BY KAREN BOSSICK
Can you believe it? It’s symphony time already.
The 2017 Sun Valley Summer Symphony season will kick off on Monday, July 24, with its In Focus Series.
Get ready to experience the soul of Russia.
Russian music will be the theme of this year’s free chamber music concerts, which run through Friday, July 28. The series will include the music of Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, Prokofiev, Mussorgsky and Shostakovitch.
“I’ve had a great passion for Russian music ever since I fell in love with the Tchaikovsky symphonies as a teenager,” said Symphony Music Director Alasdair Neale. “There’s something about the intensity of the Russian musical soul that’s always grabbed me—the way it embraces the extreme of emotion, both the light and the dark, with unflinching honesty.”
Here’s a look at this week’s concerts, all of which start at 6 p.m.—a half-hour earlier than symphony concerts—in the Sun Valley Pavilion.
- Monday, July 24: Symphony violinist Juliana Athayde and pianist Peter Henderson will be featured in Prokofiev’s Sonata No. 2 in D Major for Violin and Piano. Prokofiev arranged it while living in a remote shelter for Soviet artists in the Ural Mountains during World War II.
Tchaikovsky’s Serenade for String Orchestra, Opus 48, will also be featured. Composed in 1880, the first movement imitates Mozart’s style.
- Wednesday, July 26: Pianist Conrad Tao, a 23-year-old composer who has been featured on NPR and in The New York Times, will perform Shostakovich’s Concerto No. 1 in C Minor for Piano. The performance will also feature trumpet player Andrew McCandless.
Shostakovich wrote the concerto while experimenting with a neo-baroque combination of instruments. The trumpet is along for the ride, sometimes taking the form of scornful-like interjections.
Cellist Amos Yang and piano Peter Henderson will be featured on Rachmaninoff’s Sonata in G Minor for Cello and Piano.
- Friday, July 28: Pianist Conrad Tao will return to the stage to perform Mussorsky’s popular “Pictures at an Exhibition.” The piece—Mussorgsky’s most famous piano composition—has become a showpiece for virtuoso pianists.
Also on the musical menu: Shostakovich’s Chamber Symphony.
The Symphony will hold its benefit gala—An Evening with Diana Krall—at 6:30 p.m. Sunday, July 30, at the Pavilion. For tickets, go to www.svsummersymphony.org.
The regular orchestra season will follow on Monday, July 31, and run through Aug. 17 when it will close with Verdi’s “Requiem.”