Join us on Sunday, May 10th at 1 PM and Monday, May 11th at 7 PM on WRTI HD-2 when The Philadelphia Orchestra In Concert broadcast brings to the Verizon Hall stage violinist Leila Josefowicz, who joins guest conductor John Adams for a performance of the composer/conductor’s own work, Scheherazade.2, his updating—through the lens of modern sensitivities—of the One Thousand and One Nights tale.
Scheherazade.2 is actually an extraordinary violin concerto, and in Ms. Josefowicz, Adams seems to have found the perfect embodiment of the kind of empowered strength and energy that a modern Scheherazade would possess!
Before intermission, the Orchestra performs Maurice Ravel’s Alborado del Gracioso, an orchestral favorite from his Miroirs, and a short concert piece that Igor Stravinsky fashioned on themes from his opera based on a story by Hans Christian Andersen about an enchanted bird whose melodies charm the Emperor of China—The Song of the Nightingale.
Ravel was born to a Basque mother in the Pyrenees, not far from the Spanish border, and, like other composers of his time, he was fascinated with Spain. His first Spanish-themed piece was the spirited work that references the gracios—the stock character of the “court jester” in the classical Spanish theater of Lope de Vega and others.
Stravinsky’s Song of the Nightingale consists of music taken from his opera, The Nightingale, with solo instruments taking the vocal parts, and there will be a lot of solos for the Philadelphia Orchestra’s splendid musicians, among them Associate Principal Oboe Peter Smith, First Associate Concertmaster Juliette Kang, Principal Harp Elizabeth Hainen, and Principal Flute Jeffrey Khaner.
During intermission, WRTI's Susan Lewis speaks backstage with Leila Josefowicz.
These are three colorful orchestral works you won’t want to miss, on Sunday, May 10th from 1 to 3 PM on WRTI 90.1, Monday, May 11th at 7 PM on our HD-2 channel, and streaming worldwide at WRTI.org!
PROGRAM:
Ravel: Alborado del Gracioso
Stravinsky: Song of the Nightingale
INTERMISSION
Adams: Scheherazade.2
Leila Josefowicz, violin
The Philadelphia Orchestra
John Adams, conductor
Gregg Whiteside is producer and host of The Philadelphia Orchestra in Concert broadcasts, every Sunday at 1 PM on WRTI 90.1, streaming online at WRTI.org, on the WRTI mobile app, and your favorite smart speaker! Listen again on Mondays at 7 PM on WRTI HD-2.
And now until June, 2020: Listen to a weekly schedule of re-broadcasts of additional archival Philadelphia Orchestra concerts. Each program airs Thursday at 7 PM on WRTI HD-2 and streaming online, and again on Friday at 1 PM on WRTI 90.1, and our classical stream.
