2005-2006 Season

Passion Play
Nicola Benedetti

October 8, 2005
8 p.m. Riverside Municipal Auditorium

• Albinoni: Adagio
• Chausson: Poem for Violin and Orchestra
• Saint Saens: Havanaise
• Brahms: Symphony no. 2

Interest in this talented, beautiful 17 year old has become even more intense after winning the prestigious title of BBC Young Musician of the Year for 2004. Recording companies are queuing up to offer her contracts worth more than $1.5 million and her striking presence has attracted the attention of major advertising firms.

Nicola plays on a precious Guarneri violin crafted in 1751 and brings a special feel and energy to the music of the masters. London Sunday Times’ Colin Donald has described her as “a prodigious, incandescent talent with unswerving self-belief.”

Signature Sponsor for this concert:
Riverside Metro Auto Group

November 12, 2005
8 p.m. Riverside Municipal Auditorium

Celebrating the 250th anniversary of Mozart’s birth.

• The Magic Flute: Overture
• Clarinet Concerto
• Symphony no. 41, the “Jupiter”
• Ave Verum Corpus
  (candlelight procession featuring the Raincross Chorale; conductor, Steve Kester)

Mozart’s music and his life are intertwined with intrigue, mystery and a genius for music that almost defies comprehension.  The music of Mozart literally demands our personal involvement. We are swept in to his emotional world - lead through by the hand wherever Mozart desires to take us. His joys are our joys, his sorrows our sorrows, and the
beautiful autumnal world of the music written in 1791 soon
turns into sunset and twilight.

Mozart’s brilliant and profoundly moving music truly shows the potential of mankind, what we are capable of becoming. Though he died at the age of 35, his music and the enigma that surrounded him lives on.

Signature Sponsor for this concert:
Billie & Gene Yeager
and Integrated Care Communities

January 14, 2006
8 p.m. Riverside Municipal Auditorium

• Summon the Heroes - John Williams
• Violin Concerto, Op.35 Piotr Tchaikovsky
  - Allegro Moderato
  - Canzonetta-Andante
  - Finale- Allegro Vivacissimo

~ Intermission ~

• Overture to “Der fliegende Holländer” Richard Wagner
• Peachtree Street from “City Scape” Jennifer Higdon
• Symphonic Scenario from “Victory at Sea” Richard Rodgers arrangment by Robert Bennett
• Boléro

Some guys do not regard symphony concerts as “their kind of music.” These seven pieces will change their minds and maybe, their hearts. Men (and women) admire genuine heroism - particularly the magnificent athletes whom John Williams celebrates in Summon the Heroes, commissioned by the Olympic Committee.

“Guys” also respond to music portraying bravery in combat (Victory at Sea), the oily snarl of urban music (Higdon’s Peachtree Street) and the classic favorite, Bolero.

Our newly appointed Concert Master, the charismatic Ilana Setapen, will perform the Tchaikovsky concerto with her unique mix of fire and sensuousness.

Signature Sponsor for this concert:
William D. and Sylvia C. Hoskins

March 11, 2006
8 p.m. Riverside Municipal Auditorium

• Pictures at an Exhibition, Moussourgsky
• Walk on the wild side, Elmer Bernstein
• Concerto in F, Gershwin
  (plus encores featuring Bryan Pezzone, piano soloist)

Back by popular demand! An evening of Boston Pops style concert-going. Sit back and relax at a table filled with friends, hors d’oeuvres and wine. All available for a $35 upgrade on your existing ticket. Reserve early…last year’s seating was sold out! Premier table seating available to season ticket holders only.

George Gershwin, toast of New York after his Rhapsody in Blue success, left his parents, siblings, and wife in their five story house on Manhattan’s West Side and moved to a nearby hotel so that he could compose in peace and solitude. His piano concerto was the result.

The first movement is a Charleston, the second a blues, and the third an orgy of rhythms that are next to impossible to experience while sitting still.

Hollywood Bowl pianist Bryan Pezzone’s playing, steeped in the American idiom, will enrich our festive season finale.

Concert Sponsor:
Harley & Donna Knox

“The audience virtually exploded in response.”
(The Press- Enterprise)