Rutter’s Gloria & Sacred and Secular Holiday Hits

Performers: Reston Chorale & Amadeus Brass
Conductor: David Lang
Venue: Reston Community Center
Date/Time: Saturday, December 1, 2012 at 4 pm, repeated at 7:30 pm
Tickets: This concert is included with the Amadeus 2012-13 series for Amadeus Season Pass holders only. Everyone else should order tickets direct from Reston Chorale at InstantSeats. $25 Adults (19+); $20 Seniors and Youth (16-18); Youth under 16 are admitted free with a paying ticketholder.

Delight in the sounds of the holiday season with The Reston Chorale and the Amadeus Brass as they present John Rutter’s Gloria, one of the world’s most-performed modern works, and excerpts from Handel’s Judas Maccabeus. The performance will also feature many holiday favorites, including Home for the Holidays, Little Drummer Boy, The Winter’s Night and O Tannenbaum.

The Amadeus Brass also celebrates the 400th anniversary of Giovanni Gabrieli, the antiphonal master of Venice’s Saint Mark’s Basilica.

Fairfax Choral Society

Entering its 50th season, the acclaimed 120-member Fairfax Choral Society performs choral masterworks from the classic music of Bach’s Mass in B Minor to the contemporary sounds of Orff’s Carmina Burana.

The Adult Symphonic Chorus is conducted by Artistic Director Dr. Douglas Mears. The Adult Chorus has received rave reviews for its performance of choral masterworks in collaboration with the Fairfax Symphony, Cathedral Choral Society, Choral Arts Society, National Symphony Orchestra, City of Fairfax Band, and other arts organizations in the region. The Washington Post has described the chorus as “…confident and polished…this chorus produced waves of gorgeous tones and a rich tapestry of color…the effect of some very skillful conducting.”

More info: Fairfax Choral Society

Berta Rojas, Guitar

Emerging Artist Award Recipient

Renowned for her flawless technique and innate musicality, Berta Rojas ranks among today’s foremost classical guitarists. She has been praised as “guitarist extraordinaire” by the Washington Post, and by Classical Guitar magazine as an “Ambassador of the classical guitar.”

Her warmth and heart-touching musical artistry delights audiences wherever she performs.

Several years ago Berta Rojas received the Amadeus Concerts’ Emerging Artist Award and later performed the Rodrigo Guitar Concerto with the Amadeus Orchestra.

Jessica Stecklein, Soprano

Previous Emerging Artist Award Winner

Recognized as Washington’s gift to opera, Lyric Coloratura Soprano Jessica Stecklein (nee Swink) possesses a unique voice of angelic beauty imbued with a luscious richness that has always succeeded in moving and delighting her audiences. Ms. Stecklein has enjoyed popular and critical acclaim in all of her performances. She sang the role of Essy Baker in the premier of Democracy, and with the Washington National Opera as Pamina in Die Zauberflote. With Opera International Jessica sang the role of Blanche in the Dialogues of the Carmelites, as Gilda in the fourth act of Rigoletto and performed in their 2005 Operatic Vocal Gala at The Music Center at Strathmore.

Mrs. Stecklein performed Samuel Barber’s Knoxville, summer of 1915 with the National Symphony as the Winner in their Young Soloists Competition at the Kennedy Center and in Ravel’s L’Enfant et les Sortileges and Gounod’s Messe Solonelle. She recorded a duet Belle Nuit from The Tales of Hoffman with Denyce Graves for a PBS Television Special and performed with her in Grendel at Lincoln Center and at Los Angeles Opera where she was a Resident Artist.

Visit Jessica Stecklein’s website to read more!

Petr & Josef Špaček, Violin & Cello

Previous Emerging Artist Award Winners

Petr Špaček was born in 1988 in Trebíč, Czech Republic. Petr began playing the cello at the age of 6. He continued his studies at the Prague Conservatory with Valdan Koci from 2003 until December 2008.

Petr has won several competitions and scholarships. Among his most recent achievements are the grand prize at the International Radio Competition Concertino Praga and a successful audition to join the European Union Youth Orchestra.  As a soloist he has performed with orchestras such as the Czech Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Prague Symphony Orchestra, the Bohuslav Martinu Philharmonic Orchestra, the Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra, the Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra of South Bohemia, and many others. Additionally, he has collaborated with numerous conductors including Vladimir Valek, Petr Vronsky, Stanislav Vavrinek, and Jaroslav Brych, among others. Petr has performed in Europe, North America and Asia in halls such as Sapporo Concert Hall in Japan, Jordan Hall in Boston, Dvorak Hall of Rudolfinum and Smetana Hall of the Municipal House in Prague. Petr regularly performs with his brother, Josef Špaček, the concertmaster of the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra.

