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SATURDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2024
7:30 pm | Port TheatrePRE-CONCERT TALKS: 6:30 PM

We launch the Symphony’s 30th “Pearl” Anniversary Season with the popular Dvořák Cello Concerto, featuring guest cellist and composer, Sointu Aalto . Tchaikovsky's most famous Symphony No. 6, known as The Pathétique, was originally named The Passionate.

CONDUCTOR: Cosette Justo Valdés

GUEST ARTISTS: Sointu Aalto Cello
Paige Pierce, Nanaimo Youth Poet Laureate

PROGRAMME

DVOŘÁK    Cello Concerto in B minor, Op. 104, B. 191

Sointu AALTO  uni vers uni World Premiere

TCHAIKOVSKY   Symphony No. 6, op.74 in B minor “The Pathétique”

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PRE-CONCERT TALK: 6:30 PM
CONCERT: 7:30 PM

What to wear? Be comfortable. Dress in a way that works for you. If you feel like dressing up, do it and you won’t be the only one, we promise. If you prefer to be more casual you will fit right in as well.

Beverages served prior to concert and during intermission. You can pre-order your beverage before the concert.


Mobile phones are allowed to be on but must be set to silent.


We welcome you to clap when you like what you hear.

VIS Orchestra

Sointu Aalto Cello

Paige Pierce, Nanaimo Youth Poet Laureate

PERFORMANCE SPONSOR

BUY TICKETS

PRE-CONCERT TALK: 6:30 PM
CONCERT: 7:30 PM

We launch the Symphony’s 30th “Pearl” Anniversary Season with the popular Dvořák Cello Concerto, featuring guest cellist and composer, Sointu Aalto . Tchaikovsky's most famous Symphony No. 6, known as The Pathétique, was originally named The Passionate.

CONDUCTOR:
Cosette Justo Valdés

GUEST ARTISTS:
Sointu Aalto Cello
Paige Pierce, Nanaimo Youth Poet Laureate

PROGRAMME

DVOŘÁK
Cello Concerto

Sointu AALTO
New Composition

TCHAIKOVSKY
Symphony No. 6, op.74 in B minor “The Pathétique”

Sointu Aalto Cello

Paige Pierce, Nanaimo Youth Poet Laureate

PERFORMANCE SPONSOR

A Few Fun Details...
What to Wear?
Be comfortable. Dress in a way that works for you. If you feel like dressing up, do it and you won’t be the only one, we promise. If you prefer to be more casual you will fit right in as well.
Beverages?
Beverages served prior to concert and during intermission. You can pre-order your beverage before the concert.
Mobile Phones?


Mobile phones are allowed to be on but must be set to silent.

Applause?


We welcome you to clap when you like what you hear.

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over 2,500 nine and  ten year old children each year.
Let’s welcome the symphony audiences of the future together!

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Antonin Leopold Dvořák
Composer

Antonín Leopold Dvořák (8 September 1841 – 1 May 1904) was a Czech composer, one of the first to achieve worldwide recognition. Following the Romantic-era nationalist example of his predecessor Bedřich Smetana, Dvořák frequently employed rhythms and other aspects of the folk music of Moravia and his native Bohemia. Dvořák’s own style has been described as “the fullest recreation of a national idiom with that of the symphonic tradition, absorbing folk influences and finding effective ways of using them”.

Dvořák displayed his musical gifts at an early age, being an apt violin student from age six. The first public performances of his works were in Prague in 1872 and, with special success, in 1873, when he was aged 31. Seeking recognition beyond the Prague area, he submitted a score of his First Symphony to a prize competition in Germany, but did not win, and the unreturned manuscript was lost until rediscovered many decades later. In 1874 he made a submission to the Austrian State Prize for Composition, including scores of two further symphonies and other works. Although Dvořák was not aware of it, Johannes Brahms was the leading member of the jury and was highly impressed. The prize was awarded to Dvořák in 1874 and again in 1876 and in 1877, when Brahms and the prominent critic Eduard Hanslick, also a member of the jury, made themselves known to him. Brahms recommended Dvořák to his publisher, Simrock, who soon afterward commissioned what became the Slavonic Dances, Op. 46. These were highly praised by the Berlin music critic Louis Ehlert in 1878, the sheet music (of the original piano 4-hands version) had excellent sales, and Dvořák’s international reputation was launched at last.

