Cedar Rapids, IA – Orchestra Iowa presents “A Slavic Celebration”, Saturday, May 12 at 7:30 p.m. at Sinclair Auditorium on the Coe College campus, and Sunday, May 13 at 2:30 p.m. at West High School in Iowa City.
Single tickets for “A Slavic Celebration”, sponsored by GreatAmerica Leasing Corporation, are $20-$40 and may be purchased online at www.orchestraiowa.org or by calling 319.366.8203 or 800.369.TUNE (8863). Tickets are also available through the Orchestra Iowa Ticket Office, 119 Third Avenue SE, Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Concluding the 2011-2012 Classical Series will be a celebration of Slavic music. Antonín Dvořák’s
Slavonic Dance No. 8 is from a series of pieces inspired by Brahms'
Hungarian Dances. They are lively and nationalistic and among the composer's most memorable works. Béla Bartók’s
Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta has been used frequently in film. Popular as it may be in cinema, it is truly a piece that is meant to be heard live, as the strings are divided into two groups and placed antiphonally on opposite sides of the stage. Following a series of works denounced by the Communist Party, Dmitri Shostakovich delivered a rousing symphony that not only pleased critics, but audiences at the premier gave it an hour-long ovation. What on the surface seemed to celebrate Stalin's regime may have in fact contained hidden messages protesting the very system it seemed to support. Despite its meaning, the symphony is grand and beautiful, and a fitting close to the season.
Join Maestro Hankewich for “Insight”, a pre-concert discussion, beginning at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday and 1:30 p.m. on Sunday. “Insight” is open to all patrons in attendance.
Founded in April 1921, Orchestra Iowa is one of the oldest symphony orchestras in continuous operation west of the Mississippi River. Its 82 professional musicians perform more than 120 public performances throughout Eastern Iowa each year, many of which can be heard on Iowa Public Radio and seen on Iowa Public Television.
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A Slavic Celebration
Saturday, May 12 at 7:30 p.m., Sinclair Auditorium, Cedar Rapids
1220 First Avenue NE, Cedar Rapids, IA 52402
Sunday, May 13 at 2:30 p.m., West High School, Iowa City
2901 Melrose Avenue, Iowa City
Tickets required, call 800.369.TUNE
www.orchestraiowa.org
Orchestra Iowa
Timothy Hankewich, music director
Program
Dvořák – Slavonic Dance Op. 46, No. 8
Bartók – Music for Strings, Percussion, & Celesta
Shostakovich – Symphony No. 5