March 7 symphony to be held at Gavilan College
Published in the March 4 – 17, 2015 issue of Morgan Hill Life
By Staff Report
Photo by Marty Cheek
Cellist Elena Ariza will perform with the South Valley Symphony March 7.
Musicians Among Us, Rising Stars is the theme of the South Valley Symphony’s March 7 concert, celebrating the musical talents of the younger members of its symphonic family.
The concert will be held at Gavilan Community College’s Gilroy campus’s theater starting at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $20 for adults and seniors and children and students with identification can get in free (but a ticket is still required).
Among the young talent from Morgan Hill on showcase at the concert is 20-year-old Chris Niemann’s world premiere of his composed musical piece “Chasing Dreams.” A 2013 graduate of Sobrato High School and now a student at West Valley College in Saratoga, Niemann said influences on the piece come from “older film scoring” including “Star Wars” composer John Williams.
“This piece is dedicated to my friends in the music department at West Valley College. Basically, it’s about change and uncertainty,” he said. “Everyone who I know is constantly changing their idea on what they want to do with their lives. And this composition really brings out that concept of not really knowing what I want to do with my life yet and chasing what you want to do.”
Niemann said he is now in his own state of uncertainty in regards to where he might like to pursue a career.
“I’m not sure what I want to do musically,” he said. “Do I want to do composing, do I want to do conducting, do I want to do film score composing? I’m not sure yet.”
This is the second symphonic composition written by Niemann specially for the South Valley Symphony. The first was written when he was a senior in high school.
“Chris is young, barely off the starting gate in life and achieving mega success as a composer,” said symphony conductor and music director Anthony Quartuccio.
The upcoming concert will be an exciting one for the audience because it will take them on an adventure where they will experience new ways of appreciating symphonic music, he said.
“It’s all about brand new stuff,” he said. “Youth, youth, youth, youth and brand new things.”
Another highlight of the concert is the debut of 16-year-old cellist Elena Ariza who won the symphony’s annual Al Navaroli Young Musicians Competition in January. She will be performing Dvorak’s “Cello Concerto in B Minor” with the orchestra.
The piece conjures up a huge gamut of emotion and a large pallet of expression, Quartuccio said. It’s an “epic event” because the South Valley Symphony has never done this piece in its entirety before.
The concert will get off to a jovial start with a performance of Otto Nicolai’s masterpiece “The Merry Wives of Windsor Overture” from the opera based on Shakespeare’s comedy of Falstaff’s misadventures with a group of conniving women. It reflects Shakespeare’s comical spirit as a light-hearted way to start the concert, Quartuccio said. Another piece that will be performed by the symphony is Mozart’s “Concert in C major for Oboe” with soloist Hiroyuki Otani performing. It will be a “farewell performance” of Otani because he will soon be returning to his homeland of Japan.
Quartuccio is impressed with how the symphony’s musicians have grown in the past few years in terms of the quality of each concert.
“The level gets higher and higher each time,” he said. “We are in a high place right now and we want to share that excitement and commitment to our community.”
Children with a paying parent and students with I.D. can enjoy the concert for free, said South Valley Symphony Board President Lynn Lockhart.
“There should be no gap in the age groups of who gets access to great music,” he said. “Great music belongs to all of us. We want to not only get kids exposed, we want to get them in for free.”
Families with children will especially enjoy the March 7 concert and possibly learn to love symphonic music, he said.
“If you love music, this is going to be outstanding,” Lockhart said. “It’s a great way for people who might not have been exposed to classical music on a concert level to come and learn to appreciate this musical art form.”
