Memories of the Past, Visions of the Future - Chamber Music February 19

JSO to open Chamber Music Series with
Memories of the Past, Visions of the Future

The JSO’s annual Chamber Music Series will begin February 19 with a program titled Memories of the Past, Visions of the Future. The Michigan State University Chamber Players, directed by David Schultz, will perform Igor Stravinsky’s Octet for wind instruments, Arnold Schoenberg’s Verklärte Nacht (Transfigured Night) for string sextet and other works.

“This will be a performance of revolutionary compositions from the early 20th century that defied historical categorization and changed the course of music forever,” Schultz said.

Stravinsky and Schoenberg were two of the most famous (and infamous) composers of the time.

“Each played a large part in steering the course of musical evolution in the 20th century while at the same time meeting their own share of musical scandals,” Schultz said. “These two works each mark turning points in the composers' musical output and each exemplify ways in which the composers both take cues from the past and look to the future.”

Octet, composed in 1923, was written partially as a reaction against the excessive indulgence of late 19th-century romanticism.

“Stravinsky looked back to the music of Bach and Mozart to highlight elements of formal structure and a more subtle emotional palate,” Schultz said. “He fused these ideas with his own innovations of complex rhythms and meters, and complex instrumental effects to create music that is at the same time distinctly old, distinctly new, but most of all, distinctly Stravinsky.”

Schoenberg also was rebelling against indulgent 19th-century romanticism when he wrote Verklärte Nacht in 1899.

“The work features free forms, lush melodies and chromatic harmonies, all designed to depict the torrential nature of human emotion,” Schultz said.

The concert begins at 7:30 p.m. in the JSO’s Peter A. Weatherwax Hall, 215 W. Michigan Ave. in downtown Jackson.

Sixteen music performance majors and graduate students from MSU — plus recent graduate Ji Hyun Kim — will perform at this concert. Kim teaches at Spring Arbor University, the JSO’s Community Music School, Ezra Eby Elementary School in Napoleon and Paragon Charter Academy in Summit Township.

Admission is $10. Tickets available at http://www.jacksonsymphony.org/tickets_events/tickets.html , 782-3221, or at 215 W. Michigan Ave. in Jackson

Two additional concerts in the series are scheduled for 7 p.m. March 22 (the Richter Uzur Duo), admission $15, light refreshments will be served, and an April concert with concertmaster Xie Min, time and date to be announced soon.