Springfield Symphony Orchestra concert will go for baroque

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The Springfield Symphony Orchestra welcomes backs one of its most embraced genres for its first 2017 concert with music from some of the leading German, English and French composers of the era.

“Going for Baroque,” featuring guest soloist Nokuthula Ngwenyama, will be 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 14, at the Clark State Performing Arts Center.

This is the Symphony’s second MasterWorks concert of the season.

“There is something intrinsically compelling about baroque music,” said Springfield Symphony Orchestra conductor Maestro Peter Stafford Wilson. “It’s driving rhythmic pulse and clean, articulate melodic lines make it extremely listenable and entertaining. We enjoy popular support from the public for these Baroque concerts.”

The program will include: Bach’s “Brandenberg Concerto No. 3,” Jean Baptiste Lully’s “Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme Suite,” and Handel’s “Viola Concerto,” on which Ngwenyama will play, and “Water Music.”

Stafford Wilson said Lully’s setting of “The Would-be Gentleman” was created for a ballet, and has a very lighthearted, jocular feel and he enjoyed a special flair for melody.

“The Bach and Handel works are mainstays in the repertoire, although the ‘Water Music suite’ that we are performing is some of the lesser known music from this piece,” he said. “The Handel concerto is attributed to Handel, but we are more and more convinced that it is by a fellow named Henri Cassadesus, who was an early music specialist living in Paris around the turn of the century.

“It is a wonderful piece, very much in the style of Handel and we are excited to present Thula (Nokuthula) in this piece,” Stafford Wilson said.

Stafford Wilson added that each national school adhered to the rules of common practice, they each had unique voices to share, so it’s interesting to sample from various schools on a program like this.

“Baroque concerts are always interesting assignments for the conductor, since conductors hadn’t become necessary in performance in this period,” he said. “All of my work is done prior to the first rehearsal by marking the materials, then when it comes time to perform, I just enjoy the best seat in the house.”

The Opening Notes program in the Turner Studio Theatre and the performance prelude in the Davidson Grand Lobby will begin the program at 6:30 p.m.


How to go

What: Springfield Symphony Orchestra, “Going for Baroque”

Where: Clark State Performing Arts Center, 300 S. Fountain Ave., Springfield

When: 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 14

Admission: $56-30

More info: 937-325-8100 or to www.springfieldsym.org

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