The Class of 1945 Hall in St. Mark's Putnam Family Arts Center is one of the most acoustically perfect halls in the entire Boston area. In 2018-19 it will be new home of the Symphony Pro Musica, with four concerts by them this season, one including the New World Chorale, part of the new SOUTHBOROUGH SOUNDS concert series at St. Mark's.
Symphony Pro Musica is MetroWest/Central Massachusetts' preeminent regional volunteer orchestra, performing a challenging repertoire that will delight audiences throughout the area. Symphony Pro Musica is a non-profit arts organization whose mission includes bringing outstanding affordable orchestral, choral, and operatic music to the towns of the Metrowest/east-central Massachusetts area; creating an opportunity for area musicians to work cooperatively to develop their playing and performing skills; providing music education enrichment opportunities to children in communities served; and demonstrating, recognizing, and supporting the arts' contribution to building vibrant, creative, and connected communities on the local, state, and national levels.
All told, SOUTHBOROUGH SOUNDS will be a six-concert series. In addition to the four Symphony Pro Musica performances, there will also be a solo piano recital by international concert pianist Ilya Kazantsev, and the final performance of the year (and the crown jewel of the 2018-2019 season) will be a concert by the Hermitage Trio, one of the top piano trios in the world. There are also a few free concerts, some by St. Mark's students, to which the public is also invited.
Concert 1: Melody and Mastery
Sunday, November 4, 2018, 3:30 p.m.
Symphony Pro Musica,
Mark Churchill, Conductor, Andrew Li, piano
Program:
Mily Balakirev–Overture on Three Russian Folk Songs
Ludwig van Beethoven–Piano Concerto No. 3
Johannes Brahms–Symphony No. 4
Our season opens with three masterworks of the symphonic repertoire, in a classic program of overture, concerto, and symphony. Russian composer Balakirev's rousing and songful Overture on Three Russian Folk Songs starts off the festivities, followed by Beethoven's monumental Third Piano Concerto, performed by 17-year-old prodigy pianist Andrew Li in his second SPM appearance. Brahms' Fourth Symphony is considered by many to be the master's finest work - poignant, noble, dramatic, meditative, rousing, powerful–and the SPM players will inspire you as much as they themselves are inspired by this striking creation.
Concert 2: Knights and Wizardry
Sunday, January 20, 2019, 3:30 p.m.
Symphony Pro Musica,
Mark Churchill, Conductor, Carlos Aguilar, flute
Program:
Richard Wagner–Parsifal: An Orchestral Quest, arr. Henk de Vlieger
Aram Khachaturian–Flute Concerto
Wagner's crowning achievement is his last opera, Parisifal, based on the story of the knights of the holy grail and their struggles between the human and the divine. This purely orchestral setting of Wagner's most lyrical and profoundly moving score brings the listener to a transcendent state as only Wagner can. Wizardly is a fitting description of "rock star" flutist Carlos Aguilar's playing and the Khachaturian Concerto is the perfect vehicle for him, both brilliant and intensely emotional.
Concert 3: Masterworks for Solo Piano
Sunday, February 10, 2019, 3:30 p.m.
Ilya Kazantsev, piano
Program:
Frederic Chopin–24 Preludes, Op. 28
Sergei Rachmaninov–Etudes-Tableaux, Op. 39
Concert 4: Sacred and Profane
Sunday, March 17, 2019, 3:30 p.m.
Symphony Pro Musica, Mark Churchill, Conductor with the New World Chorale, Holly MacEwen Krafka, Artistic Director
Program:
Antonin Dvorak–Te Deum; Carl Orff–Carmina Burana
Based on texts from the world of medieval poetry, Orff's Carmina Burana holds a well-deserved top place among the most engaging and delightful works for vocal soloists, chorus, and orchestra. Fortune and the timeless perils of drinking, gambling, and gluttony never sounded so good! To complement the revelry is Dvořák's deeply moving and reverential Te Deum, perhaps as a bit of atonement. This concert celebrates a long history of SPM's collaboration with the New World Chorale in its 20th anniversary season.
Concert 5: Rule Britannia!
Sunday, May 5, 2019, 3:30 p.m.
Symphony Pro Musica, Mark Churchill, Conductor
Inmo Yang, violin
Program:
William Walton–Crown Imperial
Thea Musgrave–Turbulent Landscapes
Sir Edward Elgar–Violin Concerto
Enter in regal style with Walton's iconic British Crown Imperial march, written for the coronation of King George VI. Then join SPM in honoring Scottish-American composer Thea Musgrave on the occasion of her 90th birthday with Turbulent Landscapes, inspired by the paintings of English pre-impressionist JMW Turner and commissioned by the Boston Symphony Orchestra. And, finally, prepare to be wowed by 23-year-old violinist Inmo Yang, 1st prize winner of the Paganini international violin competition and frequent soloist with orchestras throughout the world, in a performance of Elgar's virtuostic and intensely lyrical Violin Concerto.
Concert 6: The Hermitage Trio
Sunday, May 19, 2019, 3:30 p.m.
Program:
Ludwig van Beethoven–Trio in C minor, Op. 1, No. 3
Mikhail Glinka–D Minor Trio "Pathetique"
Franz Schubert–Trio No. 1 in B Flat Major, D. 898
CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION AND FOR LINK TO TICKETS
(tickets may also be purchased at the door)
Free Concerts
A Service of Nine Lessons and Carols–Sunday, December 9, 2018, 4:00 p.m.
St. Mark's School Choir, in Belmont Chapel (located at the main entrance to the school)
Wick Choral Festival
Friday, February 1, 2019, 7:30 p.m; Saturday, February 2, 2019, 7:30 p.m.
College Groups Friday: Harvard University Opportunes Saturday: Boston University Dear Abbeys
Cutler Jazz Festival
Sunday, April 7, 2019, 6:30 p.m.
The Brian Thomas/Alex Lee–Clark Big Band
Welcome to your new source for great live music in Metro-West Boston!