Musical Offerings (MO) presents their opening concert of the season on Sunday, November 14 at 2 p.m. at the McNay Art Museum in the Leeper Auditorium. This concert is in conjunction with the McNay's special exhibition, Landscapes from the Age of Impressionism. The musicians (pictured on the right) will be Joan Christenson, violin; Martha Fabrique, flute; Rachel Farris, harp; and Lauren Magnus, viola.

Program:

Trio for flute, viola and harp by Claude Debussy

Piece en forme de habanera for violin and harp by Maurice Ravel

Fantasie op. 124 for violin and harp by Camille Saint-Saens

Entr'acte for flute and harp by Jacques Ibert

Deux Interludes for violin, flute and harp by Jacques Ibert

Sicilienne for viola and harp by Gabriel Faure

Berceuse for flute and harp by Gabriel Faure

Pavanne for a Dead Princess by Maurice Ravel

Where: McNay Art Museum-Leeper Auditorium
When: Sunday, November 14, 2010
Time: 2:00 pm
Admission: Tickets: McNay members $8, nonmembers $15. To purchase advance tickets, call (210) 805.1768 or email education@mcnayart.org through noon, November 12.

ALSO ON SUNDAY:
Sunday, November 14: The Copperleaf Quartet
San Antonio Museum of Art at 2:30 p.m.

Sunday, November 14: San Antonio Chamber Music Society presents the IMANI WINDS
Temple Beth-El at 3:15 p.m.

Sunday, November 14: Early Music San Antonio presents CANZONA
St. Luke's Episcopal Church at 4 p.m. FREE concert

Sunday, November 14: Symphony of the Hills presents FLASH CADILLAC
Cailloux Theatre, Kerrville, 7:30 p.m.

THIS WEEKEND AT THE SYMPHONY:
November 12 & 13 at 8 p.m.
COLORS OF MEXICO
Majestic Theatre

Carlos Miguel Prieto, conductor
Elena Urioste, violin

Revueltas: Redes Suite
Glazunov: Violin Concerto
Barber: Symphony No. 1 in One Movement
Chávez: Suite from Caballos de vapor (Horse Power)

Jack Fishman
www.sasymphony.org
Email: fishmanj@sasymphony.org
For more blogs by Jack Fishman visit: www.sasymphony.org/blog
San Antonio Symphony

@SASym

Here is SLL (San Antonio Symphony Music Director Sebastian Lang-Lessing) in another bumpy video. (The bumps are because it was shot at the airport without my tripod.) SLL had his opening night concert of the opera La Bohème in Denver last night. After the run of opera performances, he travels back to Australia. Here he talks about the Symphony's upcoming November 12 & 13 concerts:

November 12 & 13 at 8 p.m.
COLORS OF MEXICO
Majestic Theatre

Carlos Miguel Prieto, conductor
Elena Urioste, violin

Revueltas: Redes Suite
Glazunov: Violin Concerto
Barber: Symphony No. 1 in One Movement
Chávez: Suite from Caballos de vapor (Horse Power)

In an earlier blog (click here) I wrote about the story behind the composition of Redes. Chávez's Horse Power also has an interesting story. It is sometimes listed as H.P. and sometimes by its full name, either in Spanish or English. H.P. is clearly influenced by Stravinsky, with its vitality and colorful use of the orchestra. But it also is unique in its use of folkloric and popular elements. Chávez includes dances such as the sandunga, tango, huapango, and foxtrot in this ballet score. During his lifetime, Chávez (Born in Mexico: 1899 Died: 1978) conducted this work more than any other of his compositions. But, since his death, it has almost disappeared from the concert hall.

Chávez (pictured on the right) was also Mexico's most important teacher and music scholar. In 1928, he became the director of Mexico's National Conservatory of Music. During his six years in the position, he led projects to collect aboriginal folk music. He also took the Mexico City-based National Symphony of Mexico on many tours through Mexico's rural areas. Chávez's guest conducting in the United States included appearances with the Boston Symphony and the New York Philharmonic.

