Press and News

Peninsula Symphony Honors the Oscars with The Red Violin

Friday, March 19, 2010, 8pm, San Mateo Performing Arts Center
Saturday, March 20, 2010, 8pm, Flint Center, Cupertino

February 2010 -- Los Altos, CA: 
Come explore the mystery of Mendelssohn’s 1720 “Red Violin” played by Elizabeth Pitcairn, as the Peninsula Symphony continues its 61st season of “Young Artists, Old Masters.”  Selections include Copland’s The Red Pony; Corigliano’s Red Violin Chaconne andRavel’s Tzigane, both featuring Ms. Pitcairn, and Mendelssohn’s Scottish Symphony.  Performances take place on Friday and Saturday March 19 & 20 at 8pm at the San Mateo Performing Arts Center and the Flint Center in Cupertino. 

Tickets are $35 General Admission, $30 Senior/Student and $10 Youth.

“We are excited to present violinist Elizabeth Pitcairn, who performs in partnership with one of the world's most legendary musical instruments, the Red Mendelssohn Stradivarius of 1720, which inspired the Academy award-winning film The Red Violin,” remarks Music Director and Conductor, Mitchell Sardou Klein.

The music for that film was composed by the great American composer John Corigliano. Following the spectacular success of the film, he composed a concert piece, featuring solo violin, which encapsulates the dramatic episodes of the movie. This is the piece that the Symphony will perform - Corigliano’s Red Violin Chaconne, with Ms. Pitcairn as the featured soloist on the very instrument that inspired the story.  Ms. Pitcairn will also play Ravel’s gypsy-fantasy Tzigane, a fiery showpiece, which demonstrates her ability to “become at-one with her music so that her playing touches all those in her audience.”

The program opens with excerpts from the Red Pony Suite, another concert work based on a great film score by a legendary American composer, in this case Aaron Copland. It is music filled with all the energy, conflict and tenderness of that touching film from 1949, The Red Pony.

Returning to the Mendelssohn and Red Violin theme, the Symphony will conclude the evening with Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 3.  The Mendelssohn family owned the Red Violin in the early 1800’s. So, it is appropriate that Mendelssohn’s rhapsodic Scottish Symphony caps this unusual program. The twenty year old Mendelssohn was deeply moved by his trip to Scotland in 1829, and in particular, by his experiences at Holyrood Castle, where so much of the tragic story of Mary, Queen of Scots occurred. All the triumph and sorrow of her story infuses this gorgeous symphony, one of Mendelssohn’s finest and most affecting compositions.

For information, please contact:

Katie Bartholomew, Peninsula Symphony
650-941-5291  /  katie@peninsulasymphony.org

The Peninsula Symphony, a 90-member community orchestra led by Music Director and Conductor Mitchell Sardou Klein, celebrates its 60th anniversary of providing unique and first-class music to the Bay Area community.  In addition, as part of its “Bridges to Music” outreach programs, the Symphony shares its passion for music by offering programs in schools, providing free or discounted tickets to students and their families, hosting two competitions for students, and presenting a free family concert and outdoor summer concert.  This season the Orchestra performs concerts in venues from Cupertino to San Mateo.  For tickets or more information visit www.peninsulasymphony.org or call (650) 941-5291.