The Lake County Symphony will present its summer chamber concert on August 16 at 2 p.m. at Lakeport’s Soper Reese Theatre, featuring music from the Baroque, Classical, and Romantic eras. The summer concert has a smaller group of musicians playing mostly strings with some woodwinds, brass, and percussion.
This concert is $20 for adults in an open seating format and is not as lengthy as the regular season concerts. There is one performance only, with no discounted rehearsal concert. Tickets are free for season ticket holders (no reserved seating) and for youth age 18 and under. Doors open at 1:30 p.m.
LCSA Musical Director John Parkinson will conduct the chamber orchestra in a number of lively and memorable compositions starting with the overture to “Il barbiere di Siviglia” (The Barber of Seville) a comic opera by Giovanni Paisiello (1740-1816), first performed in 1782. The opera proved to be Paisiello’s biggest success. An Italian composer of the Classical era, Paisiello was the most popular opera composer of the late 1700s, and his operatic style influenced Mozart and Rossini. Several musical adaptations of “Il barbiere di Siviglia” predated the version by Paisiello, but Paisiello’s comic opera was the first to achieve widespread success.
Next up is “Music for the Royal Fireworks,” composed in 1749 by George Frideric Handel (1685-1759), a German-British Baroque composer well-known for his operas, anthems, and oratorios. Handel was under contract with George II of Great Britain, who wanted him to compose something to celebrate the end of the War of the Austrian Succession and the signing of the 1748 Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle. It was made clear to Handel that King George preferred only martial instruments (winds and percussion) and hoped there would be “no fiddles” included. Handel omitted the stringed instruments against his will and scored the piece for a large wind band ensemble consisting of 24 oboes, 12 bassoons and a contrabassoon, nine natural trumpets, nine natural horns, three pairs of timpani and side drums, which were given only the direction to play as they wished, or “ad libitum.” The full rehearsal was played to a huge audience of 12,000 people in Vauxhall Gardens, a public park in Kennington in London. The actual performance took place in a specially designed building in London’s Green Park. The music was a success, but the fireworks caused problems that injured several soldiers and ignited the clothing of an audience member. Thankfully, no fireworks are planned for this concert, and “fiddles” are included.
Allegro Appassionato, Op. 43, a popular concert piece for cello and piano written in 1873 by French composer Camille Saint-Saens (1835-1910), features symphony member Kathryn Vast on the cello. Ranging in keys from B minor to B major, this single-movement work was intended to be an “energetic, brilliant, yet accessible encore piece.” Saint Saens completed two works for the cello in the early 1870s, his “First Cello Sonata” and “First Cello Concerto.” In a possible burst of enthusiasm for the cello, he wrote “Allegro Appassionato” as a lighter, flashy showpiece that served as an ideal encore for recitals. The title combines two Italian musical terms: “Allegro” (a fast, lively tempo) and “Appassionato” (meaning passionately or ardently) and perfectly dictates the dramatic and fiery emotional character of the music.
Following the intermission, the audience will hear Symphony No. 31 in D, “Hornsignal,” written in 1765 by Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) when he worked for the wealthiest family in Hungarian nobility, the Esterhazys. He was the Kapellmeister of the orchestra and spent most of the year at the family’s remote, fabulous dream palace, which cost millions to construct. It rivaled Versailles as a showplace and art center, and Haydn’s orchestra and his music were the principal attraction. Being isolated from other composers and currents of music, Haydn said he was “forced to become original.”
The most noticeable effect in “Hornsignal” is Haydn’s use of four horns, heard right at the outset. There are also several moments of great subtlety, as in the second movement, with its melodic line alternating between solo violin and horns.
Another example of Haydn’s orchestral mastery comes in the finale, a set of variations. In each, Haydn extracts highly original and engaging harmonies from the orchestra right up through the movement’s close, when horns sound a majestic hunting call. Cellist Kathryn Vast, the featured musician in the LCSA Summer Concert, (Allegro Appassionato, Op 43 by Camille Saint Saens), was raised in the San Francisco Bay Area and began cello studies at age eight through the public school system. She later studied privately with teachers Virginia Slavich and Timothy Bach. In college, she played in the orchestra but primarily studied horticulture and later floristry. Her career has been a combination of music, horticulture, and floral design.
Vast leads a string ensemble (duo, trio, or quartet) performing for corporate and private events at venues across the wine country of Sonoma and Napa counties. Additionally, the ensemble performs at hotels and private venues in San Francisco and the greater Bay Area.
After many years of exclusively performing classical music, Kathryn began to explore other styles of music. She is married to jazz guitarist Carl Vast and performs with him, playing a wide range of repertoire from standards and bossa nova to Celtic and pop. She also arranges and performs Celtic music on solo cello. She has been playing with the LCS for about five years and is principal cello with the Ukiah Symphony; she also plays with the Sonoma County Philharmonic.
