Classical Cornucopia

That cool, rainy weather seems to always come when we are playing our Young People's Concerts, and here it is again!  Yea, though skies may be gray, the music will be very colorful as the KSO presents “Picture This” Wednesday through Friday at 9:30 AM at the Civic Auditorium.  There will also be 10:45 AM shows Wednesday and Thursday.  These concerts, under the direction of James Fellenbaum, will feature the Go! Contemporary Dance Works, cartoonist Charlie Daniel, and a singalong called The Color of Music. Selections will include Beethoven's Eroica Symphony, Rimsky-Korsakov's Capriccio Espagnol, and Mussorgsky/Ravel's Pictures at an Exhibition.  They will be accompanied by slides of artwork related to the music by students from area elementary schools.  Please note that the 9:30 Wednesday and Thursday shows are SOLD OUT.

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People celebrate Halloween in many different ways and to many different degrees.  Or not!  I haven't decided what to "be" for Halloween, sometimes I get inspired at the last minute.  But for every person who wins the Best Costume prize or gets the most candy, there's someone else who gets their house papered or breaks up at a party.  As for the people who'll be out papering, and that hose beast ex, the 2:30 start of Sunday afternoon's Chamber Classics concert at the Bijou will likely come too early in the morning for them, EVEN WITH THE TIME CHANGE.  It is their loss, as they will miss falling back with Wagner's exquisite Siegfried Idyll, and three of Mozart's finest instrumental works: the String Serenade Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, the C-minor Wind Octet aka Serenade K. 388 (384a), and Symphony No. 35, the “Haffner.”  There is no way to mask the fact that this concert, again under the direction of Maestro Fellenbaum, will be one beautiful afternoon.

Eine Kleine is as monumental a work as there is, yet it will serve to prelude the touching Idyll which Wagner first had performed for his wife's birthday (coincidentally Christmas morning), in 1870.  It's as small a dose of Wagner as one can take to feel the genius and strength in his music.  The second half will start with the Wind Serenade, throughout which Mozart creates an organ-like texture.  In the wings, the string players will be champing at the bit to play the “Haffner” Symphony, excerpts from which are a frequent sight on audition lists.  Especially for the cello.  Especially the Presto last movement.