I have a very special connection to the music of Chávez because I played his Symphony No. 2 under the baton of Leonard Bernstein! It was the only time I had the opportunity to meet Bernstein. I was an undergraduate student at The Juilliard School in New York City and Bernstein came to spend an day with The Juilliard Orchestra. He conducted two pieces - Beethoven Symphony No. 5 and the Chávez work. We rehearsed it for hours and then it was recorded. After we had a good take, Bernstein invited the entire orchestra into the recording booth. He sat on the floor with his legs folded like a Yogi and we listened to our performance. He made comments and then we returned to the stage for more playing. Not a memory easily forgotten!

The Symphony's online program notes have this to say about the ballet:

Chávez's ballet Caballos de vapor (literally Steam Horses, but known in English as Horse Power) was the result of a collaboration with the painter Diego Rivera, who created the set design. The idea was to produce a stage work that reflected the Italian artistic movement called Futurism. The Futurists often reflected the sounds of machines in their compositions, the most familiar of which is perhaps Swiss composer Arthur Honegger's Pacific 231, an orchestral portrait of a steam locomotive. The idea for Horse Power was to examine the encroaching mechanization from the U.S. upon the natural beauty of the tropics in Mexico. The result was a four-movement ballet-symphony that ended with a mechanistic movement entitled "Dance of Men and Machines," which was premiered separately on November 28, 1926, in New York.

The first three movements were composed over the next five years. These three movements comprise the Suite that is almost exclusively performed today. The first movement, "Danza del hombre" ("Dance of the Man") is in traditional sonata form. Opening boldly with angular music in the strings, the movement soon gives way to a folk-like melody in the trumpets, which is taken over by the strings. A more dissonant section features the brass instruments with many delightful glissandi in the trombones. In the final measures of the movement, Chávez combines elements of both sections and the music winds down to a stately conclusion.

Without pause, the second movement "Barco hacia el trópico" ("Boat to the tropics") begins with an "agile dance" led by the trumpets. The second half of the movement is a sultry tango in which the saxophones imitate the bandoneon (tango accordion) with uncanny accuracy. A mysterious "interludio" serves as the coda for this movement, which leads directly into the finale.

"El trópico" (The Tropics) begins as a wild Mexican dance with huapango rhythms. Maracas, guiro, claves, and marimbas are heard from the percussion section as bold rhythms and colorful solos permeate the rest of the orchestra. In the middle of the movement, more tranquil zandunga rhythms take over and the music become hypnotic. The final measures are broader still in tempo and the work ends with great dignity.

Program notes ©2010 Orpheus Music Prose & Craig Doolin

Jack Fishman
www.sasymphony.org
Email: fishmanj@sasymphony.org
For more blogs by Jack Fishman visit: www.sasymphony.org/blog
San Antonio Symphony

@SASym

Tonight, (Sunday, November 7) the Symphony offers its annual free concert in honor of all veterans. We call it Salute to Service. The concert will begin at 7 p.m. at the Municipal Auditorium. No tickets or reservations are required for this free performance. If you want to make today a Double Header, start your concert day off at the Majestic Theatre at 4 p.m. with a concert by YOSA and then walk on over to the Municipal for the 7 p.m. San Antonio Symphony performance. As Chicago Cub great Ernie Banks used to say, "It's a great day to play two!"

Early this week, I wrote two blogs about some of the many fine concerts coming up in November (click HERE and HERE to read them.) But, today's blog is about one piece - Redes by Silvestre Revueltas. The Symphony is performing this piece this coming weekend, November 12 & 13. Redes was composed in 1935 as a film score for a movie by Paul Strand. The movie and score have an interesting history.

The leading figure of Mexican Classical music in the 1920s was Carlos Chávez. Chávez founded the National Symphony of Mexico (and its current conductor, Carlos Miguel Prieto [pictured on the right] will conduct the San Antonio Symphony in this concert.) Chávez also brought many American composers, photographers and other artists to Mexico to help promote and encourage the growing Mexican arts scene. Aaron Copland's famous visit to Mexico was at Chávez's invitation.

