This preview has been provided by the Chamber Orchestra of the Triangle.
When The Chamber Orchestra of the Triangle takes the stage on Sunday, January 15th, they will indeed open a musical chest of treasures! (3:00 pm, Carolina Theatre of Durham).
Opening with Richard Wagner’s “Siegfried Idyll” an originally hidden treasure unfolds, a piece of music called the greatest musical gift of love ever composed. Wagner led a chamber orchestra in his home performing this jewel as a private gift in 1869 for his beloved wife Cosima, after the birth of their son Siegfried. He did not intend to publish it, but the adoration with which friends greeted it – and his constant shortage of funds – led him to publish. It remains to this day one of the most exquisite portraits of love in the concert halls of the world.
The orchestra is performing “Siegfried” as a memorial tribute to Duke University Professor Emeritus Horst Meyer, one of the region’s most revered and stalwart patrons of the arts, of the Duke Gardens, of WUNC radio and television production, of our universities, our museums, campaigns for human rights and the battle against AIDS. Professor Meyer selected one of his favorites for this season at Maestro Muti’s request, not knowing he would not live to hear the performance. This is another gift to our region from a man who quietly and anonymously did so much to bring beauty to us all.
Gian Carlo Menotti’s “Sebastian” is a suite created by Menotti from his ballet of the same name, composed in 1944. Rarely performed as ballet or concert suite, these seven pieces are jewels of the 20th century “…filled with gorgeous melodies, well orchestrated and extremely imaginative” (quoted from Lorenzo Muti). A friend and protégé of Menotti from Spoleto, Italy, Maestro Muti conducted this with great orchestras across Europe, often under the watchful eye and ear of Menotti himself. Now the Triangle will be treated to his nuanced and masterful interpretation as Muti leads the orchestra in what he confesses has become “one of my favorite compositions”.
The final “hidden treasure” is “The Peacock” song with its multiplicity of variations composed in 1939 by the Hungarian composer Zoltan Kodaly. The piece places the composer in a long line of composers who reinterpreted the traditional music of their homelands into breathtaking orchestral compositions. Taking a traditional folksong, Kodaly created a tour de force for orchestra, a piece at once “vivid, dynamic, approachable, electrifying”. Like the male peacock, the orchestra in this composition is allowed to dramatically strut its stuff.
Sunday, January 15, 2017, 3pm
Carolina Theatre of Durham
Fletcher Hall
309 W. Morgan St.
Durham, NC 27701
Box Office: (919) 560-3030
Tickets available in advance or at the door
$30.00/adult – inclusive of taxes and fees
FREE to students of every age
About the Chamber Orchestra of the Triangle:
Since 1982, The Chamber Orchestra of the Triangle has been received with genuine respect and enthusiasm by music critics and the community. Today, it is considered one of the finest professional ensembles in North Carolina and the Southeast. With its elite corps of musicians, the orchestra continues to present a well-chosen and unusual repertoire that delights audiences and evokes high praise from critics. That standard of excellence has become the hallmark of the orchestra and has distinguished each succeeding season. The 2016-2017 series marks its 34th concert season. For more information, visit www.thecot.org or call 919.360.3382
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We are so confident in this orchestra, we provide any new-comer a complementary ticket because we know they will return as happily paying patrons. In the past ten years our audiences have grown from an average of 100 to an average of 600–an extraordinary statement about the quality of music created by this outstanding ensemble guided by the effervescent Lorenzo Muti. To emphasize its commitment to engaging young people with great classical music, the orchestra provides free seating at every concert to students of all ages.
