This preview has been provided by the Philharmonic Association.
by Hugh Partridge
The songs are from the opera Carmen, due to our collaboration this season with the North Carolina Opera Company. Timothy Myers, their Artistic Director, has visited all of our ensembles to conduct and talk to our musicians about the opera Carmen. Therefore, our last piece on the program November 20 at 3:00 in Meymandi Concert Hall will be selections from Carmen by Bizet with guest conductor Timothy Myers. Carmen is one of the most beloved of operas. This is certainly not due to its story line, the proverbial love triangle. As Maestro Myers jokingly told our musicians, it ends, like most operas, with someone dying. But its popularity is due to the wonderful music and I am certain most of you will leave the concert hall with the tunes resounding in your head for days.
Now talk about popularity! Everyone knows the name of one ballet, yes, it’s The Nutcracker by Tchaikovsky. We will be performing excerpts from the ballet (not the Nutcracker Suite) due to our partnership with the International Ballet Company in our Holiday Concert. I think they have selected some of the most beautiful music in the ballet.
I start every season of the Triangle Youth Philharmonic with a work by one of our great classical composers. This season we will be performing one of Beethoven’s phenomenal symphonies, No. 8. In the first rehearsal I asked the orchestra what one word came to mind when they heard Beethoven’s name. A young man in the viola section blurted out, “insanity.” How true, the thin line between genius and insanity! This symphony is full of both, and I think the musicians of TYP have grown to admire the work and will bring out all that Beethoven intended. I am certain that you will be thrilled by a performance of young energetic eager musicians doing their best to bring Beethoven alive for you. This is no song and dance!