Chávez was originally engaged to write this film score, but there was a change in government in 1934 and the new minister in charge of the arts switched the composition job over to Revueltas. Revueltas had worked with Chávez as a violinist, and Chávez had made Revueltas the assistant conductor of his orchestra. This switch over Redes led to a falling out and Revueltas quit Chávez's orchestra and formed his own competing ensemble.

Redes (Nets) is about the labor of fishermen and the manipulations of a businessman and a politician. The fishermen decide to take collective action when they are shortchanged. They end up arguing and fighting with each other and the leader of the unionists is shot. When he dies, the fishermen finally unite.

I've had the opportunity to see the Los Angeles Philharmonic perform this score, while the movie was played projected over the orchestra. While the movie is not very interesting, the music is fabulous! Aaron Copland said, "It is illuminating to contrast the work of Chávez with that of his countryman, the late Silvestre Revueltas (pictured on the right), whose vibrant, tangy scores sing of a more colorful, perhaps a more mestizo side of the Mexican character. Revueltas was a man of the people, with a wonderfully keen ear for the sounds of the people's music."

The poet Octavio Paz wrote, "All his (Revueltas') music seems preceded by something that is not joy and exhilaration, as some believe, or satire and irony, as others believe. That element, better and more pure... is his deep-felt but also joyful concern for man, animal, and things. It is the profound empathy with his surroundings which makes the works of this man, so naked, so defenseless, so hurt by the heavens and the people, more significant than those of many of his contemporaries."

Here is a seven-minute video with the some of the music from Redes. It is performed by the National Symphony of Mexico, conducted by their former Music Director Enrique Arturo Diemecke. Maestro Diemecke has been a frequent guest conductor of the San Antonio Symphony in the past. (The images in the video are not from the film.)

Jack Fishman
www.sasymphony.org
Email: fishmanj@sasymphony.org
For more blogs by Jack Fishman visit: www.sasymphony.org/blog
San Antonio Symphony

@SASym

Saturday mornings are often my slowest time of the week. Symphony events are usually on Saturday night, (like tonight's Gershwin & Ravel Classics concert, plus 2 different post-concert parties) leaving most of the day free for family, house work, lawn mowing, cooking and blogging on wildly diverse subjects. My wife is off judging the Texas Music Educators Association Region XXV Viola Auditions all day and my daughter is taking the SAT subject tests this morning. Even Zoë (our dog) is quieter than usual. So, since the lawn has mostly turned dormant, (except for the weeds) that gives me time for a few random thoughts on unrelated subjects:

ADOLPHE SAX'S BIRTHDAY
On today's date (November 6) Antoine-Joseph "Adolphe" Sax was born in 1814 in Belgium. Who was Adolphe Sax (pictured on the right) you ask? He is the inventor of the saxophone! He patented his design in 1846. He also experimented with brass instruments and this work led to the creation of the flugelhorn and the euphonium. The saxophone isn't used much in symphonic music, but two of the composers that the Symphony are performing this weekend, Gershwin and Ravel, did create memorable sax parts in their symphonic music. The sax has great power and agility, but it doesn't blend as well as other wind instruments. I think that is why it never really caught on with symphonic composers. It is most often used as a featured soloist, often in works with a jazz flavor.

YOSA ON THE MOVE
The Youth Orchestras of San Antonio is expanding. This Sunday (November 7) at 4 p.m. they are performing at the Majestic Theatre. Jaime Laredo & Sharon Robinson will be the soloists and the concert also includes a performance of Beethoven Symphony No. 7. Later this month, they are collaborating with a youth orchestra from Mexico. Here is the info:

November 20 at 7 p.m. at the Municipal Auditorium
YOSA Philharmonic and Juventud Sinfonica de Monterrey
Conductors: Troy Peters (YOSA) and Abdiel Vazquez (JSM)

Revueltas: Sensemaya (YOSA)
Buxtehude/Chavez: Chaconne (JSM)
Ponce: Piano Concerto (JSM)
Marquez: Danzon No. 2 (YOSA and JSM)
Beethoven: Symphony No. 7 (YOSA and JSM)

The November 20 event is free, but tickets are required. For tickets, call YOSA at (210) 737.0097.

