Sunday, February 24, 2019 - 3:00pm
2365 Pine Ave, Vero Beach, FL 32960
MARSHALL Aue! (World Premiere)*
HINDEMITH Symphonic Metamorphosis of Themes by Carl Maria von Weber
FRANCK Symphony in D
In this BIG year for your SCSO, we invite you to join us for our 10 Year Anniversary Gala, celebrating ten years of extraordinary music-making! Aaron Collins reached out to our incredible musicians and asked for input for this special concert. The musicians selected a powerful program featuring works by Hindemith and Franck, along with a World Premiere from SCSO favorite, Christopher Marshall. The concert opens with the World Premiere of Aue! For three years, New Zealander Christopher Marshall lived in the idyllic surroundings of Samoa, and his piece conjures up its endlessly fascinating atmosphere and sounds, its hypnotic languor, and popular dances. From there, we dive right into Hindemith's masterpiece, Symphonic Metamorphosis of Themes by Carl Maria von Weber. The Symphonic Metamorphosis is, quite simply, a “fun” piece of music, a pouring forth of high spirits and joyous sounds. Even the title is a joke, of sorts, its grandiose verbosity belied by the playful puckishness of the music it describes. Hindemith used tunes from Weber’s piano works and a melody from his Overture to Turandot. He deliberately picked melodies that were not, as he put it, “Weber at his best.” This gave him more latitude for play. As the word “metamorphosis” implies, the melodies, while recognizable, are expanded and transformed with imaginative harmonies and orchestral colors. The concert closes with Cesar Franck’s richly romantic and heroic Symphony in D minor, one of the most beautiful symphonies in the repertoire. Renowned artist, Christopher Maslow will reveal a newly commissioned piece of art commemorating the Space Coast Symphony's 10th Anniversary.
Artist Information
Christopher Marshall is based in Orlando, Florida. In the years since his arrival in Orlando Florida he has continued to carve out a successful freelance career, securing commissions from top performers, including, most recently Summit Brass, Gail Robertson and Richard Stoezel. His music has featured on concert programmes in such venues as Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center and the Barbican in London. It his been performed from Austria to Australia, from Sweden to Singapore to Saudi Arabia. This summer alone will see premieres in New Zealand, Philadelphia and Denver, as well as here in Melbourne.
Born in France of New Zealand parents, Christopher received his early music education in New South Wales, Australia. He holds a Masters Degree in Music with Honors from the University of Auckland, New Zealand and a Fellowship in Composition from Trinity College, London. He has twice held the Mozart Fellowship at the University of Otago, New Zealand and in 1996 was Fulbright Composer in Residence at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York. Prior to taking up these positions he spent three years teaching and composing in the South Pacific island nation, Samoa, and for ten years prior to that taught English to Indochinese refugees in Auckland.
Many influences can be heard in Christopher Marshall's works, from Bach and Brahms to traditional Polynesian music, particularly Maori chant. The foundation of his style is his strong belief that music is primarily a means of expressive communication with the listener. Singable, memorable melody coupled with a subtle use of the tonal harmonic system is central, but is only effective when integrated into a convincing formal structure.
Christopher chose to spend the last seven years as Composer in Residence and Professor of Composition at UCF, singlehandedly building up a highly successful composition studio from scratch. Students of this program have won prestigious national competitions and, even more remarkably have had works published by national firms. This summer, after much deliberation Christopher left the music department at UCF in order to devote more time to his composing.
Christopher Maslow is a Miami-based fine artist whose creative practice centers primarily around painting and sculpture. A former Los Angeles resident, Maslow graduated in 2003 from The Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising with a degree in product development. He quickly grew into a notable clothing designer and produced for multiple labels in Southern California. A few years into his career as a fashion designer, Maslow found himself gravitating towards street art. Subsequently, after many years of experimentation with multi-media, Maslow realized a greater calling to fine art. Since his transition onto canvas, Maslow has shown artwork in galleries across the United States and has experienced equal success in curation as well. Maslow has been a resident artist at Viophilia since November 2013, and simultaneously runs a studio-gallery in his hometown of Melbourne, Florida.