Glacier Symphony & Chorale

MWIV: Violin Virtuoso and Beethoven

February 25, 2012
February 26, 2012
Young Japanese violin virtuoso Mayuko Kamio, winner of the Gold Medal in the 2007 Tchaikovsky Violin Competition, joins the Glacier Symphony for a performance of Tchaikovsky’s popular and fiendishly difficult Violin Concerto in D Major (1878). A work of soulful lyricism, heroic themes and violin pyrotechnics, this concerto is a trademark of many world class virtuosi and Kamio is no exception as she brings her consummate musical skills, interpretive genius and mastery of the instrument to our stage for this exciting event. The symphony will also present the world premiere of Rivers Rushing Forward, a new work commissioned for the GSC by Vancouver, Canada composer, Mark Armanini, a long time colleague and collaborator with Maestro Zoltek. Mr. Armanini has amassed an impressive body of work showcasing his musical explorations where he endeavors to bring understanding of our various world cultures through the fusion of musical languages. His work with Chinese, Asian and Middle Eastern musicians and musical systems has had a direct and lasting influence on his compositional style. Past compositions by Armanini performed by the Glacier Symphony under Maestro Zoltek’s direction include Of Wind and Water … (Chinese Pipa and Orchestra – 1999) and Rain in the Forest (Yanquin and Orchestra – 2005). Ludwig van Beethoven’s magnificent Symphony No. 7 in A Major (1811) was composed 200 years ago in the Bohemian spa town of Teplice. The work still possesses freshness, inner soulfulness and an individual revolutionary dynamism that eschews explanation. It is often cited– along with Symphony Nos. 3, 5 and 9– as the composer’s greatest achievement in the genre. The symphony’s formal musical structure is taught and its motivic design is propelled by a rhythmic integrity that is sustained throughout the work culminating in one of the most electrifying of Beethoven finales! Although all of Beethoven’s symphonies possess both artistic challenges and never -ending musical gratification, the Symphony No. 7 has a pure structural design that is almost perfect. The first movement contains a jaunty main motif that is masterfully woven throughout the orchestra. The second movement has a persistent throbbing ostinato rhythm that Beethoven floats over an unbelievably beautiful melody. The scherzo’s heroic undertones, and the finale’s “Bacchic Fury” prompted Wagner to call this symphony the “Apotheosis of the Dance.” And it’s true… it’s a symphony that is super charged and always exciting to conduct!

Visit Mayuko Kamio’s website
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MWV: Echoes of Heaven and Earth

March 17, 2012
March 18, 2012
A multi-media intergalactic musical voyage conducted by James Stanard will reflect the beauty of the earth and the splendor of the heavens. The 70 voice Glacier Chorale and 30 voice Chamber Singers will perform music of Samuel Barber, Sergei Rachmaninoff and Zoltan Kodaly as well that of American popular composers: Henry Mancini, Burton Lane and Hoagy Carmichael. Included are beloved ballads such as “Star Dust”, “Moon River” and “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”.

Joining the Chorale and Chamber Singers will be guest soprano, Karen Larson McMullen, a former member of both ensembles, who was a featured soloist in several past GSC concerts including Handel’s Messiah and the 2008 production of Bizet’s Carmen. Also on the concert will be the newly formed male quartet, “The Great Pretenders” singing a rousing Western classic, “Ghost Riders in the Sky”.
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MWVI: Rach 3 Spring

April 28, 2012
April 29, 2012
Our season finale begins with Gustav Mahler’s exquisite Adagietto from Symphony No. 5 (1902) that expresses love for his wife, Alma, and which is possibly his most beautiful and serenely passionate musical utterance. This rhapsodic movement has often been played separately and stands on its own wonderfully as deeply heartfelt music. It expresses an almost transcendental– but all too human longing–and is truly a unique and unabashedly soulful work of love music from the early 20th century. It is scored for strings and harp only and is perhaps Mahler’s most famous single piece of music. Our program features the Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor composed in 1909 by Russian composer Sergei Rachmaninoff, the great master of Late-Romanticism. It will be expertly interpreted and passionately evoked by Croatian pianist, Martina Filjak, who recently won the Cleveland International Piano Competition. Rachmaninoff’s seminal work in this genre defines the mettle of a concert pianist. It should be approached with the utmost attention to detail and musical expression, both of which need to be extremely well developed and ably transmitted by the soloist. The concerto has a reputation as the most demanding in the standard repertoire. The technical demands are awesome, but must serve the musical dimension. Martina Filjak is a young artist possessing a deep expressive understanding, passionate intensity and great technical command of the instrument. The season will be concluded with Robert Schumann’s Symphony No. 1 in Bb Major “Spring.” Composed in 1841 shortly after his marriage to Clara Wieck, the work is the first of four symphonies, and was in fact Schumann’s first completed orchestral piece penned during his turbulent emotional life. Up until that time he composed exclusively for solo piano and songs—and mostly for Clara. Mendelssohn conducted the work’s premier in 1841 in Leipzig. Although the symphony shows signs of Schumann’s inexperience, especially in the orchestration, it abounds in contrast, and is by turns exuberant and lyrical. The melodic writing is consistently superior without compromising the sense of symphonic narrative and drive, and its organization and structure is at times brilliant

Visit Martina Filjak’s website
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In The Spotlight

September 02, 2011
May 11, 2012
May 12, 2012
Chamber Music Concert with select Symphony soloists and ensembles. Join us in Bigfork and Whitefish.
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