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The Colorado State University Symphony Orchestra is preparing a unique valentine for Breckenridge and local music lovers this year: a rare mid-winter classical concert at the Riverwalk Center on the most romantic evening of the year.
The “Fate and Finals” concert, featuring solo performances by the university's three champion student musicians, is part of a series of free concerts across the state.
The student orchestra will perform a flight of “unusual” and romantic selections, including Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 4 in F minor.
“This is one of the great show pieces for symphony orchestra,” said Maestro Wes Kenney, who will direct Tuesday's concert. “It's got a lot of big brass, lovely woodwinds and very strong-sounding strings.”
The four-part symphony begins with a complex first movement, followed by a romantic and melodic second, Kenney said. It finishes strong with unusual use of the strings, which are plucked in the third movement — a rare feature in the time period the piece was written — and a fast and fervent fourth movement.
“The last movement is unbelievably exciting,” Kenney said. “It has lots of fast notes, big splashes of color and it goes like lightening.”
Three student soloists, winners of the university's annual and highly competitive concerto competition, will also perform their own selections at the Valentine's Day concert.
Nathan Wilson on the saxophone will perform Rapsodie for Orchestra and Saxophone by Claude Debussy, a lighter piece inspired by the Impressionist art movement.
Violist Sabrina Romney will perform Paul Hindemith's Der Schwanendreher, which translates from German to mean “Swan Turner.” Violins and violas are excluded from the orchestra, highlighting the soloist against the darker tones of the cellos and basses.
“The solo violist gets to stand out a little more,” Romney said, who also emphasized the variety of the third movement, which will be performed on Tuesday. “It works really well as a show piece because you get to see both the fast technically difficult passages, as well as some of the slower, more lyrical soulful sections.”
Brianne Little, on flute, will lead Carl Reinecke's “Concerto for Flute and Orchestra in D Major” in her first solo performance in a concerto with an orchestra.
“I really love the piece I'm performing,” Little said. “It's very romantic. It's a piece where you can really be dramatic.”
The Colorado State University Symphony Orchestra is a student orchestra composed primarily of advanced music majors. Their talent and ability is apparent in the difficult repertoire that will be performed.
“Only the best of orchestras can attempt to play this symphonic tour-de force,” Kenney said of Tchaikovsky's fourth symphony. “We're excited to be up there and to be able to play.”
The “Fate and Finals” concert, featuring solo performances by the university's three champion student musicians, is part of a series of free concerts across the state.
The student orchestra will perform a flight of “unusual” and romantic selections, including Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 4 in F minor.
“This is one of the great show pieces for symphony orchestra,” said Maestro Wes Kenney, who will direct Tuesday's concert. “It's got a lot of big brass, lovely woodwinds and very strong-sounding strings.”
The four-part symphony begins with a complex first movement, followed by a romantic and melodic second, Kenney said. It finishes strong with unusual use of the strings, which are plucked in the third movement — a rare feature in the time period the piece was written — and a fast and fervent fourth movement.
“The last movement is unbelievably exciting,” Kenney said. “It has lots of fast notes, big splashes of color and it goes like lightening.”
Three student soloists, winners of the university's annual and highly competitive concerto competition, will also perform their own selections at the Valentine's Day concert.
Nathan Wilson on the saxophone will perform Rapsodie for Orchestra and Saxophone by Claude Debussy, a lighter piece inspired by the Impressionist art movement.
Violist Sabrina Romney will perform Paul Hindemith's Der Schwanendreher, which translates from German to mean “Swan Turner.” Violins and violas are excluded from the orchestra, highlighting the soloist against the darker tones of the cellos and basses.
“The solo violist gets to stand out a little more,” Romney said, who also emphasized the variety of the third movement, which will be performed on Tuesday. “It works really well as a show piece because you get to see both the fast technically difficult passages, as well as some of the slower, more lyrical soulful sections.”
Brianne Little, on flute, will lead Carl Reinecke's “Concerto for Flute and Orchestra in D Major” in her first solo performance in a concerto with an orchestra.
“I really love the piece I'm performing,” Little said. “It's very romantic. It's a piece where you can really be dramatic.”
The Colorado State University Symphony Orchestra is a student orchestra composed primarily of advanced music majors. Their talent and ability is apparent in the difficult repertoire that will be performed.
“Only the best of orchestras can attempt to play this symphonic tour-de force,” Kenney said of Tchaikovsky's fourth symphony. “We're excited to be up there and to be able to play.”