 

Read more on Wikipedia.org…

Sointu Aalto
Cellist & Composer

Sointu Aalto is a nineteen-year-old cellist and composer born in Finland and currently based in Montreal. She is currently studying cello at McGill University’s Schulich School of Music with Matt Haimovitz and composition with Nicole Lizée. In addition, she has a deep interest in philosophy and mathematics, which she studies on the side. Her compositions have been commissioned and performed by ensembles including Kymi Sinfonietta Orchestra in Finland, UltraViolet Ensemble in Edmonton, MATA festival in New York with Bergamot Quartet, New Music Edmonton, and Continuum Contemporary Music in Toronto. In 2022, her composition Trapdoors, Elliptical Paths that Guide Us Inward, Love, Observations in Population Dynamics, and the Semiotics of the Sky for orchestra and soloist won the third prize of the prestigious Uuno Klami composition competition for youth in Finland. The same year, she also won the Northern Alberta Concerto Competition and performed Lutoslawski’s Cello Concerto with the Edmonton Youth Orchestra. She was inspired to write a piano reduction of the concerto, which had never been done before and has attracted attention from cellists around the world.

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (7 May 1840 [O.S. 25 April] – 6 November [O.S. 25 October]1893), was a Russian composer of the romantic period, whose works are among the most popular music in the classical repertoire. He was the first Russian composer whose music made a lasting impression internationally, bolstered by his appearances as a guest conductor in Europe and the United States. He was honored in 1884 by Emperor Alexander III, and awarded a lifetime pension.

Although musically precocious, Tchaikovsky was educated for a career as a civil servant. There was scant opportunity for a musical career in Russia at that time and no system of public music education. When an opportunity for such an education arose, he entered the nascent Saint Petersburg Conservatory, from which he graduated in 1865. The formal Western-oriented teaching he received there set him apart from composers of the contemporary nationalist movement embodied by the Russian composers of The Five, with whom his professional relationship was mixed.

Read more on Wikipedia.org…

Paige Pierce
City of Nanaimo Youth Poet Laureate (2024-2026)

Paige Pierce is the City of Nanaimo’s Youth Poet Laureate (2024-2026) and will serve as a literary ambassador for young writers in the community. Paige has hosted a poetry summer camp and workshops, served as a judge for the Nanaimo Arts Council’s Ekphrastic competition, and appeared at many public events since being appointed to the position. She is also the author of eight published poetry books, including Losing Languages and Stomach Aches. Paige is in the final year of her Bachelor of Education degree and hopes to become a high school English and Social Studies teacher when she graduates.

Antonín Leopold Dvořák (8 September 1841 – 1 May 1904) was a Czech composer, one of the first to achieve worldwide recognition. Following the Romantic-era nationalist example of his predecessor Bedřich Smetana, Dvořák frequently employed rhythms and other aspects of the folk music of Moravia and his native Bohemia. Dvořák’s own style has been described as “the fullest recreation of a national idiom with that of the symphonic tradition, absorbing folk influences and finding effective ways of using them”.

Dvořák displayed his musical gifts at an early age, being an apt violin student from age six. The first public performances of his works were in Prague in 1872 and, with special success, in 1873, when he was aged 31. Seeking recognition beyond the Prague area, he submitted a score of his First Symphony to a prize competition in Germany, but did not win, and the unreturned manuscript was lost until rediscovered many decades later. In 1874 he made a submission to the Austrian State Prize for Composition, including scores of two further symphonies and other works. Although Dvořák was not aware of it, Johannes Brahms was the leading member of the jury and was highly impressed. The prize was awarded to Dvořák in 1874 and again in 1876 and in 1877, when Brahms and the prominent critic Eduard Hanslick, also a member of the jury, made themselves known to him. Brahms recommended Dvořák to his publisher, Simrock, who soon afterward commissioned what became the Slavonic Dances, Op. 46. These were highly praised by the Berlin music critic Louis Ehlert in 1878, the sheet music (of the original piano 4-hands version) had excellent sales, and Dvořák’s international reputation was launched at last.

