Get Ready for Flavors of France!

Jetting off to France on March 19, the Jackson Symphony Orchestra will present a program of French music that spans the period from the late 1800s to the mid 20th Century. The program is a mix of both familiar repertoire and lesser known works.

Included are two pieces that led up to the 20th Century — Hector Berlioz’ March to the Scaffold from Symphony Fantastique, a familiar piece to anyone who knows French music, and Georges Bizet’s Roma-Suite/Symphony. This music captures the lyricism of Bizet's music in much the same way as his popular opera, Carmen.

The next four compositions on the program — Claude Debussy’s orchestration of Erik Satie's piano piece Gymnopedie, Gabriel Urbain Fauré's Pavane and masterpieces by Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel — will bring a transition to the Impressionist period and beyond.

“Fauré's Pavane is to many the most beautiful and sublime piece of music ever written,” said Music Director Stephen Osmond.

The Debussy selection, Nocturnes, isn't as well known as his Afternoon of a Faun or La Mer but the beauty of the music is no less profound, Osmond said.

The program will conclude with La Valse, Ravel's interpretation of the collapse of post-romantic Europe. Ravel described La Valse with the following preface to the score: "Through whirling clouds, waltzing couples may be faintly distinguished. The clouds gradually scatter: one sees at letter A an immense hall peopled with a whirling crowd. The scene is gradually illuminated. The light of the chandeliers bursts forth at the fortissimo letter B. Set in an imperial court, about 1855."

“The evening will transport the listener from the diabolical to the ethereal and many colorful stops in between,” Osmond said.
Titled Flavors of France, this is the 4th concert in the JSO’s 2010-2011 Subscription Concert Series. The 2011-2012 program will be announced at this concert. The 5th and final concert of this season will be on May 7 and will feature the premiere of Bruce Brown’s latest opus. Brown is JSO’s Composer-in-Residence. Also on the program May 7 are Pyotr Illyich Tchaikovsky’s Capriccio Italien, Joseph Haydn’s Sinfonia Concertante and Charles Griffes’ Poem for Flute and Orchestra. Several JSO members will perform solos, including principal flutist Richard Sherman.

Both concerts begin at 8 p.m. at the Potter Center Music Hall at Jackson Community College.

The March 19 concert is sponsored by Great Lakes Home Health and Hospice and the May 7 concert is sponsored by Willis & Jurasek, CPAs & Consultants. Guest artist sponsor is Melling Automotive.

An after-concert party, Une Soiree en France, will be held at Johnstone Supply, 903 Belden Road, immediately following the March 19 concert. Erin Mazur and Marco Pullan are sponsoring late-night refreshments ala francais. The Jackson French Quarter Dixieland Band will entertain. Special ticket packages are being offered. Two concert tickets and party pass for two is $35. JSO season ticket holders may attend the party for $15 per couple.

Individual tickets for the March 19 concert are $18, $27, $32. They may be purchased online at www.JacksonSymphony.org; by phone at 517-782-3221; or in person at the JSO Box Office, 215 W. Michigan Ave., downtown Jackson. All ticket holders are invited to attend the complimentary and highly acclaimed pre-concert lecture series hosted by Dr. Bruce Brown, JSO Composer-in-Residence. Backstage Glimpses takes place at 7 p.m. in the Federer Rooms off the main Floor Lobby in the Potter Center.

NOTE: The Jackson Symphony Orchestra is a community resource providing performances of the classics and popular music, a community music school with private and group instruction and numerous educational programs for students of all ages. The organization owns a 30,000-square-foot facility in the heart of downtown Jackson which not only serves as an administrative, rehearsal, and recital performance space for the orchestra but also is home to the Jackson Youth Symphony, the Jackson Chorale and Children's Choir, the Michigan Shakespeare Festival and JSO Community String Ensemble. The orchestra primarily performs at the world-class Music Hall of the Jackson Community College Potter Center and other venues in town including several churches, the County Fairgrounds and Michigan Theatre.