Grand scale pieces” that have invaded pop culture will be showcased in this year’s Artosphere Festival Orchestra concerts.
Joel Link, a concertmaster for the Artosphere Festival Orchestra, says Maestro Corrado Rovaris chose pieces that are played frequently and are recognizable to many people. These are works that have been featured in film and other media, but he says Rovaris tries to get an energy from the orchestra that is very different. The public concerts are today and June 28 at Walton Arts Center in Fayetteville.
The orchestra includes more than 80 classical musicians from 17 countries and 28 states, according to an Artosphere press release. Link, 24, says the orchestra is quite competitive, and each artist really has to be at the top of his game when he enters. The performers are very young and have to keep earning their place each year.
“It definitely keeps everyone on their toes,” Link says. He adds that Rovaris brings out the best in all the performers.
Link says a string quartet plays the principal parts in the orchestra, a choice made so the orchestra would have a unified feel. Link, a member of the Dover Quartet, is a principal violinist in the orchestra, and this is the quartet’s third year to perform with the Artosphere Festival Orchestra. He says he likes string instruments because he feels they can “really capture a huge range of emotion.”
The first concert will feature two works by Beethoven - the Beethoven Concerto for Violin, Cello and Piano in C major, Op. 56, “Triple Concerto.” Thispiece was originally meant to be a cello concerto, but Beethoven then decided to turn it into a triple concerto, Link explains. It will feature Andrew Tyson on piano, Camden Shaw on cello and Bryan Lee on violin. Lee and Shaw are also members of the Dover Quartet.
The other work selected for tonight’s concert is Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 in A major, Op. 92. Link says it is an amazing piece that is very grand, and he expects people will recognize it because one of its movements is used in many films.
The second public orchestra concert is called Russian Masterpieces. Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Op. 18, will be performed, and Tyson will be the featured pianist with the orchestra. Link says Rachmaninoff’s works are “romanticism at its pinnacle.” Rachmaninoff wrote extensively for the piano and really understood the instrument, so his concertos are extremely difficult for pianists because he knew how far to push the limits of the instrument, Link explains. He notes this piece may also be recognizable to concert goers.
Paired with the Rachmaninoff work is Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5 in E Minor, Op. 64.
Tchaikovsky wrote “extremelychallengingly for the strings,” Link says.
“Violin parts are always particularly treacherous, surprisingly difficult,” he adds.
This piece is romantic, and Link believes it will be something everyone will be excited to hear.
The orchestra will also be doing a broadcast called Live From Crystal Bridges: Mozart in the Museum Monday in the Great Hall at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville. The event is closed to the public but will be broadcast at 8 p.m. on KUAF 91.3 FM and kuaf.org.
Link believes people can relate to all of these pieces, even though many don’t think they will enjoy classical music.
“I think truly on every level, classical music speaks to everyone.”
Whats Up, Pages 14 on 06/21/2013