PACIFIC SYMPHONY’S “PICTURES AT AN EXHIBITION” EXPLORES MUSSORSKY’S MASTERPIECE AND FEATURES PIANIST
JEAN-EFFLAM BAVOUZET PERFORMING RAVEL’S PIANO CONCERTO
—It’s a mesmerizing journey of grand proportions for Pacific Symphony’s second concert of the season and the first of its Music Unwound series. The evening, conducted by Music Director Carl St.Clair, begins as the audience is led to the sunny, exuberant landscape of Ravel’s Piano Concerto for a work heavily influenced by jazz and performed with stylish grace by acclaimed French pianist Jean-Efflam Bavouzet.
The musical excursion—taking place Thursday-Saturday, Oct. 14-16, at 8 p.m., in the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall—continues into the interior of a Russian forest for Prokofiev’s beloved “Peter and the Wolf.”
This music, which has long delighted and inspired children and adults, is set against the visual backdrop of the Academy Award-winning film, “Peter and the Wolf.” It is in Russia, that the audience encounters Mussorgsky’s showpiece for virtuoso pianists, “Pictures at an Exhibition.”
As part of the Music Unwound experience, patrons are invited to prepare their own visual and aural palettes for the works by Ravel, Prokofiev and Mussorgsky by visiting an interactive art gallery in the lobby.
On the main floor, more than 20 Apple iPads allow the novice or expert to create their own musical compositions by drawing shapes, playing with color and tapping on virtual pianos.
On the second floor, a mini art walk of paintings inspired by music, featuring two established Laguna Beach artists, September McGee and Marc Whitney, offer another kind of “pictures at an exhibition.”
A preview talk with Alan Chapman begins at 7 p.m. Tickets are $25-$105; for more information or to purchase tickets, call (714) 755-5799 or visit www.pacificsymphony.org.
