The Brigham Young University School of Music will present the Philharmonic Orchestra directed by Kory Katseanes in a performance of Igor Stravinky's landmark "The Rite of Spring" Thursday, April 4, at 7:30 p.m. in the de Jong Concert Hall.
Tickets are available at the Fine Arts Ticket Office, 801-422-4322, byuarts.com/tickets.
The program will open with Claude Debussy's "Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun" with Denisse Vallecillos, graduate student conductor. Faculty member Monte Belknap will then join Katseanes and the orchestra for the Concerto for Violin and Orchestra by American composer Samuel Barber (1910-1981).
Following an intermission, the Philharmonic will then perform "The Rite of Spring (Le Sacre du printemps)," a ballet and orchestral concert work composed for the 1913 Paris season of Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes. When first performed, the avant-garde nature of the music and choreography caused a near-riot in the audience.
Although designed as a work for the stage, with specific passages accompanying characters and action, the music achieved growing success as a concert piece and later became recognised as one of the most influential musical works of the 20th century. It is widely performed in the concert hall, and is frequently revived on the stage.
The Philharmonic Orchestra plays compositions from all musical periods, focusing on the romantic period but also including 20th- and 21st-century music. Bringing these great symphonic works to life are 95 of the university's finest musicians.
For more information, contact Kenneth Crossley, (801) 422-9348, ken_crossley@byu.edu.
