PCO Performance Dates – 2007-08 season

Except where noted, performances of the Pomona College Orchestra are in Bridges Hall of Music, otherwise known as "Little Bridges," on the Pomona College campus at 150 East Fourth Street. Admission is always free of charge, and more information about directions or parking can be obtained by calling (909) 621-8155.

 

First program

Saturday, October 13, at 8:00; Sunday, October 14, at 3:00

featuring Francisco Castillo, oboe, faculty guest soloist

  • Mendelssohn: “Hebrides” overture (or “Fingal’s Cave”)
  • Martinů: Oboe Concerto
  • Beethoven: Symphony #6 in F major, “Pastorale”

 

The PCO opens its season by examining the various ways that music can take on a pastoral character.  Mendelssohn’s lyrical and elegant overture depicts the calm and turmoil of  sea waters in the North Atlantic.  Martinů’s oboe concerto lacks any specific program, but is predominantly lyrical and lighthearted throughout.  The most famous pastoral work of all, of course, is Beethoven’s sixth symphony, often cited as a breakthrough in narrative instrumental music, with its reputation cemented in Disney’s original Fantasia film.

 

 

Second program

Saturday, December 8, at 8:00; Sunday, December 9, at 8:00 (note special time)

SPECIAL LOCATION: Garrison Theater, at the corner of Dartmouth Ave. and Tenth St. in Claremont

  • Sibelius: Symphony #7 in C
  • Sibelius: Symphony #1 in E minor

 

We commemorate the 50th anniversary year of the death of Jean Sibelius by performing his first and last symphonies, providing some perspective on his remarkable evolution as a symphonic composer.  The Seventh is a reserved, at times highly abstract work, nostalgic and deeply personal.  About 25 minutes long, it flows in one continuous movement through various sections, morphing seamlessly from one section to the next in an organic, fascinating process.  The First, written in 1899, is very much in the nineteenth-century mold.  Fans of symphonies by Tchaikovsky or Dvořák will recognize some similar features, and all listeners will be swept away by the drama, extroverted use of the orchestra, and earnest lyricism. 

 

 

Third program

Saturday, March 1, at 8:00; Sunday, March 2, at 3:00

 

featuring Yoon-Chan Kim ’10, winner of the 2007 PCO Concerto Competition

  • Mozart: Flute Concerto #1 in G, K. 313/285c
  • Brahms: Symphony #1 in C minor, op. 68

 

 

Fourth program

Friday, April 25, at 8:00; Sunday, April 27, at 3:00

featuring the Pomona College Choir, Prof. Donna M. Di Grazia, director;

and Holly Shaw Price, soprano; TBA, alto; Andrew Crane, tenor; and Gregory Geiger, bass

  • Mozart: Mass in C (“Coronation”), K. 317
  • Holst: Venus, the Bringer of Peace (from The Planets)
  • Poulenc: Gloria

 

The Choir and Orchestra present their annual collaboration with two sacred choral works separated by nearly 200 years.  Mozart’s “Coronation” mass is among his most polished early works, written as part of his duties as court organist in Salzburg while he was still in his early 20s.  Poulenc’s Gloria was commissioned in 1960 by the Serge Koussevitzky foundation in memory of the great composer and his wife and premiered by the Boston Symphony, of which Koussevitzky had been music director for quarter century.  As an interlude, the orchestra will present one of the most serene and atmospheric works of the twentieth century, the second movement of Holst’s well-known orchestral masterpiece.

 

 

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