 

Read more on Wikipedia.org…

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 Cello Concerto in B minor, Op. 104, B. 191
Antonín Dvořák

The Cello Concerto in B minor, Op. 104, B. 191, is the last solo concerto by Antonín Dvořák. It was written in 1894 for his friend, the cellist Hanuš Wihan, but was premiered in London on March 19, 1896, by the English cellist Leo Stern.

The piece is scored for a full romantic orchestra (with the exception of a 4th horn), containing two flutes (second doubling piccolo), two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, three horns, two trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, triangle (last movement only), and strings, and is in the standard three-movement concerto format:

  1. Allegro
  2. Adagio, ma non troppo
  3. Finale: Allegro moderato — Andante — Allegro vivo

Read more at wikipedia.org

Sointu Aalto
Cellist & Composer

Sointu Aalto is a nineteen-year-old cellist and composer born in Finland and currently based in Montreal. She is currently studying cello at McGill University’s Schulich School of Music with Matt Haimovitz and composition with Nicole Lizée. In addition, she has a deep interest in philosophy and mathematics, which she studies on the side. Her compositions have been commissioned and performed by ensembles including Kymi Sinfonietta Orchestra in Finland, UltraViolet Ensemble in Edmonton, MATA festival in New York with Bergamot Quartet, New Music Edmonton, and Continuum Contemporary Music in Toronto. In 2022, her composition Trapdoors, Elliptical Paths that Guide Us Inward, Love, Observations in Population Dynamics, and the Semiotics of the Sky for orchestra and soloist won the third prize of the prestigious Uuno Klami composition competition for youth in Finland. The same year, she also won the Northern Alberta Concerto Competition and performed Lutoslawski’s Cello Concerto with the Edmonton Youth Orchestra. She was inspired to write a piano reduction of the concerto, which had never been done before and has attracted attention from cellists around the world.

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (7 May 1840 [O.S. 25 April] – 6 November [O.S. 25 October]1893), was a Russian composer of the romantic period, whose works are among the most popular music in the classical repertoire. He was the first Russian composer whose music made a lasting impression internationally, bolstered by his appearances as a guest conductor in Europe and the United States. He was honored in 1884 by Emperor Alexander III, and awarded a lifetime pension.

Although musically precocious, Tchaikovsky was educated for a career as a civil servant. There was scant opportunity for a musical career in Russia at that time and no system of public music education. When an opportunity for such an education arose, he entered the nascent Saint Petersburg Conservatory, from which he graduated in 1865. The formal Western-oriented teaching he received there set him apart from composers of the contemporary nationalist movement embodied by the Russian composers of The Five, with whom his professional relationship was mixed.

Read more on Wikipedia.org…

Symphony No. 6 | The Pathétique Symphony
composed by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

The Symphony No. 6 in B minor, Op. 74, also known as the Pathétique Symphony, is Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky‘s final completed symphony, written between February and the end of August 1893. The composer entitled the work “The Passionate Symphony”, employing a Russian word, Патетическая (Pateticheskaya), meaning “passionate” or “emotional”, which was then translated into French as pathétique, meaning “solemn” or “emotive”.

The composer led the first performance in Saint Petersburg on 28 October [O.S. 16 October] of that year, nine days before his death. The second performance, conducted by Eduard Nápravník, took place 21 days later, at a memorial concert on 18 November [O.S. 6 November].[1][2] It included some minor corrections that Tchaikovsky had made after the premiere, and was thus the first performance of the work in the exact form in which it is known today. The first performance in Moscow was on 16 December [O.S. 4 December], conducted by Vasily Safonov.[3] It was the last of Tchaikovsky’s compositions premiered in his lifetime; his very last composition, the single-movement 3rd Piano Concerto, Op. 75, which was completed a short time before his death in October 1893, received a posthumous premiere.

Read more on Wikipedia.org

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symphony_No._6_(Tchaikovsky)