Romantic, passionate music will be featured prominently in the Washington Idaho Symphony’s 40th season premiere concert, “From Russia with Love.”
The concert is set to begin at 7:30 p.m. Saturday in the Domey Auditorium of Pullman’s Gladish Community Center.
The Washington Idaho Symphony was established in 1971 and is comprised of professional and semiprofessional musicians from Washington State University, University of Idaho and the surrounding community. According to its website, washingtonidahosymphony.org, its mission is “To bring live classical music … while providing an outstanding opportunity for the region’s most accomplished musicians to participate in challenging repertoire and performance.”
The 2011-2012 season, “Postcards from the World,” highlights music from Russia, Italy, Germany, the U.S. and Bohemia.
“I wanted to take the audience on a tour of great music from different countries,” said Jeremy Briggs Roberts, music director and conductor since 2009. “Each concert contains music from each important musical center of the world, serving as windows into the culture of those areas.”
General admission is $20, and student tickets are available at the door for $6 with a valid ID. A second performance will be held at 3 p.m. Sunday at Lewiston High School.
Featured will be Rachmaninoff’s “Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Op. 43,” with piano soloist and UI assistant professor of piano Rajung Yang, who is from Seoul, South Korea. Other works to be performed are Tchaikovsky’s “Romeo and Juliet Overture” and Shostakovich’s “Symphony No. 9 in E-Flat Major, Op. 70.”
“All three pieces represent love, whether physical, romantic or love for country,” Roberts said. “The Shostakovich was written to celebrate the Russian victory over Nazi tyranny in 1945. In a way, it’s one big party, a great celebration of victory … love of country, love of peace, love of life.”
The Rachmaninoff is a set of 24 variations on composer and violinist Niccoló Paganini’s “Caprice No. 24 in A minor, Op. 1” for piano soloist and full orchestra.
“Rachmaninoff was a Russian composer who moved away from the Soviet Union when the revolution took place in 1917,” Roberts said. “He composed in a very romantic, passionate later-19th-century style.”
Yang said the Rachmaninoff piece is a crowd pleaser because the sound changes with each variation, and most people are familiar with the 18th Variation. Roberts said the variation was featured in the 1980 romantic film “Somewhere in Time.”
“This theme of Paganini is real famous,” Yang said. “In piano literature, Brahms and Liszt composed a set of variations on this theme, but Rachmaninoff did uniquely for orchestra and piano … he used (the theme) in a very different manner, so it’s like a musical kaleidoscope.”
This is Yang’s first year collaborating with the symphony. Her first rehearsal on Sunday went quite well, she said, including a perfect run-through of the hardest variations.
“I honestly think this is one of the best regional orchestras I’ve played with,” she said. “They were all very professional and friendly. I value the local enthusiasm.”
Yang said the symphony is a great place for faculty, students and community members who love classical music to get involved. Roberts echoed the sentiment, adding that about 50 percent of the orchestra members are from the two universities.
“We have an incredible group of people here,” he said. “I can see a really rosy future for this orchestra … the only professional orchestra within a two-hour radius. It has a large mission to fill.”
Visit www.washingtonidahosymphony.org for information, including concert times, dates and locations.