Concert features Concerto No. 1 by Saint-Saens, Mendelssohn’s Midsummer Night’s Dream Overture, and works by Debussy, Griffes, and Khatchaturian.
Join Pasadena Community Orchestra, Music Director Bethany Pflueger, and cellist Catherine Biagini, on a musical world tour! Biagini has toured the United States, Italy, and China with various orchestras, and has worked with luminaries such as Yo-Yo Ma, Itzhak Perlman, Pinchas Zukerman, and Mstislv Rostropovich. She is principal cellist of the Asia American Symphony, Santa Cecilia Orchestra, and Burbank Philharmonic, and also performs with a band whose repertoire ranges from Renaissance to Metallica. In Saint-Saens’ Cello Concerto No. 1, she will sweep the audience up in the current of the cello’s majestic power and rich singing ability. Like the Cello Concerto, Mendelssohn’s Midsummer Night’s Dream Overture has been a hit with audiences since its premiere. The music transports us to the magic-filled woods of Shakespeare’s play, filled with flitting fairies, tender lovers, and the braying of the hapless man turned into a donkey.
The other three works on the program are all about dancing. In Cortege et Air de Danse, Debussy’s dreamy, Impressionist music depicts Middle Eastern revelers dancing. American composer Charles Griffes’ The Pleasure Dome of Kubla Khan, takes us on a dreamy journey down ‘the sacred river’ of Coleridge’s poem. Heading slightly west, the orchestra presents Khatchaturian’s Sabre Dance, based on a Kurdish folk dance. Reflecting Armenian folk themes, the music leaves audiences breathless with its driving pulse and melodies, and the excitement of unexpected accents.
Admission to the concert is free, and audience members may meet the musicians at a reception following the concert.
