Oct. 24, 2011
Spanish clarinetist makes return appearance with Bryan Symphony Nov. 13
(COOKEVILLE, Tenn., Oct. 24, 2011) – When young Spanish clarinetist Jose Franch-Ballester finished an encore with the Bryan Symphony Orchestra two years ago, you could hear a pin drop – but just for the second it took for the audience to get to its feet for a standing ovation.
Considered a “technical wizard” by The New York Times and an “eloquent poet” by The New York Sun, Franch-Ballester returns to Cookeville for the next performance of the Bryan Symphony beginning at 3 p.m., Sunday, Nov. 13, in TTU’s Wattenbarger Auditorium.
Tickets are $30 for adults, $26 for seniors 65 and up, and $8 for students. Call 931-525-2633 for reservations. The performance is sponsored by Herb and Betty Catlin of Cookeville.
Franch-Ballester will perform Carl Maria von Weber’s “Clarinet Concerto no. 1,” a gem of a piece written 200 years ago.
“The concerto is all about craft and artistry,” says Music Director Dan Allcott. “A piece like this is intended for a very specific reason – to show off the clarinet – but the orchestra is an equal partner. It’s a charming, energetic piece.”
Born in Moncofa, Spain, to a family of clarinetists and Zarzuela singers, Franch-Ballester was a 2004 winner of the Young Concert Artists International Auditions, making his New York debut the same year. In 2008, he won a coveted Avery Fisher Career Award, and in 2010, he won Cannes’ Midem Prize for Classical Music, which aims to introduce young artists to the classical recording industry. With members of Lincoln Center’s Chamber Music Society, he recorded Bartok’s “Contrasts” on the Deutsche Grammophon label.
The Weber concerto shares the Nov. 13 program with Gary Fagin’s “Ellingtonia Suite for clarinet and orchestra,” also performed by Franch-Ballester. The centerpiece of the program, however, is Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s “Symphony no. 4,” the first of his last three symphonies, which are considered his grandest works.
“On the strength of these works, we know he was a great symphonist – and we know him for his ballets The Nutcracker and Swan Lake, of course,” says Allcott. “But the totality of Tchaikovsky’s work included opera and song and great instrumental pieces, and it’s important that we remember that he was a theatrical composer as well. He wasn’t just churning out pretty music; he knew how to set up a dramatic arc, which is what he did in the ‘4th Symphony.’”
The Bryan Symphony will reprise excerpts from the Nov. 13 performance the next morning during its annual education concerts, which are programmed specifically for the 800 4th-grade students enrolled in the Putnam County Schools system. The two concerts for local students are sponsored in part by the Tennessee Arts Commission, under an agreement with the State of Tennessee. Additional support comes from the Rotary Clubs of Cookeville, the Walmart Foundation, and from Arthur and Sherry LaBar.
And for the first time, the BSO is adding a third education concert – this one for the 525 4th-graders of Warren County’s public schools. Sponsored by a Rotary District grant through McMinnville’s Breakfast and Noon Rotary Clubs, the concert is also made possible by the support of Warren County’s Durham Services transportation system.
Every classroom represented at the three performances is preparing for the events with special lesson plans that include an instrument primer DVD narrated by Music Director Allcott and produced by Amanda Collier of “BSO Backstage,” an original WCTE-TV series that airs before each subscription concert of the Bryan Symphony. The DVD shows demonstrations by BSO musicians on all the orchestra instruments, as well as short performance excerpts featuring the instrument families: woodwind, brass, percussion and strings.
A number of BSO performance-related events are scheduled between now and Nov. 13:
• The November episode of “BSO Backstage” on public television station WCTE-TV (Ch. 10 on Charter cable in Cookeville and Ch. 22 on Dish and Direct satellite) airs at 8:30 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 3, and rebroadcasts at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 5; at 8:30 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 10; and at 5:30 p.m., on Saturday, Nov. 12.
• Cumberland County hosts a preview concert luncheon beginning at 11 a.m., Wednesday, Nov. 9, at the Palace Theater on Main Street in Crossville. Cost is $10 and payable at the door. Call 931-484-6133 for reservations by Monday, Nov. 7.
• On the day of the concert, Sunday, Oct. 9, TTU music faculty member Catherine Godes will give a free preview lecture at 2 p.m. in Room 223 of the Bryan Fine Arts Building. The concert itself begins at 3 p.m. A post-performance reception takes place in the lobby, followed by dinner at Mauricio’s Italian Restaurant near the TTU campus, 232 N. Peachtree Ave. Call 931-525-2633 for dinner reservations by noon, Saturday, Nov. 12.
The only professional symphony outside a metropolitan area in Tennessee, the Bryan Symphony gives its subscription and education performances in Wattenbarger Auditorium, the concert hall of TTU’s Bryan Fine Arts Building, located at 1150 N. Dixie Ave., in Cookeville. The orchestra will be celebrating its 50th anniversary during the 2012-2013 season.
PHOTO by Lisa Marie Mazzucco
