New Century Chamber Orchestra at St. Stephen's Episcopal Church, October 3, 2021

New Century Chamber Orchestra Returns!
St. Stephen's Episcopal Church
3 Bayview Ave, Belvedere, CA 94920 USA
3:00 PM, Sunday, October 3, 2021

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• Mark-Anthony Turnage (b. 1960): “Lament” for solo violin and string orchestra (U.S. Premiere, New Century Co-Commission);
• Mieczysław Weinberg: Concertino for Violin and Strings, Op. 42;
• Josef Suk: Serenade for Strings, Op.6

[3:02 PM] {Welcome & announcements from Richard Lonsdorf, NCCO Executive Director; performers out}
[3:05 PM] {Welcome and opening remarks from Daniel Hope, NCCO Music Director}

Mark-Anthony Turnage (b. 1960): “Lament” for solo violin and string orchestra (U.S. Premiere†, New Century Co-Commission) (2021)

1. [3:08 PM] opus
   [3:21 PM] {work ends}

[3:22 PM] {Programming remarks from Daniel Hope, NCCO Music Director}

Mieczysław Weinberg (1919-1996): Concertino for Violin and Strings, Op. 42 (1948)

1. [3:25 PM] Allegretto cantabile
2. [3:31 PM] Lento
3. [3:37 PM] Allegro moderato poco rubato
   [3:41 PM] {work ends; pause to rearrange the stage positions of the players}

[3:43 PM] {Final program remarks from Daniel Hope, NCCO Music Director}

Josef Suk (1874-1935): Serenade for Strings in E flat major, Op.6 (1892)

1. [3:46 PM] Andante con moto
2. [3:50 PM] Allegro ma non troppo e grazioso
3. [3:56 PM] Adagio
4. [4:05 PM] Allegro giocoso, ma non troppo presto
   [4:13 PM] {show ends; long ovation; no Encore}

New Century Chamber Orchestra

• Hrabba Atladottir: violin II;
• Stephanie Bibbo: violin II;
• Ivo Bokulić: viola;
• Robin Bonnell: cello;
• Michelle Djokic: cello;
• Jenny Douglass: viola;
• William Everett: contrabass;
• Eric Gaenslen: cello;
• Candace Guirao: violin II, principal;
• Daniel Hope: violin, concertmaster;
• Alexandra Leem: viola
• Anthony Manzo: contrabass, principal;
• Michelle Maruyama: violin II;
• Isaac Melamed: cello, guest principal;
• Deborah Tien Price: violin II;
• Cassandra Lynne Richburg: viola, guest principal;
• Nicole Sauder: violin, associate concertmaster;
• Karen Shinozaki Sor: violin;
• Iris Stone: violin;
• Michael Yokas: violin.

† This weekend was the premiere for Lament, but today was the fourth performance, preceded by the shows in Palo Alto, Berkeley, and San Francisco over the past few nights. I thought the piece was interesting enough, but would rank it behind the other two works on the program in terms of my enjoyment.

Weinberg's Concertino was the highlight of the show. As Hope commented in his remarks, Weinberg is an extraordinary talent, and we are lucky that his music is becoming more available. The first movement ended with a rather startling cadenza: quite unexpected, and very passionate. The slow middle movement featured a lot of rumbling bass from the low strings: perhaps that's the Russian influence showing? And the third movement was positively amazing: a double plus good romp with melody lines passing around the sections in a sort of call and response fashion, tied up at the end with another spotlight section for Hope.

Suk's piece was also very nice: Hope remarked that it was the most cheerful of all of Suk's pieces, and while I wouldn't call it a happy work, the second movement definitely had a cheery bounce.

Program Notes or program notes

No photos today, sorry!

Back to the previous event! ☸ Up to the 2021 yearbox! ☸ Up to the 2021 event list! ☸ On to the next event!