Program Notes

October 5, 2008

3:30 PM

 

Copland: An Outdoor Overture

Mozart: Sinfonia Concertante for Violin and Viola

     Adrian and Cornelia Demian, Soloists

Dvorák: Symphony No. 7 in D Major

Tonight’s Guests

Adrian Demian

In his fifth season as concertmaster of the New Philharmonic Orchestra of Irving, the Romanian born violinist Adrian Demian began studying the violin at the age of 6 and made his debut as a soloist at the age of 12 with the Arad Symphony Orchestra.

At the age of 24 he became one of the youngest ever violinists to be offered a position as violin Professor with the Bucharest National University of Music. Until he moved to the U.S. six years later, he maintained a very successful studio; his students won several awards in national and international violin and chamber music competitions.

In addition to his busy schedule as a chamber musician, Adrian Demian participated in international music festivals in Romania, Canada and the U.S., as well as on tours of France, Switzerland, Spain, Turkey, and Poland. He has performed as a soloist with Banatul Symphony Orchestra, Arad Symphony Orchestra, Bucharest National University of Music Orchestra and the New Philharmonic Orchestra of Irving.

Also a middle school orchestra teacher in Irving, in his spare time Adrian Demian enjoys spending time with his family, and watching British comedies on PBS.

Cornelia Demian

An avid performer of chamber music, Cornelia Demian began studying music in her native Romania at the Ion Vidu School of Music, and later on at the West University of Timisoara where she graduated with a Bachelor of Music in 1999 at the head of her class. She was also a scholarship recipient at the Académie Royale de Bruxelles in Belgium and L’isola San Giulio Chamber Music Program in Italy. In 2005 she received her Master of Music in Performance from SMU.

Ms. Demian has toured extensively throughout Romania, Germany and France as soloist with the West University Orchestra. She has played  numerous solo and chamber music recitals and participated in international music festivals in Romania, France, Italy, Germany, Canada and the U.S.

She has been prize winner at several national and international competitions including first prize at the Deva National Competition in Romania (1990), and third prize at the George Enescu National Competition (1996). Ms. Demian was selected in 2006 as a competitor in the prestigious Naumburg Competition in New York City.

Ms. Demian plays an Augustin Chappuy viola, ca. 1765.

TONIGHT’S PROGRAM

An Outdoor Overture

Aaron Copland (b Brooklyn ; d North Tarrytown, 1990)

In 1938 Copland was approached by Alexander Richter of the High School of Music and Art in New York City to compose a piece for the school’s campaign “American Music for American Youth”. An Outdoor Overture was the result and Copland produced scores for both band and orchestra. Billy the Kid was also composed the same year and the two works share some similarities. The first performance was in December of 1938 at the High School of Music and Art.

Sinfonia Concertante

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart  (b Salzburg, 1756; d Vienna, 1791)

The Sinfonia Concertante was composed in 1779 shortly before Mozart was to leave his birth place Salzburg which he so despised. The same year produced the Coronation Mass and the Two-Piano Concerto, K 365.

The title, Sinfonia Concertante reveals the hybrid nature of this work. The term “sinfonia” (symphony) indicates a large orchestral work with no soloists. “Concertante” evokes the Concerto-Grosso concept of the Baroque featuring a group of soloists pitted against a full orchestra. Although the violin and viola solo parts tend to come to the fore in the texture, the orchestra appears more as a participating equal. This partnership is associated with Mozart’s later concertos.

Although Mozart was a highly celebrated violin soloist, he preferred playing the darker toned viola in chamber music performances. Both instruments, therefore, receive equally sympathetic presentations.

Symphony No. 7 in D Major

Antonin Dvorák (b Bohemia, 1841; d Prague, 1904)

As a young music student Antonin Dvorák was said to have had a weak grasp of music theory and construction. A determined composer, Dvorák studied scores of numerous Classical Period symphonies and gained knowledge in orchestration as an orchestral violist. In 1878 Dvorák achieved success with the first installment of his Slavonic Dances. Seven years later Dvorák produced his first undisputed symphonic masterpiece, the Symphony No. 7 (originally billed as No. 2). Commissioned by the Philharmonic Society of London, the Seventh Symphony is imbued with the dance rhythms and folk idioms of Dvorák’s native Czechoslovakia. A furiant is found in the third movement scherzo of the Seventh Symphony. In addition to these folk elements, the Seventh Symphony was given an epic breadth and heroic scale. The climax of the symphony occurs at the end of the last movement when the D minor of the work gives way to a brilliant D major.