Friends and audience of MVO,
We are particularly excited to share this concert with each and everyone of you. Not only will we be performing in the Benson Great Hall that seats up to 1500, we are also going to take advantage of the magnificent 4,000-pipe Blackinton Organ, which is one of the greatest concert hall organs in the entire Mid-West. The solo organist of the concert, Dr. Dean Billmeyer, is among a handful of the finest organists in the country and performs regularly with the Minnesota Orchestra and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. With the best venue, best soloist, best music, and best audience like you, this concert will mark an important milestone in the orchestra’s 42-year history. Over the past months, we have been diligently preparing the music and trying to excel new artistic heights. We cannot wait to share the joy and love of music making with you.
The program of this concert really speaks to us as a group that wants to strive for excellence and innovations. The spirit of innovation can be found in all the pieces. Many musicians know Glinka’s Ruslan and Ludmila as a running joke for the conductors - who can make their orchestras play the faster version of the overture? But little do we realize that this quintessential example of romantic Russian music was composed as early as 1842, the same year Mendelssohn completed his Scottish Symphony. What bigger contrast can we find between the two pieces! Glinka really broke free from the traditional and created his own sonority - bold, full of power, richness, and tuneful. It is not surprised that he is considered the father of the Russian classical music by giants such as Tchaikovsky and Stravinsky.
In France, Guilmant gives us another example of innovation. Written in 1874 as an organ sonata, Guilmant discovered its potential to become a grand symphony and arranged it with an orchestral force. It is the first grand romantic organ symphony in the repertoire and no doubt point towards the direction of Saint-Saens’ famous Organ Symphony (1886). For those who are familiar with Saint-Saens’ Symphony, it is hard to not recognize the striking similarities between the two works.
When Tchaikovsky wrote the Fourth Symphony in 1877, Tchaikovsky was entering one of the most traumatic period of his life. His lack of experience in personal matters and his desperate desire to conceal his homosexuality leads to a disastrous marriage with her former student, Antonina Milyukova. Tchaikovsky became so distraught that he had a nervous breakdown and attempted suicide. He had to leave Russian in order to find peace in himself and it was in Venice that he finally completed the symphony. The harsh brass fanfare opens the symphony and recurs throughout it. “This is Fate,” Tchaikovsky wrote, “the power which hinders one in the pursuit of happiness from gaining the goal…” The fact that it is the earliest of his three most performed symphonies is no coincidence - it is Tchaikovsky’s first work that reflects his own personal struggle so deeply and explicitly. The entire piece is tied together with the concept of “Fate”. And just like Beethoven’s “Fate” Symphony, Tchaikovsky fought his way to the final victory.
This is an exciting program of fire, passion, and love, and will demonstrate MVO best virtuosity. We sincerely invite you to come and be part of this important milestone in the orchestra's history!
Sincerely,
Ho Yin
We are particularly excited to share this concert with each and everyone of you. Not only will we be performing in the Benson Great Hall that seats up to 1500, we are also going to take advantage of the magnificent 4,000-pipe Blackinton Organ, which is one of the greatest concert hall organs in the entire Mid-West. The solo organist of the concert, Dr. Dean Billmeyer, is among a handful of the finest organists in the country and performs regularly with the Minnesota Orchestra and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. With the best venue, best soloist, best music, and best audience like you, this concert will mark an important milestone in the orchestra’s 42-year history. Over the past months, we have been diligently preparing the music and trying to excel new artistic heights. We cannot wait to share the joy and love of music making with you.
The program of this concert really speaks to us as a group that wants to strive for excellence and innovations. The spirit of innovation can be found in all the pieces. Many musicians know Glinka’s Ruslan and Ludmila as a running joke for the conductors - who can make their orchestras play the faster version of the overture? But little do we realize that this quintessential example of romantic Russian music was composed as early as 1842, the same year Mendelssohn completed his Scottish Symphony. What bigger contrast can we find between the two pieces! Glinka really broke free from the traditional and created his own sonority - bold, full of power, richness, and tuneful. It is not surprised that he is considered the father of the Russian classical music by giants such as Tchaikovsky and Stravinsky.
In France, Guilmant gives us another example of innovation. Written in 1874 as an organ sonata, Guilmant discovered its potential to become a grand symphony and arranged it with an orchestral force. It is the first grand romantic organ symphony in the repertoire and no doubt point towards the direction of Saint-Saens’ famous Organ Symphony (1886). For those who are familiar with Saint-Saens’ Symphony, it is hard to not recognize the striking similarities between the two works.
When Tchaikovsky wrote the Fourth Symphony in 1877, Tchaikovsky was entering one of the most traumatic period of his life. His lack of experience in personal matters and his desperate desire to conceal his homosexuality leads to a disastrous marriage with her former student, Antonina Milyukova. Tchaikovsky became so distraught that he had a nervous breakdown and attempted suicide. He had to leave Russian in order to find peace in himself and it was in Venice that he finally completed the symphony. The harsh brass fanfare opens the symphony and recurs throughout it. “This is Fate,” Tchaikovsky wrote, “the power which hinders one in the pursuit of happiness from gaining the goal…” The fact that it is the earliest of his three most performed symphonies is no coincidence - it is Tchaikovsky’s first work that reflects his own personal struggle so deeply and explicitly. The entire piece is tied together with the concept of “Fate”. And just like Beethoven’s “Fate” Symphony, Tchaikovsky fought his way to the final victory.
This is an exciting program of fire, passion, and love, and will demonstrate MVO best virtuosity. We sincerely invite you to come and be part of this important milestone in the orchestra's history!
Sincerely,
Ho Yin
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