Lawrence Eckerling, Music Director
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky was born on May 7, 1840, in Votkinsk, a small town in Vyatka Governorate within the Russian Empire. He had five brothers and one sister, with whom he was very close. He was initially educated for a career as a civil servant. Still, when the opportunity to study music arose, he took full advantage and entered the newly formed Saint Petersburg Conservatory, graduating in 1865.
Of all the pieces Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) wrote, his Clarinet Concerto is the only one of its kind that he composed shortly before his death. Often described as Mozart’s “swan song,” the concerto was written for his friend, Anton Stadler, who performed in many of Mozart’s symphonies and operas. Stadler also inspired another one of Mozart’s popular works, the Clarinet Quintet, for two violins, viola, cello, and, of course, the clarinet.
Stacy Garrop is a contemporary American composer whose music often tells stories drawn from myth, history, and lived experience. Based in Chicago, she has built a reputation for writing works that are both dramatically expressive and immediately accessible to audiences. Her career began in academia, with degrees from the University of Michigan, the University of Chicago, and Indiana University, followed by a long tenure teaching composition before she turned her full attention to freelancing.
English composer Edward Elgar (1847-1954) was born in the small village of Lower Broadheath, near Worcester, England. Elgar’s most popular orchestral compositions include Variations On An Original Theme ("Enigma Variations)," "Pomp and Circumstance," and his cello concerto.
Before the Austrian composer and conductor Erich Wolfgang Korngold (1897-1957) became one of Hollywood’s most influential film composers, he was a child piano prodigy. Growing up in a musical family (his father was a music critic; his brother was a musician), Korngold began composing at age 7. At age 11, he composed his ballet Der Schneemann; at age 12, he composed a piano trio; and at age 14 he wrote the Schauspiel-Ouvertüre, his first orchestral score. By his late teens, Korngold had also written operas and chamber music.
How lucky can one orchestra be?! Maya Anjali Buchanan, the soloist for our May 14, 2023, concert, was so well received by our audience that she’s coming back to open our 2024-2025 season on November 3 with the Korngold Violin Concerto. Here’s an update of our last interview:
Jessie Montgomery, composer, violinist, and educator, was born December 8, 1981, in Manhattan’s Lower East Side to artistic parents. Her mother, award-winning playwright Robbie McCauley, wrote traditional and experimental plays addressing race throughout the 1970s and into the 2010s before her death in 2021. Her father, Edward Montgomery, ran a studio for myriad artistic styles and practiced with her every day.
Czech composer Antonin Dvořák was born in 1841 in Nelahozeves (near Prague) in the Austrian Empire. The oldest of 14 children, Antonin’s upbringing in Nelahozeves nurtured his strong Bohemian heritage, which so strongly influenced his music. Dvořák took organ, piano, and violin lessons and at the young age of 14, composed the Forget-Me-Not Polka in C in 1855.
Symphony No. 41 in C Major was Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s (1756-1791) longest symphony and the last one he composed. It made a powerful and lasting impression and was tellingly nicknamed “Jupiter"—it conveys an allure, exuberance, and grand scale reminiscent of the most powerful Roman deity, Jupiter.
Florence (Smith) Price (1887 – 1953) was born in Little Rock, Arkansas, the daughter of a dentist father and music teacher mother. Florence’s mother was instrumental in her early musical training. A music prodigy, Florence attended the New England Conservatory, double-majoring in organ and piano teaching.