April 2, 2019

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Springtime Sounds with the Richmond Symphony: Copland, Spohr, and Schubert in the Metro Collection at Randolph-Macon College

Sunday, April 28 at 3pm
Blackwell Auditorium at Randolph-Macon College

April 2, 2019 – Richmond, Virginia: Welcome spring with the sounds of the Richmond Symphony at the Metro Collection concert: Copland, Spohr, and Schubert, Sunday April 28 at 3pm in the Blackwell Auditorium at Randolph-Macon College. We invite audiences to experience the personal connection of the power of live music in this intimate setting, featuring smaller scale, but no less inspiring, classical works. Conducted by Chia-Hsuan Lin and featuring clarinetist David Lemelin, this concert makes for a perfect Sunday afternoon!

A native of Québec, Canada, David Lemelin is currently Principal Clarinetist with the Richmond Symphony. Before joining the Symphony, David was 2nd/Eb clarinetist with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra and also previously served a 4-year fellowship with the New World Symphony in Miami Beach where he had the opportunity to work with a wide array of renowned musicians and conductors. In November 2011, David was a winner of the New World Symphony Concerto Competition and performed a concerto with the orchestra. In addition, he has played with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, and the Orchestre Symphonique de Sherbrooke. David received his Master of Music from DePaul University in Chicago and his Bachelor of Music from McGill University in Montreal, both in Clarinet Performance. His main teachers include Larry Combs, Robert Crowley, and Nathalie DeGrâce.

Copland began composing Music for the Theatre in 1925 and initially called it Incidental Music for an Imaginary Drama. When he changed to the current title, Copland was careful to place a disclaimer in the score: “The composer had no play or literary idea in mind. The title simply implies that at times this music has a quality which is suggestive of the theatre.” In the piece, you can hear the budding nationalism that comes to fruition in Copland’s later works as he paved the way for a truly American “classical” music. For the national element Copland turned to jazz: “I was preoccupied with the idea of adding to the great history of serious music something with an American accent, and [jazz] was an easy way to be an American,” he said.

Schubert was one of those incredibly talented composers who started studying and writing music at an early age. By the time he was a teenager, he had already produced piano pieces, many songs, several string quartets, a symphony, and an opera. Schubert began work on his Symphony in C Major when he was only nineteen. Schubert idolized Beethoven and this symphony contains some of the drama and explosive jabs found in Beethoven’s symphonies. When Schubert wrote Symphony in C major, the music of Gioacchino Rossini was currently the rage in Vienna and Schubert modeled much of this music on Rossini’s light-hearted style. The only performance this symphony received during Schubert’s lifetime was during a Schubertiade.

When Spohr wrote his concerto for clarinet the instrument had only five keys. He admitted he didn’t know what he was doing, but successfully produced a time-honored piece in the classical music cannon. Aside from the obvious virtuosic aspects of Spohr’s Clarinet Concerto No. 1, there are some unusual elements. It is in a minor key, and the orchestra plays a slow introduction. The slow movement confines the accompaniment to just violins and cellos. In spite of the minor key, the third movement has a jaunty quality to it. Instead of ending with a technical flourish, there is a surprising and sudden fade to nothing.

Tickets are $22 for adults, $20 for seniors and active military, and $10 for children and college students. Purchase tickets online at richmondsymphony.com or by calling 1.800.514.ETIX. A free pre-concert talk will be held from 2 – 2:30pm in the Dollar Tree Community Room on the second floor of Brock Commons across from the Blackwell Auditorium. This concert is sponsored by WCVE Community Idea Stations and Mr. Ralph Crosby.

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Sunday, April 28, 2019 at 3:00 PM

RICHMOND SYMPHONY

Metro Collection Series 4

Chia-Hsuan Lin, conductor

David Lemelin, clarinet

About the Richmond Symphony (www.richmondsymphony.com):

Kicking off its 61st Season in September 2018, the Richmond Symphony is the largest performing arts organization in Central Virginia. The organization includes an orchestra of more than 70 professional musicians, the 150-voice Richmond Symphony Chorus and more than 260 students in the Richmond Symphony Youth Orchestra programs. Each season, more than 200,000 members of the community enjoy live concerts and radio broadcasts. The Symphony also provides educational outreach programs to over 55,000 students and teachers each year. The Symphony was recently named one of 21 American orchestras selected as a leader in orchestra innovation by the League of American Orchestras through its Futures Fund Initiative. The Richmond Symphony is partially funded by the Virginia Commission for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts. Visit www.richmondsymphony.com for more information.

Contacts:
Scott Dodson
Director of Advancement and Patron Communications
804.788.4717 ext. 120
sdodson@richmondsymphony.com