TROY PETERS SAVES THE DAY
Speaking of YOSA, did you know that YOSA Music Director Troy Peters (pictured on the right) saved the San Antonio Symphony this week? He stepped for an ailing Tito Muñoz for Thursday's rehearsals. Our guest conductor arrived in San Antonio on Tuesday, rehearsed the orchestra on Wednesday, and then became ill with food poisoning and was unable to rehearse on Thursday. Maestro Peters stepped in and rehearsed the difficult and rarely performed Stravinsky Symphony in C, Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue and Ravel's Concerto for the Left Hand. The orchestra had high praise for Maestro Peters' work. Maestro Muñoz was able to return to rehearse on Friday and the concert went very well last night. Thanks Troy!

VETERANS DAY CONCERT THIS SUNDAY
FREE Symphony concert -- Veterans Day: Salute to Service
Sunday, November 7 at 7 p.m.
Municipal Auditorium
Ken-David Masur, conductor
(No tickets or reservations required for this free performance.)

CHILDREN'S CHORUS GOES NORTH
One of the regular artistic partners with the San Antonio Symphony is The Children's Chorus of San Antonio. They have just announced a new program in Stone Oak for children in grades 3 to 5. The location is the Northern Hills United Methodist Church, 3703 N Loop 1604 East, and the rehearsals for this Junior Chorus will be on Thursdays from 4:30 to 6:10 p.m., starting January 20, 2011. The conductor will be Amy Ballenger and space is limited to the first 60 singers who complete registration. No auditions are required. Visit childrenschorussa.org or call (210) 826-3447 before January 1.

ELENA @ UTSA
On November 12 & 13 violinist Elena Urioste (pictured on the right) will play the Glazunov Violin Concerto with the Symphony. Elena is also giving a recital at UTSA. On Monday, November 15 at 7:30 p.m., she'll play on UTSA's Guest Artist Series at their Main Campus recital hall. Tickets are $10 or $5, but FREE to UTSA students. UTSA students also receive "orange" credit according to their web site. I'm not sure what this means, but I don't think it means they get a free orange soda with the concert...

OPERA AT THE TROIS ESTATE
The San Antonio Opera is hosting a fund raising concert and dinner at The Trois Estate in Fredericksburg on November 20 at 5:30 p.m. In addition to a wine reception, live auction and dinner, music will be provided by San Antonio's 3 Tenors and Stiletto, which is a newly formed "operatic girl group." Sounds intriguing! For information call (210) 225-5972 or visit saopera.com.

YOUNG PEOPLE'S CONCERTS
This season's Symphony Young People's Concerts (YPC) start November 16. In addition to teaching music, each YPC also teaches an academic subject. This season, all the concerts will be about science. The November set of YPCs are SOLD OUT, but there will be others throughout the year. If you have a 3, 4 or 5 grader and want to come, you can call Stephanie Brimhall at (210) 554-1006 for more information. Tickets for students are just $4 and we offer scholarships for schools that need assistance. Last season we granted $12,000 in travel scholarships, for schools to get buses to transport their kids. The Symphony serves 40,000 kids each season.

WORDPRESS IS COMING WEDNESDAY
This blog is part of the Express-News City Brights blogs, and Tuesday night they are moving to a new blogging platform--WordPress. WordPress is also the platform the Symphony is using to re-design our web site. I hope our new web site is ready to go live at the end of November. In the mean time, what does this new blogging format mean for you, the reader? Eventually, it will bring some exciting new features, but first it will bring confusion. You know how it is when you get a software upgrade. For the first few days, you can't do anything. So, if my daily blog reads like gibberish on Wednesday, you now know why! I'm sure I'll get the hang of it in a few days...

