Cheyenne Symphony Orchestra to close out masterpiece concert series with "Fantastic Finales"
Apr. 11—The Cheyenne Symphony Orchestra is ready to wow with its last Masterpiece Concert of the regular season, "Fantastic Finales," April 17.
But just because more and more people are receiving the COVID-19 vaccine doesn't mean CSO is loosening up its guidelines.
"We still ask that those who attend wear their masks," said Maestro William Intriligator. "I think it will help our musicians feel safe."
Like the rest of the 2020-21 season's programming, Intriligator and his team had to adjust the concert's repertoire for pandemic-related reasons. But in addition to picking pieces that require fewer musicians to help with onstage social distancing, this time around, the soloist had to be completely replaced.
World-class British pianist Michael Roll was originally supposed to play Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 5, op. 73, but even though he had a visa and everything else he needed to make the trip from London, Intriligator said he couldn't get to the embassy to have his interview about the work trip due to travel restrictions.
But the CSO team is excited to welcome pianist David Korevaar, who is on the faculty of the University of Colorado in Boulder, to take over for Roll.
"I've worked with him before, but it's been many years, so I'm very excited," Intriligator said. "Also, because he's done a lot of Beethoven because of the recent anniversary of his (Beethoven's) birth."
Korevaar is a founding member of the Boulder Piano Quartet, currently resident at The Academy in Boulder, and his career has included appearances with the Rochester Philharmonic, Colorado Symphony, Louisville Orchestra, Japan's Shonan Chamber Orchestra and Brazil's Goiania Symphony.
He remembers first hearing Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 5, op. 73 as a child listening to a Disney classical album, and he was immediately entranced.
"I remember just being totally taken with the opening of the 'Emperor Concerto;' it's just the best theme ever," he said. "I never played it until I was in my 20s. But, I was in my 20s a long time ago ... and now also teaching it as a university professor, it's a piece that just keeps growing on me."
The composition has one of the most beautiful slow movements Beethoven ever wrote, Korevaar added, and he loves the rather otherworldly kind of improvisation heard when the piano comes in. The soaring, almost religious feeling it evokes became even more clear during the past year while he was studying Beethoven's entire collection of work. He's only had a couple in-person performance opportunities during the pandemic, so Korevaar set a goal of posting YouTube recordings of the 32 Beethoven Piano Sonatas in 60 days. And 41 days into the project, all 32 were up and running.
That project gave him a more well-rounded appreciation for Beethoven, which he stresses to his students because there are so many great pieces by him, he doesn't want to put too much emphasis on only the grand concertos.
"It's a great piece of music," he said of this concerto. "It's worth playing, it's worth hearing. But there's a lot of really great music. And, you know, we have to remember to keep discovering."
Also on the repertoire is Saint-Georges' Symphony No. 1, op. 11 in G. Intriligator said he chose this piece as part of his ongoing attempt to feature more composers of color, and the more research he did on Saint-George, the more he became enamored with both his music and his personal history.
"He was an amazing violinist, conductor and composer, and he lived in Paris in the 1700s and was a personal friend of Marie Antoinette," he said. "He was sometimes known as the black Mozart ... and they shared an apartment at one point. His music is fantastic, and it's the first time I'm getting to conduct his music — it's so effervescent and charming and full of life."
The concert will conclude with Rossini's William Tell Overture, which was an easy choice, Intriligator said, because it's a crowd favorite, and CSO hasn't performed it in a while.
"It's such a fantastic piece because of the 'Lone Ranger' theme ending, but the whole thing is sort of a tone poem, and the especially beautiful part is for five solo cellos who get to start the overture."
Niki Kottmann is the Wyoming Tribune Eagle's features editor. She can be reached at nkottmann@wyomingnews.com or 307-633-3135. Follow her on Twitter at @niki_mariee.
