The Augustana Symphony Orchestra will be kicking off their 2015-2016 season on Oct. 10 with their first concert.
The concert will be comprised of two pieces. The first is called Mozart Clarinet Concerto in A Major. The following piece after intermission is the Mendelssohn Reformation Symphony.
The Mozart concerto will be featuring music instructor Kara Bancks as a clarinet soloist, who was asked to solo last year by Dr. Culver, the orchestra director.
“Clarinetists study this concerto from their earliest years; it’s on every orchestral audition and all the famous clarinetists have recorded it, some of them multiple times. The key is finding a unique approach while still honoring the tradition. We could not have asked Mozart to write a more beautiful piece… Mozart has a way of communicating every kind of emotion without ever losing control,” stated Bancks.
The Mozart piece also happens to be one of his favorite pieces. He discussed the historical significance of the concerto in more detail.
“It was a very late work, in fact, on its completion at the end of October was about a month or so before Mozart died… He was particularly fond of the clarinet, the color… in fact so much so that he went back and revisited the orchestration of some of his later symphonies and included the clarinet into the orchestration… but this is a remarkable concerto in how it was constructed… it really demonstrates what the timbre possibilities are of the clarinet very early on. The instrument in that state had only been developed for a few years.” said Culver.
Senior Patrick Mineo Yasutake, a cellist in the orchestra, shares his excitement for both pieces.
“I have played the first movement of the Mozart in high school, but now that I am looking at it in college, and playing it with a phenomenal soloist, I am garnering new respect and understanding for the piece… The Mendelssohn is a wonderful piece as well. I have not gotten the chance to play much Mendelssohn, but being able to play this work is wonderful. There are many moments in the piece that just speak to me, as a player and a listener… This music is very diametrically different… It does have what are intense moments of musical tension. Moments where the music keeps you on the edge of your seat, and great moments of musical repose and rhetoric. It dances, it sings, and it contains a multitude of musical affects.” said Yasutake.
The concert will be held at Centennial Hall on Oct. 10 at 8 pm. Cost of admission is free.