SLL STUFF
Are you a really lousy Holiday Gift Giver? Does the entire Holiday Season leave you traumatized? Then breathe a sigh of relief, because the Symphony is coming to the rescue. I'm not talking about giving your loved ones tickets to the special Lang Lang & Lang Lessing concert on January 12, although that isn't a bad idea. No, I'm talking about giving the gift of SLL stuff! I'm sure everyone on your Holiday Gift List really, really needs a Sebastian Lang-Lessing coffee mug (in rehearsal or concert attire) or a SLL tee-shirt or, my favorite, SLL Coffee! (Sorry, we are all out of SLL Wine.) The new SLL coffee comes in three varieties - Classics Blend, Pops or Pops Decaf. You can pick these up at any Symphony concert or at our box office. Hurry while supplies last because we only ordered 167,834 of them, so you really need to rush! Here are a few photos of absolutely essential SLL stuff:

Jack Fishman
www.sasymphony.org
Email: fishmanj@sasymphony.org
For more blogs by Jack Fishman visit: www.sasymphony.org/blog
San Antonio Symphony

@SASym

This weekend the Symphony has Maestro Tito Muñoz as our guest conductor. He has been the Assistant Conductor of The Cleveland Orchestra, and a League of American Orchestras Conducting Fellow. He also previously served as Assistant Conductor of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra.

Also an accomplished violinist, Mr. Muñoz has performed in many of New York's leading ensembles including the New York Virtuosi, Ensemble Sospeso, and Orchestra of St. Luke's, as well as numerous Broadway shows. As a studio musician he has recorded for Albany Records, RCA Victor and Sony. Born in 1983 in New York City, Mr. Muñoz began his musical training on the violin at age thirteen in The Juilliard School's Music Advancement Program, continuing studies on violin and composition at the Manhattan School of Music.

I met with Maestro Muñoz after his first rehearsal to talk about the program:

November 5 & 6, 2010
Majestic Theater
Gershwin & Ravel

Tito Muñoz, conductor
Ryo Yanagitani, piano

Stravinsky: Symphony in C
Ravel: Piano Concerto in D major (Left Hand)
Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue
Gershwin: An American in Paris

Sunday, November 7 at 7 p.m.
FREE Veterans Day: Salute to Service Concert
Municipal Auditorium
Ken-David Masur, conductor
(No tickets or reservations required for this free performance.)

For other Symphony tickets or information please call (210) 554-1010 or visit sasymphony.org.

Jack Fishman
www.sasymphony.org
Email: fishmanj@sasymphony.org
For more blogs by Jack Fishman visit: www.sasymphony.org/blog
San Antonio Symphony

@SASym

Ryo Yanagitani is the 2009 Gold Medal Winner of the San Antonio International Piano Competition. As part of his prize, he will be performing two piano concertos with the San Antonio Symphony this Friday and Saturday at the Majestic Theatre. Here is a brief video interview with Mr. Yanagitani after today's rehearsal:

Ryo Yanagitani has distinguished himself as one of Canada's most promising young concert artists. His most recent success includes winning the gold medal at the 10th San Antonio International Piano Competition, where he was also given special recognition for a performance of the complete Chopin Ballades. Among other honors, he is also the grand prize winner of the Hugo Kauder International Piano competition and a laureate of the Minnesota International Piano-e-Competition, the Dr. Luis Sigall International Piano competition in Viña del Mar (Chile), and the Hilton Head International Piano Competition.

Ryo has made concerto appearances with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, the Montreal Metropolitan Orchestra, Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, Hartford Symphony Orchestra, and the Moroccan Symphony Orchestra among others.

A recipient of many scholarships and awards, Ryo has been endowed twice by the Canadian Arts Council with a grant as an Emerging Artist, and is a recipient of the Arthur Foote Scholarship from the Harvard Musical Association. He is an artist-in-residence of the Maxwell Shepherd Fund of Connecticut, as well as a pianist with the Swiss Global Artistic Foundation. Ryo is also increasingly recognized not only as a performer but also a pedagogue, and is frequently asked to adjudicate competitions and conduct master classes.

Ryo Yanagitani received his Masters of Music degree from the Yale School of Music under Boris Berman, a Bachelor Degree in Piano Performance from the University of British Columbia under Doctor Henri-Paul Sicsic, and an Artist Diploma from the Cleveland Institute under Sergei Babayan. He recently completed his residency requirement of the Yale School of Music Doctor of Musical Arts Degree, and currently resides in New Haven, Connecticut.

