Program Includes Emmanuel Séjourné’s Concerto for Four Marimbas
(Tucson, AZ)─The Tucson Symphony Orchestra continues its celebration of Ludwig van Beethoven’s 250th birth anniversary with his Symphony No. 4, a work Robert Schumann called “a slender Greek maiden between two Norse giants,” the Third and Fifth Symphonies. Music Director José Luis Gomez will conduct performances of the Beethoven Symphony and Emmanuel Séjourné’s Concerto for Four Marimbas and Strings to open the 2019-20 Masterworks Series. Performances are Saturday, October 5 at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, October 6 at 2:00 p.m. at Catalina Foothills High School, 4300 E. Sunrise Dr. in Tucson, where there is plenty of free parking. Concert Comments start one hour prior to performances and are complimentary with tickets.
Emmanuel Séjourné is a French composer and percussionist and the head of the percussion department at the Conservatoire de Strasbourg. He is influenced by Western classical music and by rock, jazz and European music. As a player, he is considered one of the most prominent mallet percussionists and is known for expanding vibraphone and marimba performance by introducing six-stick playing and the vibra-midi.
According to Homero Cerón, TSO’s principal percussionist, who will be one of the soloists, “The four percussionists, playing mostly marimbas, will produce a very earthy/woody feel while the support from strings provides a smooth and lush complement to the rhythmic feature. It will be a fresh and new experience for people.” Cerón will be joined on marimba by TSO percussionists Fred Morgan and Chris Herman as well as Dr. Matthew Timman. Timman currently serves as Principal Percussionist with the North State Symphony in Chico, California, and Section Percussionist with the Flagstaff Symphony.
Beethoven’s Symphony No. 4 has been a topic of scholarly debate ever since the composer gave the premiere performance at a private party at Lobkowitz Palace in Vienna. The least known and performed of all of his symphonies, it was written in the midst of Beethoven’s work on the Fifth. As one critic remarked as early as 1811, “On the whole, the work is cheerful, understandable and engaging, and is closer to the composer’s justly beloved First and Second symphonies than to the Fifth and Sixth.”
The Masterworks Series is sponsored by Splendido at Rancho Vistoso and receives generous support from Drs. John P. and Helen S. Schaefer. Concert Comments are sponsored by Fishkind, Bakewell, Maltzman and Hunter.
Tickets are $55 to $65. They are available online at www.tucsonsymphony.org, at the Tucson Symphony Orchestra Box Office, 2175 N. Sixth Avenue, or by phone at 520.882.8585. TSO Box Office hours are Tuesday through Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 5 p.m. unless otherwise indicated.
Contact: Terry Marshall, Public Relations Manager, 520.620.9158
