CAPE ANN SYMPHONY
THE 64th SEASON: A SEASON TO REMEMBER
Yoichi Udagawa, Music Director
The sultry concert program for the Symphonic Spectacular concert features passionate masterpieces including Modest Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition,George Gershwin’s An American in Paris and Maurice Ravel’s Boléro. Members of the orchestra are featured in the classic works. Modest Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition is a tour de force as orchestrated by Bolero composer Maurice Ravel. Mussorgsky originally composed Pictures for piano only and wrote the piece in memory of his close friend and artist Victor Hartmann who died suddenly at the age of 39. An exhibition of more than 400 of Hartmann’s works was mounted in the Academy of Fine Arts in Saint Petersburg which Mussorgsky attended. Pictures at an Exhibition evokes a person strolling through the exhibit and stopping along the way to contemplate the various paintings and drawings on view.
Percussionist Beth Munn Griffin
CAS Lead Trumpet Player Randy O’Keefe
A “promenade” theme is announced by the trumpet in the opening bars and recurs throughout the piece. Cape Ann Symphony’s own lead trumpet Randy O’Keefe opens the concert with this promenade theme, “Every serious orchestral trumpet player practices Pictures at an Exhibition with the hope that one day they will perform it with an orchestra. Ravel’s transcription of Mussorgsky’s masterpiece is exciting and challenging and I am delighted to have the opportunity to bring it to the Cape Ann Symphony’s audience.” Wakefield resident Randy O’Keefe has been a member of the Cape Ann Symphony Trumpet Section since 2010. He has a degree in Music Education from Ohio University and earned a Master’s Degree in Trumpet Performance from the University of Notre Dame with additional advanced studies in Music Education at the Hartt School of Music. He has also studied Trumpet with several Trumpet virtuosos, most recently with Charles Schlueter. O’Keefe is the Music Department Head and HS Band Director for the Masconomet Regional School District. He also plays Principal Trumpet with the Melrose Symphony. Previously he played Principal Trumpet with both the 567th and 555th Air Force Bands.
Written in 1928 George Gershwin’s An American in Paris is a jazz-influenced symphonic poem. It conjures up the sights and energy of Paris in the 1920s. In the program notes Gershwin wrote: “My purpose here is to portray the impression of an American visitor in Paris as he strolls about the city and listens to various street noises and absorbs the French atmosphere.” He scored the piece for the standard instruments of a symphony orchestra plus celesta, saxophones and automobile horns. He brought back some Parisian taxi horns for the premiere which took place on December 13, 1928 in Carnegie Hall, with the New York Philharmonic. Cape Ann Symphony percussionist Beth Munn Griffin plays the taxi horns in the Symphonic Spectacular. According to Munn Griffin, “Playing percussion is both challenging and fun. There are so many instruments in this category that it is impossible to name, let alone, master all of them! The colors and sound effects produced by percussion instruments are integral to many symphonic works. The tuned taxi horns, used by Gershwin in An American in Paris are a fun example of the diverse sounds offered by percussion instruments. I am pleased to play the taxi horns in the Cape Ann Symphony concert and hope their unique sound will take you to the busy streets of Paris, France, in the 1920s.” North Reading resident Beth Munn Griffin teaches private piano and percussion lessons in her North Reading studio as well as teaching classical percussion and drumset for the after-school program in the Andover, MA, public school system. Prior to opening her studio, Munn Griffin was the Stringing (keymaking) Department Head and Materials Manager for Brannen Brothers Flutemakers in Woburn, MA. She received her Bachelor of Music Degree in Music Education from the University of New Hampshire and continued music study at the Longy School of Music and at Berklee. Beth also has studied classical percussion, piano, jazz vibes, jazz piano and drumset privately with many prominent teachers.
Founded in Gloucester in 1951, the Cape Ann Symphony is a professional orchestra of over 70 players from throughout the New England area. They perform a subscription season of four concerts per year plus several Pops and youth concerts. The Cape Ann Symphony concerts are held at the Manchester-Essex High School auditorium on 36 Lincoln Street in Manchester-by-the-Sea, MA.
The Cape Ann Symphony’s Symphonic Spectacular is Saturday, September 26, 2015 at 8:00 pm at the Manchester-Essex High School Auditorium on 36 Lincoln Street in Manchester-by-the-Sea, MA. Manchester-Essex High School Auditorium is handicapped accessible. Ticket prices are $40 for adults, $35 for senior citizens, $5 for Youth (18 years old and under). For information, call 978-281-0543 or visit www.capeannsymphony.org
Good Morning Gloucester 