Berkshire Symphony

Ronald Feldman, director

Passport – Dept. Ensemble
7:15 Pre-Concert Talk in Brooks-Rogers Recital Hall

Returning to their home venue after a sell-out performance in the ’62 Center in October and a critically acclaimed performance at the Colonial Theater in Pittsfield, Maestro Feldman and the Berkshire Orchestra demonstrate once again why they are considered one of the most listenable and progressive regional orchestras on the scene today. Haldan Martinson, violin and Mihail Jojatu, cello, join the orchestra for the Brahms: Double Concerto on a program that also includes Ralph Vaughan Williams: The Wasps Overture and Luciano Berio: Rendering.

The Brahms Double Concerto for Violin and Cello features soloist Haldan Martinson, Principal Second Violin, Boston Symphony Orchestra, an award winning performer, and composer and graduate of Yale and New England Conservatory.  His colleague, Mihail Jojatu, also of the Boston Symphony Orchestra joins him on cello for a performance of one of Brahms’s best loved concertos. Romanian born, Mr. Jojatu studied at the Bucharest Academy of Music before coming to the United States in 1996. He then attended the Boston Conservatory of Music and is a member of the Triptych String Trio. The Double Concerto was composed for cellist Robert Hausmann and violinist Joseph Joachim, who had become estranged from Brahms as a result of a dispute arising from Joachim’s divorce.  This is one reconciliation that audiences have been enjoying since 1887.

Wasps Overture by Vaughan Williams, one of the 20th century’s most congenial English composers, is a work scored for a Cambridge Greek play production of Aristophanes, ‘The Wasps’. Not often performed, this piece is still fresh on its one hundredth birthday, and is always sure to cause a buzz.

Luciano Berio, born in 1950, composed Rendering in 1989. He picks up where Schubert left off work on his 10th symphony well over 150 years after that great composers death.  Rendering is definitely not an attempt to recreate what Schubert had in mind when he sketched out his own symphonic work. Rather, it is a synthesis of musical sensibilities bridging two centuries and countless re-thinkings of what music is.

The concert will also be performed on Sunday the 15th of November at 2:00 pm in the beautiful and historic Colonial Theater in Pittsfield.  For ticket information at the Colonial call (413) 997-4444.

The Berkshire Symphony is conducted by Ronald Feldman and includes nearly 70 members, half of whom are students and half of whom are professional musicians. The ensemble presents four major concerts each season. In addition to performing the great standards of  orchestral repertoire a recurring theme each year is the performance of contemporary works. Championing the works of living American composers has been an integral part of the mission of the Berkshire Symphony.

The final program in the spring features the winners of the Berkshire Symphony Student Soloist Competition. This event is a great showcase for the extraordinary talent at Williams College and is always a highlight of the season.

Event Program