A Gift of Music: A Free ORT Concert Via Streaming

 

Conductor John Axelrod

With the latest closures due to the most recent Ministerial Decree, all public performances will be cancelled until November 24, or further notice. The Orchestra Regionale della Toscana will comply, however for now the orchestra will continue its activity and rehearse for the next concert on the program offering a free performance on their YouTube channel, October 30 at 9 pm.

The concert will be conducted by John Axelrod.  A Texan, he is a man of many interests. In addition to having conducted over 175 orchestras worldwide, he dedicates himself to cooking, wines, studying history and teaching young musicians and has even been a successful talent scout in the world of pop music. The program will begin with the sparkling overture to the opera ‘The Bartered Bride’ composed by the Czechoslovakian composer Bedřich Smetana. A leading exponent of Czech romanticism, Smetana’s three-act comic opera premiered in Prague in 1866. Though the opera was very popular during Smetana’s lifetime, it is rarely performed anymore and is known solely for its brilliant overture.

Beethoven’s Triple Concerto, for violin, cello, piano and orchestra was composed in 1803, and it is widely believed that it was written for Beethoven’s friend and patron, the Archduke Rudolf of Austria. Born in Pitti Palace in Florence, while a teenager the Archduke studied piano and composition with Beethoven, leading to a strong friendship between the two men, and Beethoven dedicated 14 works to the Archduke. The concerto will be performed by Daniele Giorgi, concertmaster of the ORT and Luca Provenzani, principle cello and on the piano Jin Ju, born in Shanghai but a Florentine resident for many years now. The concert ends with Antonin Dvořák’s popular Symphony n. 9, ‘From the New World’, written during his years in New York.  (anne lokken)