UA News

The Arizona Symphony Orchestra opens its 2009-2010 season with a concert featuring three titans of the 19th century. The concert opens with the overture to Giuseppe Verdi's "La forza del destino," conducted by James E. Rogers Conducting Fellow Jackson Warren. The remainder of the program includes Richard Wagner's "Siegfried Idyll" and Johannes Brahms's Symphony No. 4 in E minor, Op. 98 conducted by music director Thomas Cockrell.

Three titans dominated classical music at the end of the 19th century, each the master of their respective domain: Verdi for Italian opera, Richard Wagner for German opera and Johannes Brahms for instrumental music. All three works on the program define the romantic aesthetic of the 19th century, while also illustrating each composer's distinctive style. Verdi's overture to the opera "La forza del destino" is an energetic tour de force, incorporating themes from the opera in a fiery concert opener. It remains Verdi's most popular concert work. While Richard Wagner is best known for his gigantic operas, his "Siegfried Idyll" shows a much different side to the composer. Written as a surprise birthday present for his wife, Cosima, and premiered on the staircase leading to the couple's bedroom, "Siegfried Idyll" is an intimate chamber sized work using motifs from Wagner's opera "Siegfried." Johannes Brahms held off writing symphonies until late in his career, but then composed four masterpieces that have become staples of the concert repertoire. His last symphony, No. 4 in E minor, is arguably his finest, successfully combining classical balance with romantic sensibilities. The famous finale is a symphonic passacaglia, which, in the hands of Brahms, is transformed into a powerful spiritual voyage.

The Arizona Symphony, the University of Arizona's pre-professional orchestral ensemble, performs challenging concert programs and collaborates frequently with the UA Opera Theatre and School of Dance productions.