Josef Špaček was born in the Czech Republic, virtuoso Josef Špacek’s most recent appointment as the youngest ever concert master of the Czech Philharmonic is a testament to his incredible talent. The 25 year-old balances the prestigious role with his flourishing solo career. In 2009, Josef won the Michael Hill International Violin Competition and both Third Prize and the Young People’s Jury Prize in the Carl Nielsen International Violin Competition in 2008. Josef has been guided by some of the most highly regarded pedagogues, including Ida Kavafian and Jaime Laredo at the Curtis Institute of Music and Itzhak Perlman at the Juilliard School.

As a soloist, Josef has appeared with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Prague Philharmonia, Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra, Kansas City Symphony, Queensland Symphony Orchestra, Czech Chamber Orchestra, Brno Philharmonic, Bohuslav Martinu Philharmonic and the Russian Chamber Philharmonic.

The winner of the International Radio Competition Concertino Praga, founder of Prague Cello Quartet, soloist with major Czech orchestras, and a student at one of the most prestigious American universities, the New England Conservatory in Boston.

“Ascending” Program Notes – September 16

Ascending – September 16, 2012

Three Compositions Inspired by Nature and One Created by a Force of Nature
by Sanford Brotman

A warm welcome to our 32nd season at Amadeus Concerts. Before going to the usual format of informing you about the composers and suggesting some points to focus on, I have something else for you to ponder; something that I am frankly surprised took me seven years of writing these notes to realize.

If you count up the number of musicians on stage, including the soloist and the conductor, you might get a figure like 38. Then assuming an average of 25 years of studying and performing for each—some, of course, much more and some much less, but an average —we have more than 900 years in front of us.

Make of it what you will, but when I listen to music on the radio, TV, on a CD, DVD, or whatever gadget I might be tuned into, I may feel a connection to the music, but not to the musicians, not to the effort of fellow beings who make it. Today, as I have with all live performances,I will feel that connection. But until today I never quantified, to quote
Winston Churchill, the “blood, toil, tears, and sweat” that it takes to get here. Today, and from now on, when I applaud it will be as much for this as for the fine music.

The Hebrides Overture (a.k.a. Fingal’s Cave) by Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847)—German. Like most young men of his day with breeding and wealth, Mendelssohn went on the Grand Tour: to England, to France and Italy. From his visit to Scotland and to the Hebrides Islands off its coast, he was moved to start making two beautifully atmospheric works: today’s short piece and the very popular Symphony No. 3 (the “Scottish”). When asked for his impression of his visit, he said, “It cannot be told, only played.”

Symphony No. 8 in F major, Opus 93 by Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)—German. He composed his penultimate symphony in 1812 and conducted its first performance in 1814.

After so much groundbreaking music, the enfant terrible seems to return to classicism: more proportional and balanced. Except that the 1st and 4th movements are like runaway horses (69 bars/minute in the first and 84 in the last). Also, there is no slow movement (and Beethoven was master of the slow movement).

1st movement (Allegro vivace e con brio)—There is no slow introduction here: in a hurry. Takes a brief respite, and then ramps up again: bold, imaginative, capricious, fiery. The intensity is made more intense by the occasional silences.

2nd movement (Allegretto scherzando)—Instead of a slow movement here, we are treated to a musical joke, a witty salute to the inventor of the first practical metronome, Johann Maelzel. Listen for the “amiable” ticking that dominates this movement.

3rd movement (Tempo di Menuetto)—More courtly, a throwback to Haydn and Mozart. Listen for the famous horn solo.

4th movement (Allegro vivace)—Back to hyper-speed, but even faster! After the composer brings the tempo way down, notice the “breaths of silence.” Then comes a startling explosion. It “normalizes” at this point and appears to be headed for a swift, light finale. Don’t you believe it: Beethoven will give us an enormous coda, ending in a jubilant climax.

Fourth of July in Great Falls

The Amadeus Brass, including Maestro A. Scott Wood on trumpet, join in the Fourth of July celebrations each year in Great Falls, VA.

For many years members of the Amadeus Concerts brass section  have performed at 4th of July parade and community celebration in Great Falls, VA.