NEXT AT THE SYMPHONY:

November 5 & 6, 2010
Gershwin & Ravel
The roaring 1920s come alive with Gershwin's and Ravel's jazz-influenced masterpieces. These two Gershwin favorites are filled with memorable melodies that are audacious, sentimental and unabashedly American.

Tito Muñoz, conductor
Ryo Yanagitani, piano

Stravinsky: Symphony in C
Ravel: Piano Concerto in D major (Left Hand)
Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue
Gershwin: An American in Paris

Sunday, November 7 at 7 p.m.
FREE Veterans Day: Salute to Service Concert
Municipal Auditorium
Ken-David Masur, conductor

November 12 & 13, 2010
Colors Of Mexico
Carlos Miguel Prieto, conductor
Elena Urioste, violin (Pictured on the right)

Revueltas: Redes Suite
Glazunov: Violin Concerto
Barber: Symphony No. 1 in One Movement
Chávez: Suite from Caballos de vapor (Horse Power)

Wednesday, November 17, 2010 at 7:30 p.m.
Homenaje a México
Trinity University's Laurie Auditorium
The soul of the golden age of Mexican music will come to life in this concert of historic and contemporary Mexican music. The Symphony will be joined by internationally recognized singers and musicians from Mexico. Visit siempremexico.org for details.

For Symphony tickets or information please call (210) 554-1010 or visit sasymphony.org.

Jack Fishman
www.sasymphony.org
Email: fishmanj@sasymphony.org
For more blogs by Jack Fishman visit: www.sasymphony.org/blog
San Antonio Symphony

@SASym

I attended a lovely piano recital Monday night by Ryo Yanagitani, offered by the San Antonio International Piano Competition. As I drove home, I realized the date was November 1st. While I've certainly known November was coming, it seemed to sneak up on me. November 2010 is going to be a BUSY month for classical music concerts in San Antonio and I've been worried about it for months.

Here is a list of 24 concerts in the next 4 weeks. This is probably just scratching the surface of the possible concert list. (And, you have to fit cooking Thanksgiving dinner and addressing all your Christmas cards in this month, too.) But, brace yourself. The onslaught of Holiday concerts in December is just around the corner. In addition to all the Holiday concerts, there will also be regular concerts by SOLI, Musical Bridges Around the World and others that you won't want to miss.

So, if you think November looks tough, just wait for the December schedule. Only the strongest will survive!

Friday & Saturday, November 5 & 6: San Antonio Symphony presents GERSHWIN & RAVEL
Majestic Theatre at 8 p.m.

Sunday, November 7: The Arts @ Coker presents MANHATTAN PIANO TRIO
Coker United Methodist Church at 4 p.m.

Sunday, November 7: YOSA with JAIME LAREDO AND SHARON ROBINSON
Majestic Theatre at 4 p.m.

Sunday, November 7: San Antonio Symphony, VETERANS DAY: SALUTE TO SERVICE
Municipal Auditorium at 7 p.m. FREE concerts, tickets not required.

Friday & Saturday, November 12 & 13: San Antonio Symphony presents COLORS OF MEXICO
Majestic Theatre at 8 p.m.

Sunday, November 14: Musical Offerings presents BLURRING THE LINES: IMPRESSIONIST MUSIC
McNay Art Museum, Leeper Auditorium at 2 p.m.

Sunday, November 14: THE COPPERLEAF QUARTETat the San Antonio Museum of Art at 2:30 p.m.

Sunday, November 14: San Antonio Chamber Music Society presents the IMANI WINDS
Temple Beth-El at 3:15 p.m.

Sunday, November 14: Early Music San Antonio presents CANZONA
St. Luke's Episcopal Church at 4 p.m. FREE concert

Sunday, November 14: Symphony of the Hills presents FLASH CADILLAC
Cailloux Theatre, Kerrville, 7:30 p.m.

Tuesday, November 16: Tuesday Music Club presents PIANIST SPENCER MYER
Laurel Heights United Methodist Church at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.

Wednesday, November 17: San Antonio Symphony presents HOMENAJE A MÉXICO
Trinity University's Laurie Auditorium at 7:30 p.m.

