Eclectic Orchestra Concert Features Mime, Youth Competition Winner, and World Premiere
TUCSON, AZ – The Southern Arizona Symphony Orchestra presents an eclectic and dazzling concert on March 2nd in SaddleBrooke and March 3rd at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian. SASO’s 4th concert cycle of the season is full of variety, including a unique live performance by Tucson actor and choreographer Rick Wamer. Wamer will enact a wordless portrayal of the eponymous poem behind Paul Dukas’ famous tone poem, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, while the orchestra performs.
Additionally, this concert will feature Brazilian rising star clarinetist Lucas Ferreira performing Françaix’ Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra, as well as the SASO premiere performance of composer (and SASO violist) Richard White’s Concerto for English Horn, Strings, Harp, and Timpani, featuring soloist Sherry Jameson, SASO’s principal oboist.
SASO also welcomes Kai Skaggs, winner of the Senior Division of the 2019 Dorothy Vanek Youth Concerto Competition. Skaggs, 17, will perform the first movement of Dvorak’s Violin Concerto in A minor with the orchestra.
The orchestra will also perform two additional concert favorites: Jacques Offenbach’s Overture to Orpheus in the Underworld and Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s Capriccio Espagnol. Both are exciting works full of colorful orchestration, instrumental solos, and well-known themes.
Clarinetist Lucas Ferreira was born in Rio de Janeiro and has garnered impressive awards for this early stage in his career. He has won several prestigious competitions including the Villa-Lobos Chamber Music Competition, Gramado in Concert Young Soloists, the São Paulo Symphony Orchestra Young Soloists Competition, and others. He will perform French composer Jean Françaix’ Clarinet Concerto, a Neo-Classical masterpiece and a true technical showpiece. The composer described the work as an “acrobatics display for the ear, complete with loops, wing-turns and nosedives which are fairly terrifying for the soloist, who needs to have a good stomach and several thousand flying hours under his belt.”
Rick Wamer is a physical actor, director, and choreographer with a 35+ year career. A student of Marcel Marceau, Rick’s solo performances, collaborations and residencies have delighted audiences of all ages in many locales around the world. The collaborative performance of the Sorcerer’s Apprentice with SASO will likely remind many of the famous Disney animated short from the 1940 film Fantasia. Though this unforgettable film is likely the first association many have with the work, the work’s inspiration actually comes from the 1797 poem by Goethe. This story is truly timeless, and Wamer and SASO are sure to give it a fresh and new life in this performance.
Kai Skaggs, a senior at Canyon del Oro High School, has been playing violin since the age of four, and already has earned many notable accolades as a young musician. Skaggs, who studies with Professor Timothy Kantor, is no stranger to the orchestral stage. He is concertmaster of the Tucson Philharmonia Youth Orchestra and also performs in the Tucson Repertory Orchestra and the CDO High School Orchestra. In January, he was selected as the winner of SASO’s annual Dorothy Vanek Youth Concerto Competition, entitling him to perform the music of his winning audition with SASO. He will perform the first movement of Dvořák’s Violin Concerto in A minor, a demanding piece that is often programmed by professional orchestras and soloists.
Sherry Jameson is frequently heard with SASO, as she is the group’s long-time principal oboist, but her performance takes center stage in the world-premiere performance of Richard White’s Concerto for English Horn, strings, harp, and timpani. The English horn, the larger cousin of the oboe, is typically is heard in supporting roles within the orchestra; however, Richard White chose to feature its warm tone in a soloist’s role, and the orchestration reflects well on the instrument’s character. White is also a long-time member of SASO, playing in the viola section. He has written many compositions, several of which can be heard on SASO’s “Celebration” CD.
Performances will be Saturday, March 2nd at 7:30 pm at DesertView Performing Arts Center, 39900 Clubhouse
Drive (SaddleBrooke), and Sunday, March 3rd at 3:00 pm at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church at 7575 N Paseo del Norte. Tickets for the SaddleBrooke performance are available at tickets.saddlebrooketwo.com, and tickets for the Tucson performance are available at sasomusic.org or by calling 520-308-6226.
Founded in 1979, SASO has grown into a vital community resource that unites performers and audiences through a mutual love of music. The orchestra presents a wide range of compositions, including world premieres, seldom-performed treasures and popular classics. SASO brings together student, amateur and professional musicians with exceptional soloists, composers and conductors. Under the baton of Music Director Linus Lerner, this local community orchestra has twice traveled to China, performed three times in Oaxaca, Mexico, once in Brazil and for the past three summers at the San Luis Potosí Opera Festival in Mexico. SASO presents five programs each season in two or more locations. For more information, visit www.sasomusic.org or call (520) 308-6226.