| | Published August 23rd, 2017
| New concert, new season for the Pacific Chamber Orchestra
| | | By Sophie Braccini |  | | Pianist Natsuki Fukasawa Photo provided |
The Pacific Chamber Orchestra will open its concert season in Lafayette Sept. 16 with its first concert, "Walk in Poetry," with works by Schubert, Beethoven and Mozart. Famed Bay Area pianist Natsuki Fukasawa will perform Beethoven's Concerto No. 4 with the chamber's musicians.
Maestro Lawrence Kohl, who leads the musicians as well as the nonprofit that organizes the concerts, constructs his programs with pleasure, but also with education in mind. He explains that this concert explores the more lyric sides of Mozart and Beethoven that inspired Schubert.
Kohl describes Schubert as a great admirer of the two musicians that preceded him, and found in their more lyric work the possibility to create and develop his own musical language. For Kohl, Schubert is the link between Beethoven and Brahms, and should he had lived longer - he died at 31 - he might have taken Brahms' place in the development of Romantic music.
The concert will start with Mozart's aperture of the opera Die Entfuehrung aus dem Serail (The Abduction from the Seraglio), followed by Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 4, and finishing with Schubert's Symphony No. 1.
The Abduction tells an adventurous and exotic story about two men trying to rescue their beloveds from a Turkish harem. It was Mozart's first big success in Vienna, at age 25. The overture opens quietly amid a bustling undercurrent that is then interrupted by brash passages, which are quite similar to the music played by the janissaries (the Sultan's personal guard) later in the opera. It includes instruments such as piccolo, triangle, big drum and cymbals.
Beethoven fourth concerto has been called the most gently spoken and poetic of all his concertos. It opens with the piano solo, something that was an absolute first when Beethoven wrote it in 1805. Kohl needed a remarkable pianist to render the touching voice of this piano concerto. He asked Fukasawa to join the orchestra for this concert; it will be her first time with these musicians.
Fukasawa lives in the Bay Area, but travels the world for performances. Though, Her website lists engagements such as an Italian tour, concerts in Japan, Hong Kong, Switzerland and many U.S. cities. Fukasawa studied in the Czech Republic as a Fulbright Scholarship recipient, and earned her bachelor's and master's degrees from New York's Juilliard School and a doctorate from the University of Maryland. She is part of the prestigious International Steinway Artists roster and is currently on faculty at American River College, and has taught at California State University, Sacramento, Saint Mary's College of California, and the University of the Pacific.
The program will end with Schubert's first symphony, a piece he composed when he was only 16 years old. Kohl says that this symphony, composed at such a tender age, shows the influences of his predecessors, but also unveils Schubert's strong unique musical persona. Kohl adds that the piece is well suited for a chamber orchestra since it was composed for two clarinets, one flute, two oboes, two horns, two trumpets, two bassoons, kettledrums and strings.
This concert will be followed in February by "Golden Strings," involving a string arrangement of Strauss' Symphony No. 2, and Elgar's Serenade for Strings. Then in April the orchestra will offer "American Radio Hour," an all-American program including compositions by Aaron Copland and George Gershwin, featuring jazz violinist Mads Tolling.
The opening concert will be held at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 16 at the Lafayette-Orinda Presbyterian Church in Lafayette. To purchase tickets, visit www.pacificchamberorchestra.org.
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Lamorinda Weekly, Moraga CA