Friday & Saturday, November 19 & 20: San Antonio Symphony Pops presents A TRIBUTE TO THE MUSIC OF JOHN DENVER
Trinity University's Laurie Auditorium at 8 p.m.

Friday, November 19: San Antonio Mastersingers presents BENEFIT CONCERT FOR ALZHEIMER'S
First Baptist Church at 8 p.m. (concert repeated Saturday in Kerrville)

November 26, 27 & 28 (as well as the first week in December): Ballet San Antonio and the San Antonio Symphony present THE NUTCRACKER
Majestic Theatre at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.

Sunday, November 28: Musical Bridges Around the World presents ENCORE--VIOLIN FAVORITES
San Fernando Cathedral at 6:30 p.m. FREE concert

Okay. Let's go! Get off the couch and enjoy a concert...or two...or three...

Jack Fishman
www.sasymphony.org
Email: fishmanj@sasymphony.org
For more blogs by Jack Fishman visit: www.sasymphony.org/blog
San Antonio Symphony

@SASym

This Sunday at 4 p.m. YOSA (Youth Orchestras of San Antonio) performs at the Majestic Theatre with violinist Jaime Laredo and cellist Sharon Robinson as soloists. YOSA Music Director Troy Peters will conduct. The program is:

Revueltas: Sensemaya
David Ludwig: Double Concerto
Beethoven: Symphony No. 7

The Revueltas work is a fantastic burst of energy that lasts just six minutes. Perhaps the most unusual, and challenging, aspect of the work is its meter. It has 7 beats per bar. The piece is based on a poem called ¡Sensemayá, se murió! by Nicolás Guillén. Here it is in English:

(Chant to kill a snake)
¡Mayombe-bombe-mayombé!
¡Mayombe-bombe-mayombé!
¡Mayombe-bombe-mayombé!
The snake has eyes of glass;
The snake coils on a stick;
With his eyes of glass on a stick,
With his eyes of glass.
The snake can move without feet;
The snake can hide in the grass;
Crawling he hides in the grass,
Moving without feet.
¡Mayombe-bombe-mayombe.!
Hit him with an ax and he dies;
Hit him! Go on, hit him!
Don't hit him with your foot or he'll bite;,
Don't hit him with your foot, or he'll get away.
Sensemayá, the snake,
sensemayá.
Sensemayá, with his eyes,
sensemayá.
Sensemayá, with his tongue,
sensemayá.
Sensemayá, with his mouth,
sensemayá.
The dead snake cannot eat;
the dead snake cannot hiss;
he cannot move,
he cannot run!
The dead snake cannot look;,
the dead snake cannot drink,;
he cannot breathe,
he cannot bite.
¡Mayombe-bombe-mayombé!
Sensemayá, the snake . . .
¡Mayombe-bombe-mayombé!
Sensemayá, does not move . . .
¡Mayombe-bombe-mayombé!
Sensemayá, the snake . . .
¡Mayombe-bombe-mayombé!
Sensemayá, he died!

Translated by Willis Knapp Jones. Spanish American Literature in Translation: A Selection of Poetry, Fiction, and Drama since 1888. New York: Frederick Ungar Publishing Co., 1963.
Here is a video of the work conducted by Gustavo Dudamel:

Premium tickets for YOSA's Sunday concert at the Majestic are $20, regular tickets $12 and students $3. To purchase tickets, call 210-737-0097.

Trivia question of the week: What American city did the great Mexican composer Revueltas live in for two years as a young man?

ANSWER: San Antonio!

This weekend at the Symphony:

November 5 & 6, 2010
GERSHWIN & RAVEL
Majestic Theatre

Tito Muñoz, conductor
Ryo Yanagitani, piano

Stravinsky: Symphony in C
Ravel: Piano Concerto in D major (Left Hand)
Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue
Gershwin: An American in Paris

For tickets call (210) 554-1010 or visit sasymphony.org.

Sunday, November 7, 2010
VETERANS DAY: SALUTE TO SERVICE
Municipal Auditorium
Ken-David Masur, conductor

FREE concert at 7 p.m. Tickets not required.

