Christopher Niemann wrote five- minute composition in a few days
Published in the December 9 – 22, 2015 issue of Morgan Hill Life
By Staff Report
Morgan Hill Life file photo
Christopher Niemann conducts the South Valley Symphony during a performance in March.
The South Valley Symphony will honor the victims of the Nov. 13 terrorist attacks in Paris with a special piece composed by Sobrato High School graduate Christopher Niemann. The composition will be performed during the symphony’s “Holiday Panorama” concert at the Gavilan Community College Theater 4 p.m. Dec. 13.
The symphony’s music director and conductor Anthony Quartuccio calls Niemann’s piece “very poignant, very personal” and said he was amazed that something of this quality was composed in a few days.
“In light of what happened in Paris last month, Christopher Niemann, our wonderful composer in residence, contacted me immediately and said, ‘I need to write something to use music as a healing for what happened in Paris.’ And I said, ‘OK, let me know what you’ve got,’” Quartuccio said. “In a matter of days he completed a full-orchestral piece as a remembrance of those who lost their lives in Paris. It’s a short piece but it’s really good.”
The piece takes about five minutes to perform, he said.
Quartuccio made the decision to have the orchestra perform the new piece of music at the winter concert because the holiday season is a “season of giving” and the music can help people heal after a tragedy.
A 2013 graduate of Sobrato where he first developed his talent in music composition, Niemann, 20, said he hopes the audience will feel motivated to “move on from this tragedy” after hearing the composition.
“Being barely old enough to remember the 9/11 attacks and living through the aftermath, I remember the sensation of being extremely helpless,” he said. “Everyone from around the world watching such terrible events happen through the news and wanting to help when all you could do was watch. I never thought that I would have to experience that feeling of helplessness again. The idea to create a piece in honor of the victims came through the feeling of helplessness; because it’s very hard to just sit and do nothing when people around you are suffering.”
Niemann has composed and conducted several pieces performed by the South Valley Symphony, including at the Oct. 10 concert a special composition called “In the Halls of the Overlook” based on the Stephen King novel “The Shining.” Niemann is “clearly maturing” as a creator of quality music, Quartuccio said.
Morgan Hill Life file photo
Sobrato High School grad Christopher Niemann conducts the South Valley Symphony during a performance last March.
“For a composer to write something so quickly, I’m very skeptical because I’m not sure what we’re going to get,” he said of Niemann’s Paris commemoration composition. “But it’s truly a good piece. It’s very moving and emotional.”
The selection of other pieces will give the audience a festive feeling for the holidays, the conductor said. Top billing at the concert will go to two guest artists, soprano Milena Georgieva who will sing Mozart’s “Exsultate Jubilate,” and soloist Greg Chambers performing John Williams’ “Escapades for Saxophone & Orchestra.” The orchestra will also perform selections from Tchaikovsky’s ballet “Sleeping Beauty.” Leroy Anderson’s “Christmas Festival” will complete the concert with a medley of songs taking the audience into the festive spirit of the season.
“There were so much resonance from the audience from our starting new traditions last year that I think we’ll continue that,” Quartuccio said. “Holiday Panorama offers an incredible variety of music. We’re going to do everything from traditional Christmas melodies that people love and cherish. Leroy Anderson’s ‘Sleigh Ride’ and the ‘Christmas Festival’ are the most famous orchestra medley of Christmas carols that have ever been published. We’re going to make sure people get their fill of Christmas holiday music without having the entire program that is.”
Greg Chambers is a music teacher at Sobrato High School and a master of the saxophone. The solo “Escapades” that he will be performing as a solo is based on Williams’ film score for the 2002 Steven Spielberg movie “Catch Me If You Can,” Quartuccio said.
“It’s movie music orchestrated for saxophone, percussion and full orchestra,” he said. “It’s a new tradition, a new piece for us, brand-new off the charts, so we’re going to share some really great local talent from Greg and share some movie music orchestrated for a soloist. That’s going to be fun, and it’s very festive which is one of the reasons we’re doing this in December.”
Soprano opera singer Milena Georgieva who comes from Eastern Europe will sing Mozart’s Exsultate Jubilate,which means “Shout for Joy,” he said. Typically this piece is done in the holiday seasons.
“It’s a wonderful piece of a human voice singing praises to the heavens with the orchestra in the style of Mozart,” Quartuccio said. “And it fits beautifully.”
Quartuccio made the decision to do “Sleeping Beauty” at the Holiday Panorama to bring a new tradition to the concert.
“Playing Tchaikovsky ballet music during the holidays is a favorite tradition for us,” he said. “Most people have heard ‘The Nutcracker’ (pieces) — we’ve done that many times. But we decided as a new tradition to take on another ballet of Tchaikovsky with some of the most sumptuously beautiful and melodic writing you can imagine. It’s just gorgeous, melodic, festive music played by our orchestra. It’s one of those pieces that’s a ‘gotcha’ because people will hear it and they’ll go I’ve heard that, I know that. It’s so beautiful to hear it live and not on a recording in a car or the television.”
Along with the Mother’s Day concert at the San Juan Bautista Mission, the symphony’s holiday concert is so popular that it usually sells out, so Quartuccio recommends buying tickets early online on the symphony’s website at southvalleysymphony.org or at Morgan Hill’s BookSmart store, Gilroy’s Porcellas Music and First Street Cafe, Hollister’s PostalGraphics or San Juan Bautista’s The Mission Gallery.
Quartuccio encourages families to share the festive fun of the holidays by attending the upcoming concert. Children can attend for free with accompanying paying adult (but the child must get a ticket to be admitted). Students with identification can also attend the concerts for free.
During the intermission, Quartuccio invites children on the stage to learn about the various instruments.
“You’ve got everything from the movies to classical music to new pieces, to soloists who are playing at the top of their field,” he said. “We’re bringing in people from local and remote places to share their talent and families should experience the whole spectrum of these flavors in music.”
