Feb 17 2014
Romeo Meets Carmen | Fulton Opera House
Next weekend Lancaster Symphony will present a celebration of romance and young love at the Fulton Opera House in homage to Valentine’s Day. Maestro Stephen Gunzenhauser says his intention is to explore the entire scale of emotions between two people in love.
International violinist and Avery Fisher Grant recipient Tai Murray will perform as visiting soloist in place of Maria Azova, concertmaster with the Austrian Arpegionne Chamber Orchestra, who is unable to attend due to visa restrictions.
Music critic Lesley Valdes, writing for the Philadelphia Inquirer, describes Murray as “a violinist who possesses exceptional assurance and style … with more than technique on her mind.’’
Murray will take the lead in two pieces by Spanish composer Pablo de Sarasate that are filled with fire and passion — first, his “Carmen Fantasy,’’ with five movements encapsulating the emotions of Bizet’s opera, and then “Zigeunerweisen,’’ a collection of gypsy airs that draws on themes of the Roma people.
Both works provide a showcase for the beauty of the violin and are true party pieces as far as the soloist is concerned, filled with the most exacting virtuoso and musical demands.
The rest of the program continues its focus on love, opening with Manuel de Falla’s short and ever popular Ritual Fire Dance from El amor brujo (Love, the Magician), which leads into Howard Hanson’s “Romantic’’ Symphony No. 2 in D flat major.
The Hanson symphony, Gunzenhauser says, is a remarkable work by an American composer that makes a statement about the beautiful and positive elements of love, thereby setting the atmosphere for the entire evening.
The concert concludes with Tchaikovsky’s “Romeo and Juliet” fantasy-overture. It may seem a little topsy-turvy to put the overture at the end, but Gunzenhauser says the love story it tells is a fitting climax to the program. Although a mere 20 minutes long, the piece captures all the essentials of Shakespeare’s play: the foreboding of doom, the warring Montagues and Capulets, the rapturous love theme of Romeo and Juliet (one of Tchaikovsky’s best) culminating in the tragic end of the star-crossed lovers.
The music is said to have been inspired by the composer’s own feelings, when he was 29, for a 15-year-old boy who was a cousin of one of his students. Like Romeo and Juliet, the young man committed suicide, and Tchaikovsky recorded in his diary that he never loved anyone so strongly.
Bearing this personal element in mind, it is little wonder that the music is such a powerhouse of emotion and an appropriate acknowledgment of the tumultuous effect that romantic love has upon our lives.
And that’s what the concert is all about.
To reserve your tickets for this wonderful display of talent you can visit the Fulton Opera House website or call their box office at 717-397-7425. To book your stay at the Fairfield Inn & Suites by Marriott you can go onto our website or call our toll free number at 888-STAY-FFI.
