PAGANINI VIRTUOSITY
Saturday, May 15, 2021 at 8:00 p.m.
Sunday, May 16, 2021 at 3:00 p.m.
Peace Concert Hall

Edvard Tchivzhel, conductor
Alexander Markov, violin

 
This General Operating Support Grant program is funded in part
by the Metropolitan Arts Council with grants received from the City of Greenville, the South Carolina Arts Commission whichreceives support from the National Endowment for the Arts and private donations.

 
This organization is funded in part by the
South Carolina Arts Commissionwhich receives support
from the National Endowment for the Arts.

VIOLIN

Laura Colgate,

Concertmaster
  Leila Cunningham Roe Endowed Chair

Mary Lee Taylor Kinosian,

Assistant Concertmaster
  Uwe Diestel Endowed Chair

Inez Hullinger Redman

Xiaoli Saliny

Sarah Land

David Edwards

Robin Hague Els

VIOLIN

Joanna Mulfinger,

Principal

Deidre N. Hutton,

Assistant Principal

Elizabeth Fee   

James R. Johnson

Esena Setaro

Catherine Hazan

David Strassberg

VIOLA

Arthur Ross III,
Principal
  Erika and Chuck Riddiford Endowed Chair

Emily Schaad,
Assistant Principal

Scott Garrett

Leigh Dixon

CELLO

Ismail Akbar,
Principal
  Guild of the Greenville Symphony Endowed Chair

Ryan Knott,
Assistant Principal

David Saliny

Dusan Vukajlovic

DOUBLE BASS

Ian Bracchitta,
Principal
  Anonymous Endowed Chair

Todd L. Beal,
Assistant Principal

Jonathan McWilliams

FLUTE

Caroline Ulrich,
Principal
  Alice and Jerry Lenz Endowed Chair

Esther Waite

Lauren Watkins Vaughn

OBOE

Virginia Zeblisky Metzger,
Principal
  Guild of the Greenville Symphony Endowed Chair

Kelly Mozeik   

CLARINET

Anthony Marotta,
Principal
  Harriet and Jerry Dempsey Endowed Chair

Taylor Massey

BASSOON

Lauren Piccirillo Waid,
Principal
  Anonymous Endowed Chair

Stephanie Lipka

HORN

Anneka Zuehlke-King,
Principal
  Charles W. Wofford and Nancy B. Thomas Endowed Chair

Elizabeth Regas

Michael Daly

Darian Washington

TRUMPET

Phil Elkins,
Co-Principal
  Beverley and Jim Whitten Endowed Chair

Kevin Lyons,
Co-Principal
  Beverley and Jim Whitten Endowed Chair

Gary J. Malvern,
Assistant Principal

Craig King

TROMBONE

Stephen Wilson,
Co-Principal

Michael Hosford,
Co-Principal

Richard deBondt

TUBA

Don Strand,
Principal

TIMPANI

Daniel Kirkpatrick,
Principal
  Nancy B. Stanton Endowed Chair

PERCUSSION

Courtney McDonald Bottoms,

Principal

Edward C. Nagel,

Assistant Principal

John Beckford

Gary Robinson

PRODUCTION MANAGER

Laura Auvil

PRINCIPAL LIBRARIAN

John Wickey

Paganini Virtuosity

Violin Concerto No. 1

Niccolo Paganini (1782-1840)

Niccolo Paganini sold his soul to the devil in exchange for supernatural musical powers. Or at least that was the legend that followed the 19^th century violin virtuoso throughout his entire life.

No other violinist could play with such extraordinary skill and musicality.

Paganini, tall and gaunt, may have encouraged the devilish rumors to enhance his career as a violinist and composer. Sometimes, nothing succeeds like excess in the musical world.

Paganini was a master of the concertos of other composers, but audiences in his time wanted to hear his own compositions. His works include dozens of pieces for solo violin and six violin concertos.

The first of these concertos is the one most often heard in concert halls today. With its lightning-fast scales and arpeggios, the dazzling piece makes considerable demands on the soloist. It includes innovations — complex harmonics and left-hand pizzicato — that made Paganini famous.

• The orchestral introduction presents the first movement’s two main themes. A descending staccato figure in the violins develops into a grand procession for full orchestra. That’s followed by a contrasting lyrical theme in the violins. Paganini’s music seems informed here and elsewhere by the grandeur and singing lyricism of Italian opera. The solo violinist enters offering variations on the first theme with wide melodic leaps and brisk running passages. The soloist then soars sweetly with the second theme. On the whole, however, virtuosic brilliance is the focus of this opening movement. 

• The slow movement greatly impressed listeners in Paganini’s time with its poignancy that verges on the tragic. Schubert declared, “In Paganini’s Adagio, I heard an angel sing.” With its plucked string accompaniment, this movement also may remind listeners of Italian opera. Paganini once suggested this movement had been inspired by a tragic prison scene on stage in which one of the greatest Italian actors of his time, Giuseppe de Marini, played the part of a prisoner weeping and praying to heaven for help.

• The melancholy mood is completely dispelled by the arrival of the joyous third movement. The finale is in the form of a rondo, with the main skipping theme toggling with contrasting melodies. The soloist’s virtuosity is again on full display.

Symphony in C

Georges Bizet (1838-1875)

There’s a remarkable story behind this delightful symphony, composed in merely a month when Bizet was only 17 years old. It exhibits all the spontaneity and youthful vigor that one might expect.

Yet Bizet seems to have hidden the 1855 work from view. Still a student at the Paris Conservatory, Bizet might have felt insecure about the piece. Or he feared that it too closely resembled a symphony by his teacher Charles Gounod.

Eighty years later, long after Bizet’s death, the manuscript was found among the composer’s papers at the Paris Conservatory. It received its world premiere in Basel in 1935. Bizet is best known as the composer of the popular opera “Carmen,” but that work’s dramatic and tragic mood is nowhere to be found in this vivacious Symphony in C.

• The first movement seems to leap for joy, with the giddiness of a Rossini overture. The solo oboe, meanwhile, sings a contrasting theme.

• The second movement again spotlights the oboe, with a lonely serenade-like melody with a hint of mystery. That’s followed by a serene theme for strings. After a contrasting middle section, the two main themes return to round off the movement.

• A rustic dance is suggested by the sprightly third movement. In the middle section, the main theme is repeated but against a droning bass suggestive of bagpipes. 

• The zesty finale features scampering figures and a sweeping sunlit theme for the first violins.

Paul Hyde, a longtime Upstate journalist, is the public information coordinator for the College of Architecture, Arts and Humanities at Clemson University. Follow him on Facebook (Upstate Onstage) and Twitter: @PaulHyde7.

The Greenville Symphony Orchestra and Maestro Edvard Tchivzhel have announced details of the 2021-22 concert season.  Renewal packets for current subscribers are in the mail.  Patrons who did not subscribe to the 2020-21 season, but would like to join us next year may call the Peace Center Box office at (864) 467-3000 open 9:30am - 5:30pm weekdays.

Highlights include music of Mozart, Beethoven's mighty "Eroica" Symphony, the thundering "Organ" Symphony of Saint-Saens, plus appearances by local favorites Laura Colgate, David Gross, Zachary Hughes, and International Ballet.  A complete list of programs is available here:

GSO 21-22 Season