“MUSIC AND ART”— PACIFIC SYMPHONY’S LAST CAFÉ LUDWIG CONCERT OF 2010-11—EXPLORES THE INSPIRATION BEHIND WORKS BY RAVEL, ADOLPHE AND MUSSORGSKY (ENHANCED BY VISUAL IMAGES)
Music and art and mom—it’s the perfect way to celebrate Mother’s Day (May 8)!
Pacific Symphony’s final Café Ludwig concert of the season, led by piano sensation and host Orli Shaham, offers an aural palette of chamber music to illustrate the connection between “Music and Art,” with visual images projected above the stage. This program begins with Ravel’s “Suite from Mother Goose,” and all the emotional enchantment and purity of the fairy tales that inspired it, as it demands the precision of two pianists Shaham and the Symphony’s pianist Sandra Matthews (four hands) at one piano. Next, Bruce Adolphe’s “The Tiger’s Ear,” composed as a reaction to six expressionist paintings, highlights the talents of principal musicians Mercedes Smith (flute), Jessica Pearlman (oboe), Concertmaster Raymond Kobler (violin), Robert Becker (viola) and Timothy Landauer (cello); for this piece, the composer himself provides personal insights from the stage.
Finally, Shaham performs Mussorgsky’s momentous “Pictures at an Exhibition,” considered one of the greatest showpieces in piano literature―a musical evocation of his late friend’s paintings.
The concert takes place Sunday, May 8, at 3 p.m., in the Samueli Theater (next to the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall), transformed into an intimate café where patrons enjoy coffee, treats and timeless classics. Tickets are $57 and $73; for more information or to purchase tickets, call (714) 755-5799 or visit www.PacificSymphony.org.