Jack Fishman
www.sasymphony.org
Email: fishmanj@sasymphony.org
For more blogs by Jack Fishman visit: www.sasymphony.org/blog
San Antonio Symphony

@SASym

This afternoon (Monday, November 1, 2010) the plans for Luminaria 2011 were announced at a press conference at the HemisFair Clock Tower. Luminaria 2011 will take place on Saturday, March 12, 2011 from 7 p.m. to 1 a.m. at HemisFair Park.

Luminaria is a free event and is celebrating its fourth year by growing larger and bolder. The footprint has tripled, now encompassing the HemisFair Park Grounds. Also there is a new curatorial vision under the broad theme of "light." Artists are encouraged to create new work by "reimagining HemisFair Park as a canvas for enlightened, innovative, and interactive artwork from all artistic disciplines."

Can you help with some suggestions? I'm trying to think of music the Symphony can use to apply under the theme of "light?" You can post your suggestions on the Symphony Facebook page. How about:

• Elgar: "The Light of Life"
• Suppé: "Light Cavalry" Overture
• Joseph Schwantner: "Chasing Light"
• Libby Larsen: "Songs of Light and Love"
• Sofia Gubaidulina: "The Light of the End"
• Alan Hovhaness: "Coming of Light"
• Delius: "Songs of the Sunset"
• Romance from Wieniawski's Violin Concerto No. 2, because it was used as the theme music for the TV show "The Guiding Light."

Or, am I getting way off base here?

The Call-for-Artists will be released November 8 and the postmark deadline is December 11. By mid-January the selected artists will be notified. Only 80 to 100 artists will be selected. The web address is luminariasa.org or you can call (210) 271-2842 for more information.

This weekend at the Symphony:

November 5 & 6, 2010
GERSHWIN & RAVEL
Majestic Theatre
The roaring 1920s come alive with Gershwin's and Ravel's jazz-influenced masterpieces. These two Gershwin favorites are filled with memorable melodies that are audacious, sentimental and unabashedly American. Pianist Ryo Yanagitani was the top prize winner of the last San Antonio International Piano Competition.

Tito Muñoz, conductor
Ryo Yanagitani, piano

Stravinsky: Symphony in C
Ravel: Piano Concerto in D major (Left Hand)
Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue
Gershwin: An American in Paris

For tickets call (210) 554-1010 or visit sasymphony.org.

Sunday, November 7, 2010
VETERANS DAY: SALUTE TO SERVICE
Municipal Auditorium
Ken-David Masur, conductor

FREE concert at 7 p.m. Tickets not required.

Jack Fishman
www.sasymphony.org
Email: fishmanj@sasymphony.org
For more blogs by Jack Fishman visit: www.sasymphony.org/blog
San Antonio Symphony

@SASym

SLL (Music Director Sebastian Lang-Lessing) paid a one-day visit to San Antonio this week to continue his house hunting. He quickly flew back to Denver to continue his rehearsals for La Bohème. But, he did have time for a marathon artistic planning meeting for the Symphony's 2011-2012 and 2012-2013 seasons and to film (at the airport) this brief video about this weekend's concert:

November 5 & 6, 2010
GERSHWIN & RAVEL
Majestic Theatre

The roaring 1920s come alive with Gershwin's and Ravel's jazz-influenced masterpieces. These two Gershwin favorites are filled with memorable melodies that are audacious, sentimental and unabashedly American. Pianist Ryo Yanagitani was the top prize winner of the last San Antonio International Piano Competition.

Tito Muñoz, conductor
Ryo Yanagitani, piano

Stravinsky: Symphony in C
Ravel: Piano Concerto in D major (Left Hand)
Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue
Gershwin: An American in Paris

For tickets call (210) 554-1010 or visit sasymphony.org.

Sunday, November 7, 2010
VETERANS DAY: SALUTE TO SERVICE
Municipal Auditorium
Ken-David Masur, conductor

FREE concert at 7 p.m. Tickets not required.

Jack Fishman
www.sasymphony.org
Email: fishmanj@sasymphony.org
For more blogs by Jack Fishman visit: www.sasymphony.org/blog
San Antonio Symphony

@SASym