productions as well as numerous orchestra concerts and dance performances each season throughout Northern Colorado. Read more.
The University Center for the Arts at Colorado State University provides an enriched venue in which the study and practice of Art, Dance, Music, and Theatre are nurtured and sustained by building the skills and knowledge needed by future generations of arts professionals to become contributors to the essential vitality of our culture and society.
For more information, visit UCA.Colostate.edu.